NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 10 -- U.S. Army observers watched as the white pickup truck sped from house to house in Fallujah on Wednesday morning, stopping more than 20 times to drop off armfuls of rocket-propelled grenades. Every few stops, the driver threw dirt on the roof of the cab, apparently in an attempt to disguise his vehicle.
A few miles away, soldiers in the 1st Infantry Division's 1st Platoon, Alpha Battery trained their M109A6 Paladin, a self-propelled 155mm howitzer, on the truck. Minutes later, a shell shot out of the cannon, whizzed across the sky and landed next to the truck with a massive boom, shooting off shrapnel.
Sgt. Fladymir Napoleon, 25, a member of an Army artillery unit, is surrounded by empty canon casings and artillery rounds near the city of Fallujah.
(Photos Jackie Spinner -- The Washington Post)
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_____Fight for Fallujah_____
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Video: The Post's Jackie Spinner reports on the progress of the offensive in Fallujah.
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Map: The push by U.S. and Iraqi forces into the heart of Iraq's "City of Mosques" is detailed.
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In the resulting cloud of dust and fire, the observers could not tell whether the truck had been hit directly. But even if the driver got away, said Staff Sgt. Shawn Zawistowski, a member of the 1st Infantry's Task Force 2-2, "I guarantee we made him think twice."
Powerful artillery pieces such as the Paladin deserve much of the credit for the ease and speed with which the U.S. military has been able to take control of most of Fallujah, according to American soldiers who have been sweeping through the city over the past two days.
Before ground troops entered Fallujah on Monday night, warplanes pounded insurgent targets with bombs; mobile artillery batteries followed with cannon and mortar fire. The effect was significant, according to military commanders and soldiers inside the city.
"It's made everybody get out of town," said Zawistowski, 30, of Cleveland.
Alpha Battery's two artillery pieces have fired more than 300 rounds in the first three days of the battle. The Marines' Mike Battery 414, which has six big guns at the same military outpost, has launched more than 500 rounds.
"A lot of times people don't take what we do seriously because we're not out there getting shot at. But we take the battle really seriously," said Alpha Battery's Capt. Jeff Fuller, 25, of Coshocton, Ohio. "We can save those guys' lives out there."
"We do this to support our troops on the ground to move faster," said Marine Capt. Kirk Parsons of Atlanta. "For the last few days, we gave a lot of support to hit a lot of strong points and areas where the insurgents try to set up their fire."
The artillery batteries zero in on targets based on grid coordinates provided by field observers and air surveillance. At the 1st Infantry's fire direction center, a tent attached to a mobile command center near the artillery guns, soldiers monitored radio traffic Wednesday and waited for instructions to shoot. Early in the day, they fired at a mosque where at least 20 insurgents were reported to be holed up with a weapons cache.
The Paladin fires rocket-assisted shells that can travel up to 22 miles and regular shells that can cover 13 miles. The shells typically strike within about five yards of their target and are likely to kill anyone within 55 yards of the point of impact.
"When we get targets, we take them out," said Sgt. 1st Class Johnny Dotson, 38, of Brownsville, Tenn., who said he joined the Army 19 years ago to be an artilleryman.
As he talked, a boom, followed by a sharp crack, pierced the cloudless sky above the field where the Army's guns were positioned between wide mounds of dirt.
"That was the Marines," said Dotson, who is known to his comrades as "Smoke."
