One of the finest war narratives I have ever read

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	• Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad David Zucchino Grove Press, 2004 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 59 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

One of the finest war narratives I have ever read

David Zucchino's "Thunder Run" is a fascinating, fast-paced account of the "thunder runs" (fast-moving armored thrusts) by 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, into Baghdad during April 2003. The thunder runs were the daring, ad hoc attacks that effectively collapsed the Baghdad defenses. Zucchino was an embedded reporter who, due to an accident, ended up embedded with the 3rd ID. Zucchino is a friend of Mark Bowden, author of "Black Hawk [sic] Down," and this book is written in the same vein as "Black Hawk Down:" it gives exciting, firsthand, personal accounts of modern urban combat.

Zucchino does not waste time giving any type of background - the book jumps immediately into the action as the first thunder run begins up Highway 8 in the Baghdad suburbs. The action jumps from tank to tank and unit to unit, and Zucchino uses these opportunities to give the background for most of the soldiers in the book: where they are from, how long they've been in the Army, what family they've had, and what previous combat experience they've had. This helps the reader learn more about the units and soldiers involved.

The well-written narrative gives excellent first-person accounts of the combat. Because this book is based on numerous interviews with the participants, Zucchino is able to describe their emotions and thoughts as well, and this gives an intimate look at the soldiers on the battlefield. The reader can sense the chaos, excitement, fear, and exhilaration of the battle. Most readers will probably be shocked by the countless suicide attacks by the Iraqis and Syrians and will learn to admire the professional competence of the American soldiers.

Zucchino also does a good job describing the decision-making process behind the thunder runs. The original concept was for the heavy 3rd Infantry Division to hold the perimeter of Baghdad while lighter forces cleared the city, but the commanders on the ground sensed that their armored forces could survive urban combat if they moved quickly and decisively, striking before most Iraqis realized that the Americans were near Baghdad. Zucchino and many commentators since have hailed this as a revolution in military doctrine, but one has to wonder if the thunder runs would have been successful against better trained, better led, and better organized soldiers, such as the Chechen soldiers who destroyed a Russian armored brigade during the first battle of Grozny.

Although this book is excellent, it still has a few flaws. One is that, because the action described is so personal, it gives an incomplete picture of the two thunder runs that it describes, so it is not an authoritative account of the battle and should not be read as such. Zucchino is a journalist and not a military professional, and often his descriptions of military procedures and terms are incorrect or misleading. He also almost always identifies the soldiers by their last name only (without rank), which makes it harder for the reader to keep the many participants straight and to remember where that soldier falls in the rank structure (which is very important to seeing the bigger picture in the battle). Finally, based on a handful of interviews with Iraqis after the battle, Zucchino tells the "Iraqi side" of the battle in a couple of pages in the middle of the book. Although this technique of interviewing participants in both sides of the battle often works for authors such as Cornelius Ryan, it felt out of place in this book because the sample was so small that it simply broke the flow of the book.

Interestingly, Operation Iraqi Freedom has sparked a much larger body of literature than Desert Storm did. Among the large and increasing body of OIF literature, "Thunder Run" stands out. It is a must-read account of the climactic battle of the high-intensity conflict phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

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Forgone Conclusion

Like many who watched the war unfold from home, I was secure in our military might and unquestioned superiority on the field of battle against the Iraqis. Wasn't it only a few years ago that we saw our forces slice through the worlds fifth largest army during Desert Storm?

This book reminds you of the bravery and guile of the field commanders, NCO's and enlisted men who had to put their money where the politican's mouths were.

A truly harrowing narrative, full of experiences and events that simply were not conveyed through the media:The onslaught of suicide bombers, the scores of Syrian mercenaries with money literally bristling from their pockets, and the incredible amount of ordanance aimed at our troops enroute to Baghdad.

You will walk away from this book with a greater appreciation of the bravery and commitment of both sides, and a richer understanding of what it's really like to be in the chaotic realm of combat.

It is one of the many great peices of military non-fiction that reminds the armchair hero in all of us, that war is dirty, dirty business, and you want no part of it.

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Taking Baghdad wasn't as easy as reported by CNN

This is such well written book describing the thunder run that accelerated the fall of Baghdad by weeks. After reading "Generation kill", I was wondering if I would ever find a book packed with so much action and intensity from beginning to end. Well thanks to the informative reviews by readers at this site I just finished reading "Thunder Run".

Just like any other person watching the news about the progress of the war I thought that the Iraqi army had rolled over and let the U.S Tanks and Bradleys take Baghdad easily. After reading this book I learned that actually the Iraqis fought hard and violently, pouring an intense wall of fire consisting of Ak-47, RPG and Suicide Cars into the U.S forces that drove right into the heart of Baghdad and the forces holding the intersections on highway 8 to secure the resupplies. In the end, better training and equipment prevailed.

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Perhaps the New Greatest Generation

If you want to know what Soldiers fight for - read this book. It is a down and dirty account of fighting from the view point of soldiers within the turret of a tank or rattled around in the back of a Bradley. I was overwhelmed with a sense of pride for having been a soldier after reading about the bravery of these young Americans. I choked up when reading about their wounds or deaths.
If you want to understand why the American military is so successful this book describes the bravery, adaptiveness and capability of young Americans who when given an challenge can rise to new levels.
I bought the book out of curiosity because the brigade commander was then COL Perkins and is now Brigadier General Perkins, the commanding general at Grafenwoehr Training Area where I work. I hope this book will be made into a movie similar to Black Hawk Down.

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Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!

I was shocked to find out that David Zucchino only wrote one other book: Myth of the Welfare Queen. With his writing prose I expected him to be the author of far more literary classics. This is one of them. This book is a non-stop, action-packed thriller --certainly bound for the Silver Screen. Even more astounding is that it's true.

reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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