Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad

Thunder Run chronicles the assault on Baghdad by the Spartan Brigade, the Second Brigade of the Third Infantry Division (Mechanized), during the Iraq War. Three battalions comprising fewer than a thousand soldiers launched an armored thrust of tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles into the city of five million people. Over three days of combat, this strike ended the Iraqi war. Based on reporting that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the book draws on over a hundred interviews with commanders and soldiers from the Second Brigade. It documents not only the military operation itself but also how soldiers respond under fire and stress, and how human limitations are intensified in a war zone. The account examines how a single armored brigade captured an Arab capital defended by one of the world's largest armies.