Operation Dawn-1 (also known as Operation Valfajr-1) was an Iranian offensive in the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...

. On April 10, 1983, Iran struck Ayn Al-Qaws with the immediate objective of

Al-Fakkah Field The Al-Fakkah Field, also known as ''Jebel Al-Fauqi'' or ''Jebal Al-Fauqi'', is an oil field located in southern Iraq's Maysan Governorate and Khūzestān Province, Iran. The oil field produced prior to the 2003 Iraq War and is part of the Maysan ...

(east of

al-Amarah Amarah ( ar, ٱلْعَمَارَة, al-ʿAmārah), also spelled Amara, is a city in south-eastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km (31 mi) from the border with Iran. It lies at the ...

) to capture the Baghdad-Basra Highway. The operation was fought mostly by Pasdaran forces and was one of the three costly

human wave The human wave attack, also known as the human sea attack, is an offensive infantry tactic in which an attacker conducts an unprotected frontal assault with densely concentrated infantry formations against the enemy line, intended to overrun and ...

offensives of 1983, the Iranians failed to defeat the Iraqis.

Battle

In early February 1983, 50,000 Iranian forces attacked westward from Dezful and were confronted by 55,000 Iraqi forces. The Iranian objective was to cut off the road from Basra to Baghdad in the central sector. The attack started on a rainy day and hope was that cloud cover would shield them from Iraqi air attacks. Once the clouds lifted, Iraq conducted 150 air sorties, which generated a 3 to 1 kill ratio of Iranians to Iraqis. The Iraqis, sensing the efficacy of close air attacks, directed aerial bombings on the cities of Dezful, Ahvaz, and Khoramshahr in retribution for the Iranian Dawn 1 offensive. The Iranians continued to order up more forces, and the 92nd Armoured Division pushed forward from Dezful to repel one Iraqi armoured brigade. 3

Bibliography

http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/the-“dawn-of-victory”-campaigns-to-the-“final-push”-part-three-of-three

References

Iran Chamber Society (www.iranchamber.com)

Military operations of the Iran–Iraq War in 1983 {{mil-hist-stub