The 15th Infantry Division was established in November 2015, The troops were initially trained by Iraqi trainers for 6 months and then the troops entered in training sessions for a further 6 months under the coalition forces at

Camp Taji Camp Taji , also known as Camp Cooke, is a military installation used by Iraqi and Multinational force in Iraq, Coalition forces near Taji, Iraq, Taji, Baghdad Governorate, Iraq. The camp is located in a rural region approximately north of the c ...

. The division is considered one of the strongest divisions in the ground forces in terms of training, equipping and arming The division was first established under the rule of

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

. In 1997, the 2nd Corps had its headquarters at Diyala and controlled the 3rd Armoured Division as well as the 15th Infantry Division (HQ Amerli) and 34th Infantry Division.

Jane's Intelligence Review ''Jane's Intelligence Review'' is a monthly journal on global security and stability issues published by Jane's Information Group. Its coverage includes international security issues, state stability, terrorism and insurgency, ongoing conflicts, ...

, September 1997, via Dr Colin Robinson
Armed Forces of Saddam's Iraq
, file closed 30 July 2004, p.2; R.J. Lee

/ref>

Structure

The division currently consists of four Brigades: * 71st Infantry Brigade * 72nd Infantry Brigade * 73rd Infantry Brigade * 91st Infantry Brigade The

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. Br ...

consists of three

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

s with one commando regiment, each of which consists of four

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

. The

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

consists of four

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may range ...

s with a support platoon. The platoon consists to three

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

s. The squad consists to two

fireteam A fireteam or fire team is a small military sub-subunit of infantry designed to optimize "bounding overwatch" and "fire and movement" tactical doctrine in combat. Depending on mission requirements, a typical fireteam consists of four or fewe ...

s. The Division also includes an artillery battalion (light and heavy) with the field engineering battalion. Each regiment has a sniper platoon.

Equipment

Individual armament of fighters

They were initially equipped with

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas operated, gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian s ...

rifles, 7.62 mm PKC rifles, 7.62mm

RPK The RPK (russian: Ручной пулемёт Калашникова/РПК, Ruchnoy Pulemyot Kalashnikova, link=no, English: "Kalashnikov hand-held machine gun"), sometimes retroactively termed the RPK-47, is a Soviet 7.62×39mm light machine ...

rifles,

RPG-7 The RPG-7 (russian: link=no, РПГ-7, Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт, Ruchnoy Protivotankoviy Granatomyot) is a portable, reusable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank, rocket-propelled grenade launcher. ...

launchers and 12.7 mm Dushka machine guns. After a period of time, their weapons were updated to the latest weapons, which were

M-16 The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-roun ...

rifles and S56 M-249 revolvers Mm,

M-240 The M240 – officially the Machine Gun, 7.62 mm, M240 – is the U.S. military designation for the FN MAG, a family of belt-fed, gas-operated medium machine guns that chamber the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. The M240 has been used by the ...

7.62 mm and AT-3 mortars with heavy M-2 Browning 12.7 mm machine guns and 40 mm MK-19 assault rifles. Iraqiarmyweaas

The division also operate 60mm, 81mm and 120mm mortars. It is demonstrated in every

in the division and there is also

SPG-9 The SPG-9 Kopyo (''Spear'') (Russian: СПГ-9 Копьё) is a tripod-mounted man-portable, 73 millimetre calibre recoilless gun developed by the Soviet Union. It fires fin-stabilised, rocket-assisted HE and HEAT projectiles similar to those fir ...

. They are equipped with I-OTV shields and very modern helmets such as MICH-2000/2001 helmets, various helmets, combat bags and other individual equipment. The division is equipped with Mine-resistant ambush-protected (

MRAP Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP; ) is a term for United States Armed Forces, United States military light tactical vehicles produced as part of the MRAP program that are designed specifically to withstand improvised explosive device (IE ...

) vehicles, such as the Armor MAXPRO,

CAIMAN A caiman (also cayman as a variant spelling) is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Mexico, Central and South America fro ...

, and the latest version of the

Humvee The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of light, four-wheel drive, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles previously performed by the ori ...

Combat history

The first battle the division participated in is the battle to liberate Al-Hamra camp in the Nabai area in 2015 and also the recent battles of Mosul and later participated in the liberation of

Tal Afar Tal Afar ( ar, تَلْعَفَر, Talʿafar, ) is a city in the Nineveh Governorate of northwestern Iraq, located 63 km (39 mi) west of Mosul, 52 km (32 mi) east of Sinjar Iraqi–Kurdish conflict The Iraqi–Kurdish conflict consists of a series of wars and rebellions by the Kurdish people, Kurds against the central authority of Iraq during the 20th century, which began shortly after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and las ...

References

{{reflist Divisions of Iraq