Iraq-Iran War Fortifications.

1,928 Views | 9 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by ABATTBQ87
Rabid Cougar
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The post about Alexander or Julius Caesar and Ancient civilization got me thinking about the place I have been to in Middle East during several trips to the sand box from 2007 to 2011.

One of the places that not many American ever saw was the strip of land between Basra, Iraq and the Iranian border all the way up north to just east of Amarah in the Maysan Province.

The first time I drove out across the area I noticed miles and miles of non descript low earthen mounds. My Brit security guys said those were trenches and forts built during the Iraq- Iran War. That tweaked my history curious mind. When I returned from the border, I immediately got onto Google Earth and Lord have mercy...

If you ever want to see miles and miles of fortifications. Just Google Earth Basra Iraq and look on the east bank of the Shatt-Al Arab....

Below is a small example.

ja86
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a step back in time to 1916 on the Somme ....
Rabid Cougar
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ja86 said:

a step back in time to 1916 on the Somme ....
Very different concepts though. LOTS of 360 defense and tank scrapes by the thousands also set up for 360 defense. Break throughs were almost certain.
ja86
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very true. my post was more tongue in cheek in that static defenses are so associated with ww1. Though I think it is interesting how these defense systems affect the general topography of the area. One can still see the effects of the trench systems developed in Belgium and northern France over 100 years ago.
CanyonAg77
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It's really amazing how insults to the earth persist. I can see ruts in my fields, even after years of crops, or pick out pipeline crossings from aerial photos. I've seen Santa Fe Trail swales that persist to this day, and remains of the Great Wagon Road near Camden, SC.

I have no doubt you can find Roman Roads all over Europe, if they aren't paved over.
aalan94
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If they had more rain and vegetation, these would vanish faster, but in the desert, things are kind of frozen in time.

In other news, the same thing happens in the opposite climate. On Attu Island in the Aleutians, you can see where we plastered the heck out of the Japanese with our bombing raids:

Attu Island, google maps
Rabid Cougar
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aalan94 said:

If they had more rain and vegetation, these would vanish faster, but in the desert, things are kind of frozen in time.

In other news, the same thing happens in the opposite climate. On Attu Island in the Aleutians, you can see where we plastered the heck out of the Japanese with our bombing raids:

Attu Island, google maps
If you look at North Vietnamese air fields they are still cratered up pretty well.


Kep Air Base

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Rabid Cougar
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JJMt said:

In that picture, all of the fortifications are on the Iraqi side. However, there's very limited view of the Iranian side. If that is in fact the case, it's very telling as to which side was the aggressor and which was the defender.
Iranian's built them too. They built some huge "forts". Sorry I haven't figure out how to post pictures from Google Earth.

Iranian Forts
ABATTBQ87
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CanyonAg77 said:

It's really amazing how insults to the earth persist. I can see ruts in my fields, even after years of crops, or pick out pipeline crossings from aerial photos. I've seen Santa Fe Trail swales that persist to this day, and remains of the Great Wagon Road near Camden, SC.

I have no doubt you can find Roman Roads all over Europe, if they aren't paved over.
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