| Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – North | |
|---|---|
 The northern front during March and April 2003 | |
| Active | March 2003 – May 12, 2003 |
| Disbanded | 12 May 2003 |
| Country | United States |
| Allegiance | Multi-National Force – Iraq |
| Branch | U.S. Army,U.S. Air Force,U.S. Marine Corps,United Kingdom Special Forces |
| Type | Joint Task Force |
| Role | Special Operations, Offensive Operations |
| Size | 5,200 |
| Part of | U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) |
| Forward Operating Base | Constanţa,Romania |
| Nickname | Task Force Viking |
| Motto | "Concede Nothing" |
| Engagements | 2003 Invasion of Iraq |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | ColonelWilliam C. Mayville Jr. |
Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – North (CJSOTF–N), also known as Task Force Viking, was the U.S.joint task force responsible for the northern front during the initial period of the2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq (OIF Rotation I). It securedKirkuk,Mosul, and the northernoil fields; prevented 13 Iraqi Armydivisions from defendingBaghdad or reinforcing defensive operations against American and British troops advancing in the south, and thwarted Turkish efforts to subvertKurdistan.
Task Force Viking conductedartillery observer,direct action,special reconnaissance, andunconventional warfare missions in order to disrupt and fixIraqi forces arrayed along the "Green Line", the nominal 1991 demarcation line between theKurdish northern provinces of Iraq and the remainder controlled bySaddam Hussein.[1][2] The original campaign for northern Iraq and the Task Force were ended on 12 May 2003.
CJSOTF–N was composed of theU.S. Army'sSpecial Forces units,173rd Airborne Brigade,2-15 Field Artillery and2-14th Infantry from10th Mountain Division, 932nd Forward Surgical Team (FST), B Forward Support Company,528th Support Battalion (A),A Company, 9th PSYOP Battalion, soldiers from the 142nd Military Intelligence Battalion, 300th MI Brigade, of theUtah Army National Guard; and, elements from the 96th and 404th Civil Affairs Battalions (Special Operations); theU.S. Air Force's352nd Special Operations Group; theU.S. Marine Corps's26th Marine Expeditionary Unit; and indigenousKurdishPeshmerga. All U.S. units were initially prepositioned inConstanţa,Romania beginning in February 2003 except the 173rd based inVicenza,Italy, and the 26th MEU based aboard theIwo JimaAmphibious Ready Group in the Mediterranean Sea. The task force's mix of conventional and special operations personnel numbered approximately 5,200[3] and fell under theUnited States Special Operations Command Joint Operations Center (USSOCOM JOC). The Task Force's motto was "Concede Nothing."
Facing Task Force Viking were two divisions of theIraqi Republican Guard, possibly including the sixth motorized division, twoMechanized infantry divisions, onearmored division, eightinfantry divisions and theFedayeen Saddammilitia.[3] Amongst these units were the2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 16th, and 38th Divisions.[4] Task Force Viking also had to contend withAnsar Al Islam,Ansar Al Sunna, andKadek/PKKirregulars and also with the dueling future political aspirations of the variousKurdish factions (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan &Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq),Turkomen (Iraqi Turkmen Front),Yazidis, and theSunniArab tribes.
Originally, the task force planned to infiltrate northern Iraq viaTurkey.[5] However, Turkey refused to grant permission for an invasion of Iraq from its soil or over its airspace.Coalition commanders instead undertook a complicated and roundabout infiltration viaJordanian airspace beginning the evening of 20 March 2003. This operation was known as "Ugly Baby". The "Ugly Baby" operation was the longest infiltration mission since World War II and the longestMC-130 Combat Talon II infiltration in history.[6]
After much diplomatic maneuvering, Turkey finally allowed American overflights on 23 March.[7]
This allowed Task Force Viking to expand to 50[citation needed] individualSpecial Forces Operational Detachments-Alpha (ODAs). Reinforcing the ODAs on 26 March, the 173rd made acombatjump onto Bashur airfield, as part ofOperation Northern Delay, 40 miles (64 km) north of the "Green Line". This was the largest airborne assault sinceWorld War II.[citation needed] The 173rd assumed the security mission of Bashur from 10th Group ODA's and Peshmerga, receiving the airborne insertion of1st Infantry Divisionarmor on 7 April, followed by the26th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Afriendly fire incident near Pir Daoud on Sunday, 6 April 2003, killed 18 members of Task Force Viking and injured 45. AnF-15 mistakenly dropped a bomb on the position of US Special Forces andPeshmerga troops instead of on the Iraqi tank 1 mile (1.6 km) away. One of the injured was Wajih Barzani, the brother ofMasoud Barzani, leader of theKurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and later President of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Shortly after its 10 April 2003 liberation, the Turkish government began to covertly dispatch their ownspecial forces troops to Kirkuk. Disguised as aid workers, they were to train and equip members of theIraqi Turkmen Front to destabilize Kurdistan and provide Turkey a pretext to intervene with a large "Peace Keeping" force. Elements of the 173rd under the command ofColonelWilliam C. Mayville Jr. identified and intercepted the Turkish soldiers, and escorted them back across the border with no shots being fired.[8]
The1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) (Provisional) paid tribute to the Airmen, Marines, and Soldiers of Task Force Viking during a stone laying ceremony at the U.S. Army Special Operations Command Headquarters' Memorial Plaza on 30 June 2015. "Today we commemorate an event, which at the time, I don't think any of us knew would be as meaningful or as significant as it would turn out to be – which is often the case I've come to learn in these sorts of things," said Lt. Gen.Charles T. Cleveland, commanding general, USASOC, and Task Force Viking commander.
American military does not yet have approval to use Turkish air bases or airspace for an attack on Iraq...
Turkish troops moved across the border into northern Iraq tonight, hours after the country's leaders announced that they had opened their airspace to American military planes bound for Iraq. Between 1,000 and 1,500 Turkish soldiers crossed into Iraq at Cukurca, in the far east of Turkey near where it borders both Iraq and Iran, Turkish military officials said
...a dozen Turkish Special Forces troops were dispatched ... [to] Kirkuk [under] the pretext of accompanying humanitarian aid ... "We were waiting for them," says a U.S. paratroop officer... The 173rd Airborne commanders suspect an amalgam of local Turkoman parties under the banner of the Iraqi Turkoman Front (ITF) were to be used by the covert team to wreak havoc.
