Marine armored vehicles took up posts in the center of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown around 180 kilometers (115 miles) north of Baghdad, after reconnaissance battalions from Task Force Tripoli entered before dawn to no resistance.

The official announcement of its fall, still to come, would likely mark the end of major military operations begun on March 20 by US-led troops.

Chute and around 900 fellow marines deployed in the city's main square, beneath a a statute of toppled President Saddam Hussin riding a horse.

"It was kind of weird," said the sergeant from Colorado Springs who serves with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion.

"It was completely empty, we have only seen around 50 people. The first thing we did was to check all buildings to make them secure."

After air and artillery strikes had softened up Tikrit's defenses, ground troops moved in, surprised to find no defenders inside the city.

"That was amazing. I expected it to be tougher; I expected a day-by-day fight."

Chute nonetheless saw fighting on the outskirts of Tikrit, saying: "We had bad ambushes there."

Firefights with what he believed to be Iraqi soldiers left one Iraqi dead, while US units backed by Cobra helicopter gunships reported no casualties.

"I thought they were Iraqi soldiers because we found some RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) there. We took care of them. We had no casualties," the sergeant said.

Perhaps the strongest resistance has come now, with Tikrit residents wary of the city's new occupants.

"I was in Baghdad, the reception was great," Chute mused, but added that he understood people in the stronghold of Saddam's tribal clan had not shown the same enthusiasm.

"The people here are not sure what they should expect," he noted.

"We are here to make sure everything is okay. They need to understand we are here to help them, that nobody will touch their wives, nobody will enter their houses.

"Saddam Hussein didn't give a damn about them."

The sergeant summed up his feelings as "this means the end of the war."

Lieutenant Mat Peterson interjected at that point to add: "I wish I could say so, but I think the last one is still going on in Baghdad."

At the US Central Command's forward headquarters in Qatar, Captain Frank Thorp told reporters: "The Iraqi military appears to be over as an organized fighting force.

"But it is premature to say the war is over as long as there continues to be resistance."

SPACE.WIRE