Combat· Anti-ISIS Campaign (Op INHERENT RESOLVE)
Battle of Mosul
The Battle of Mosul was the campaign to retake Iraq's second city from the Islamic State, which had captured it and made it the capital of its self-proclaimed caliphate.
The ground fight was waged by Iraqi security forces; the Marine role was artillery fire support. A battery of roughly two hundred Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit emplaced four M777 howitzers at a forward position near Makhmur, southeast of Mosul, known as Fire Base Bell, to support the Iraqi advance. The Marines fired illumination and high-explosive rounds in support of Iraqi troops clearing the surrounding villages, a combat-support role officially framed as protecting the nearby Iraqi staging base. The outpost drew enemy fire almost at once, and a rocket attack killed Staff Sergeant Louis Cardin, the first American combat death in Iraq since the 2011 withdrawal. The Marine contribution reflected the campaign's advise-and-assist design, enabling Iraqi forces rather than fighting the battle directly.
Record no. 61