It's the most desperate shootout of the Vietnam War. During the early morning hours of January 31, 1968, North Vietnamese communist troops launch a surprise attack on dozens of towns and villages across South Vietnam.

In March of 2003, the Marine Corps planned to send two columns north across the Iraqi desert to help the Army seize Baghdad. If there was going to be trouble, it would happen when the Marines tried to traverse a north/south stretch of road between two bridges in Nasiriyah. On March 23, nothing went right. When a convoy of supply trucks took a wrong turn, they traveled north up "Ambush Alley" almost to the end before they recognized their mistake and turned around. Returning south, they almost made it back to the Euphrates River when gunfire exploded from buildings on both sides of the road. The Marines found themselves in a heated firefight with black-robed Fedayeen fighters. Over the next several hours, they tried to fight their way out, save their wounded comrades, and complete their mission.

For 21 days in the spring of 2003, two US Army and Marine divisions race north across the Iraqi desert from Kuwait. Their mission: seize the Iraqi capital as quickly as possible. The planners of Operation Iraqi Freedom believe that taking Baghdad in a hurry will be like "cutting off the head of the snake" and will bring a speedy end to the war. But it won't be easy. A tenacious force of guerrilla fighters throw up roadblocks. They call themselves Saddam Fedayeen--Saddam's Men of Sacrifice. The Fedayeen weapon of choice is the RPG--the rocket-propelled grenade. This nasty piece of handheld artillery can stop the Marines' thin-shelled armored personnel carrier, and it can even put a tank out of commission if it hits it in just the right spot. We'll hear from troops who found themselves on the receiving end of punishing RPG barrages and veterans who recount stories of brutal shootouts on the bloody road to Baghdad.

Today we are going to kill Americans." That was the warning to shopkeepers in Ramadi's marketplace on April 6, 2004. Insurgents meant what they said. They intended to harm any and all members of Echo Company--part of the Second Battalion of the 4th Marine Regiment. Ramadi, a Sunni stronghold and former Saddam power base in the Anbar province, is one of the most dangerous places in Iraq. Resistance there is fierce. "The Magnificent Bastards" as the 2-4 is called, bore the brunt of hatred and rage as they were ambushed in a well-planned attack. We chronicle the 2-4's struggle for survival while under fire--everywhere and all at once--from an enemy that couldn't be seen. AK-47s, machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenades exploded all around. About 50 insurgents positioned themselves on the roofs of one-story buildings and in between market stalls. The next week-and-a-half would be bloody and deadly.

Fallujah, Iraq has become a viper pit. This holy city has become the center of gravity for the Iraqi insurgency with Al Qaeda terrorists and Islamic radicals from across the Muslim world meeting here to resist the US occupation.

The Battle for Fallujah was the ultimate battle zone. We take you back to expose the anatomy of the warriors and high tech weapons. Armored columns of U.S. Marines and Infantrymen push through the city to terminate insurgents.

This two-hour special takes viewers inside the new world of futuristic conventional warfare.

It's the most desperate shootout of the Vietnam War. During the early morning hours of January 31, 1968, North Vietnamese communist troops launch a surprise attack on dozens of towns and villages across South Vietnam.

In March of 2003, the Marine Corps planned to send two columns north across the Iraqi desert to help the Army seize Baghdad. If there was going to be trouble, it would happen when the Marines tried to traverse a north/south stretch of road between two bridges in Nasiriyah. On March 23, nothing went right. When a convoy of supply trucks took a wrong turn, they traveled north up "Ambush Alley" almost to the end before they recognized their mistake and turned around. Returning south, they almost made it back to the Euphrates River when gunfire exploded from buildings on both sides of the road. The Marines found themselves in a heated firefight with black-robed Fedayeen fighters. Over the next several hours, they tried to fight their way out, save their wounded comrades, and complete their mission.

For 21 days in the spring of 2003, two US Army and Marine divisions race north across the Iraqi desert from Kuwait. Their mission: seize the Iraqi capital as quickly as possible. The planners of Operation Iraqi Freedom believe that taking Baghdad in a hurry will be like "cutting off the head of the snake" and will bring a speedy end to the war. But it won't be easy. A tenacious force of guerrilla fighters throw up roadblocks. They call themselves Saddam Fedayeen--Saddam's Men of Sacrifice. The Fedayeen weapon of choice is the RPG--the rocket-propelled grenade. This nasty piece of handheld artillery can stop the Marines' thin-shelled armored personnel carrier, and it can even put a tank out of commission if it hits it in just the right spot. We'll hear from troops who found themselves on the receiving end of punishing RPG barrages and veterans who recount stories of brutal shootouts on the bloody road to Baghdad.

Today we are going to kill Americans." That was the warning to shopkeepers in Ramadi's marketplace on April 6, 2004. Insurgents meant what they said. They intended to harm any and all members of Echo Company--part of the Second Battalion of the 4th Marine Regiment. Ramadi, a Sunni stronghold and former Saddam power base in the Anbar province, is one of the most dangerous places in Iraq. Resistance there is fierce. "The Magnificent Bastards" as the 2-4 is called, bore the brunt of hatred and rage as they were ambushed in a well-planned attack. We chronicle the 2-4's struggle for survival while under fire--everywhere and all at once--from an enemy that couldn't be seen. AK-47s, machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenades exploded all around. About 50 insurgents positioned themselves on the roofs of one-story buildings and in between market stalls. The next week-and-a-half would be bloody and deadly.

Fallujah, Iraq has become a viper pit. This holy city has become the center of gravity for the Iraqi insurgency with Al Qaeda terrorists and Islamic radicals from across the Muslim world meeting here to resist the US occupation.

The Battle for Fallujah was the ultimate battle zone. We take you back to expose the anatomy of the warriors and high tech weapons. Armored columns of U.S. Marines and Infantrymen push through the city to terminate insurgents.

This two-hour special takes viewers inside the new world of futuristic conventional warfare.

It's the most desperate shootout of the Vietnam War. During the early morning hours of January 31, 1968, North Vietnamese communist troops launch a surprise attack on dozens of towns and villages across South Vietnam.

In March of 2003, the Marine Corps planned to send two columns north across the Iraqi desert to help the Army seize Baghdad. If there was going to be trouble, it would happen when the Marines tried to traverse a north/south stretch of road between two bridges in Nasiriyah. On March 23, nothing went right. When a convoy of supply trucks took a wrong turn, they traveled north up "Ambush Alley" almost to the end before they recognized their mistake and turned around. Returning south, they almost made it back to the Euphrates River when gunfire exploded from buildings on both sides of the road. The Marines found themselves in a heated firefight with black-robed Fedayeen fighters. Over the next several hours, they tried to fight their way out, save their wounded comrades, and complete their mission.

For 21 days in the spring of 2003, two US Army and Marine divisions race north across the Iraqi desert from Kuwait. Their mission: seize the Iraqi capital as quickly as possible. The planners of Operation Iraqi Freedom believe that taking Baghdad in a hurry will be like "cutting off the head of the snake" and will bring a speedy end to the war. But it won't be easy. A tenacious force of guerrilla fighters throw up roadblocks. They call themselves Saddam Fedayeen--Saddam's Men of Sacrifice. The Fedayeen weapon of choice is the RPG--the rocket-propelled grenade. This nasty piece of handheld artillery can stop the Marines' thin-shelled armored personnel carrier, and it can even put a tank out of commission if it hits it in just the right spot. We'll hear from troops who found themselves on the receiving end of punishing RPG barrages and veterans who recount stories of brutal shootouts on the bloody road to Baghdad.

Today we are going to kill Americans." That was the warning to shopkeepers in Ramadi's marketplace on April 6, 2004. Insurgents meant what they said. They intended to harm any and all members of Echo Company--part of the Second Battalion of the 4th Marine Regiment. Ramadi, a Sunni stronghold and former Saddam power base in the Anbar province, is one of the most dangerous places in Iraq. Resistance there is fierce. "The Magnificent Bastards" as the 2-4 is called, bore the brunt of hatred and rage as they were ambushed in a well-planned attack. We chronicle the 2-4's struggle for survival while under fire--everywhere and all at once--from an enemy that couldn't be seen. AK-47s, machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenades exploded all around. About 50 insurgents positioned themselves on the roofs of one-story buildings and in between market stalls. The next week-and-a-half would be bloody and deadly.

Fallujah, Iraq has become a viper pit. This holy city has become the center of gravity for the Iraqi insurgency with Al Qaeda terrorists and Islamic radicals from across the Muslim world meeting here to resist the US occupation.

The Battle for Fallujah was the ultimate battle zone. We take you back to expose the anatomy of the warriors and high tech weapons. Armored columns of U.S. Marines and Infantrymen push through the city to terminate insurgents.

This two-hour special takes viewers inside the new world of futuristic conventional warfare.