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"Last year, we’d take an objective, secure it and go to sleep," recalled medic Percy Davila, 29, of the 1st Batallion.

"But this is relentless. This is more like a real war," Mr Davila told AFP at a machine shop turned into a makeshift command post.

Sergeant James Ramsel, of the battalion’s Alpha Company, said there had been no let-up in the resistance. "It’s been going on all night; it’s still going on."

An AFP correspondent saw two seriously wounded Marines being evacuated from the industrial area on Fallujah’s eastern outskirts.

Hospital sources cited by Arabic news network Al-Jazeera said a total of 105 Iraqis had been killed in Fallujah since Tuesday evening.

The ferocity of the fighting stopped some of the corpses from being cleared from the streets.

Flies buzzed over the body of a mustachioed 40-year-old, shot in the neck by US Marines after he fired a rocket-propelled grenade at them across the industrial wasteland of garages, factories and metal shops.

"We don’t know where to move him," said a marine, glancing over at the bloodied corpse as rockets struck just a block away, sending columns of black smoke into the air.

Captain Chris Chown, a marine battalion air officer, conceded that the insurgents were proving not only determined but also adept at using guerrilla attacks to counter the US advantage in equipment and numbers.

"It’s tough. These guys are determined. One by one they can’t stand up to the US military force so they are using all the scenery available to them," Captain Chown told a reporter embedded with the unit.

"One guy can basically hold down a whole squad. He shoots from one window and pops in another. They are fierce and very determined but they can’t shoot straight. They are basically spraying and praying."

However, Captain Chown expressed concern that the outgunned Iraqis could still end up winning the battle of public opinion if the fighting continued.

"I hope one day we don’t get so jaded we just roll down the streets in armoured vehicles shooting at whatever moves," she said. "If that happens we need to take a step back and look at the humanity of the place or we’ve just lost our mission.

"We are at a crossroads in Fallujah ... You get to a critical juncture where one small event is going to tip things for us or against us. If we’re not there already, we’re getting pretty close."

Ned Parker is an embedded reporter for the Agence France-Presse.

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