Transcript for This day in history: Feb. 27, 1991

The war in the gulf is virtually over President Bush is gonna talk to the nation tonight at 9 o'clock eastern time the commanding general Norman Schwarzkopf said today. That the allied forces have accomplished their mission. The Iraqi Army is no longer a threat to the region. The last great battle was being fought today US tanks and airpower overwhelming. What used to be called the elite Republican guard it has apparently been the conclusive battle the final blow. We begin at the Pentagon tonight ABC's Bob Zelnick has been compiling the details. Officials say the Iraqis lost hundreds of tanks in the battle. Officials say as allied forces approached from the west elements of the guard divisions came forward to meet them. But the Iraqis came under heavy fire mainly from Apache helicopters and fixed wing aircraft like the A ten. As they tried to turn and flee a light tanks used superior speed to outflank them. And their long range guns to destroy many of the Iraqi tanks run so far away that the Iraqis could not fire back. The remaining tanks and troop carriers try to fight their way eastward toward Basra but officials say many of those were destroyed by pursuing aircraft. Officials say the Iraqi units appeared to have been surprised by the allied attack them. And once again seemed unable to coordinate their attack because of bad communications. This may explain why the guards never moved south to defend Kuwait. Pentagon officials say US casualties were light. While the battle involved only three of the eight Republican guard divisions the remaining five are light infantry. In the view of senior officials here the Republican guard as a threat to Iraq's neighbors is finished. Bob Zelnick ABC news at the Pentagon.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.