American forces destroyed 200 Iraqi armored vehicles, artillery pieces, and 186 tanks in one of the largest tank fights in history

By Oliver

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American forces destroyed 200 Iraqi armored vehicles, artillery pieces, and 186 tanks in one of the largest tank fights in history

The day after the Battle of 73 Easting, often referred to as “the last great tank battle of the twentieth century,” the United States 1st Armored Division engaged in another massive tank battle, one of the largest in history.

This battle, known as the Battle of Medina Ridge, occurred in Iraq on February 27, 1991, during the Gulf War.

The Gulf War

The Gulf War began in August 1990, when Iraq’s president, Saddam Hussein, invaded Kuwait. The United Nations Security Council gave Iraq a deadline to leave Kuwait or face serious military action. Saddam Hussein did not meet this deadline, so coalition forces launched a massive aerial and naval bombardment of Iraqi forces in the region.

This bombardment, which began on January 17, 1991, signalled the start of the Gulf War. It lasted five weeks, followed by a ground assault. The bombardment was so effective that the ground assault lasted only 100 hours before a ceasefire was reached.

Although the assault was brief, it served as the backdrop for some of history’s most epic tank battles, including the Battle of 73 Easting, the Battle of Norfolk, and the subject of this article, the Battle of Medina Ridge.

Ground assault

As coalition forces moved into Iraq, they met little resistance because many Iraqi soldiers were unwilling to fight after weeks of heavy bombing. The majority of these troops were poorly trained and low on morale, serving primarily as a buffer for Iraq’s stronger military unit, the Republican Guard.

The Republican Guard was a highly trained force that reported directly to Saddam Hussein. They posed the most difficult challenge to coalition troops, as they had better training, higher pay, and superior equipment than other Iraqi units.

By February 27th, coalition forces had made significant progress, capturing thousands of Iraqi soldiers and winning key battles.

That day, the United States 1st Armored Division arrived on Medina Ridge, a seven-mile-long stretch of land. Unbeknownst to them, a large force from the elite Medina Republican Guard Division was hiding there, waiting.

Battle of Medina Ridge

Around midday, 350 M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks rolled onto the Medina Ridge. Overcast and rainy weather made visibility extremely limited, so US tankers used advanced optics to cut through the haze at the top of the ridge. Looking down, they spotted what they were looking for: Iraq’s Republican Guard.

They used a combination of T-72 and T-62 tanks and were completely unaware of the US presence.

The Iraqi troops had established a reverse slope defensive position, which can be used to negate an enemy’s advantage over longer-range weapons by forcing them to leave cover in order to engage.

However, on this occasion, Iraqi forces made a fatal mistake by digging in their tanks too far from the ridge. This meant their guns couldn’t reach the ridge, whereas the longer-ranged M1A1 guns could.

The US tanks selected their targets and opened fire, resulting in immediate carnage down below. They quickly realized they were out of range of the Iraqi tanks, so they halted their advance and took advantage of their situation.

The Iraqi tankers scrambled to fire their tanks and attempted to return fire on the Americans, but they were out of range and virtually invisible on top of the ridge.

Without any accurate return fire, the 350 American tanks had free reign over the enemy.

As if that wasn’t enough, UH-64 Apache helicopters arrived and began firing Hellfire missiles at Iraqi tanks. In addition, A-10 Warthogs claimed a number of enemy tanks during their deadly strafing runs.

An Iraqi artillery battery opened fire on the US tanks, but their efforts were also ineffective. While this artillery was more than capable of reaching the Americans with corrections, they were never delivered due to chaos and poor visibility.

The US artillery was able to pinpoint the locations of the Iraqi artillery pieces and began counter-battery fire, quickly silencing the only enemy weapons capable of causing damage.

After two hours, the battle was over. During that time, US forces destroyed 186 Iraqi tanks and nearly 200 additional armored vehicles and artillery pieces.

In return, the United States lost four tanks, an A-10, two attack helicopters, and two infantry fighting vehicles. There is speculation that the destroyed US tanks were targeted by friendly fire.

The battle was one of the final large-scale confrontations of the Gulf War and was soon followed by a major Iraqi retreat. This effort was hampered by bombings and attacks by coalition forces.

Coalition forces were so dominant that an offer for a cease-fire was drawn up, in part to address fears of a negative public reaction for continuing to attack an already devastated enemy.

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