page_title: Tanks in the Soviet Union
section_title: Persian Gulf War
hierarchical_section_title: Tanks in the Soviet Union / Post Cold War / Persian Gulf War
caption_attribution_description: English: A destroyed Iraqi T-55 main battle tank, painted with graffiti by Coalition troops, lies amidst other destroyed vehicles along the highway between Kuwait City and Basra, Iraq, following the retreat of Iraqi forces from Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. An IFA truck is behind. VIRIN: DF-ST-92-08469
context_section_description: During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the Iraqi armor was usually tanks of Russian design, which included the T-54/55, T-62, Type 59, Type 69, and T-72. In the Battle of Khafji, the first major ground engagement of the Gulf War, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, tried and failed to draw Coalition troops into a costly ground engagements with his armoured forces and sent the 1st and 5th Mechanized Divisions and 3rd Armored Division to conduct a multi-pronged invasion toward Khafji, engaging American, Saudi and Qatari forces along the coastline. 
  Most non-Republican Guard armored units had older tank designs, but the 3rd Armored Division had a number of T-72 tanks, the only non-Republican Guard force to have them, while the other armored battalions had T-62s and upgraded T-55s.
  During the battle of Khafji, these upgraded T-55s survived impacts from Milan anti-tank missiles. As the units moved to the Saudi border, many were attacked by Coalition aircraft. Around the Al-Wafrah forest, about 1,000 Iraqi armored fighting vehicles were attacked by Harrier aircraft with Rockeye cluster bombs. Another Iraqi convoy of armored vehicles was hit by A-10s, which destroyed the first and last vehicles, before systematically attacking the stranded remainder. The air raids destroyed many tanks and support vehicles and prevented the majority of the Iraqi troops deployed for the offensive from taking part in it, allowing Saudi and Quatari forces to retake the city.
  In the launch of the main Allied ground attack, the Iraqi tanks engaged the M60A1 tanks of the U.S. Marines which were fitted with add-on explosive reactive armor (ERA) packages. However, the weakness of Iraq's older Soviet-era tanks, was most evident against the US M1A1 tank. The M1A1 tank was superior to Iraq's Soviet-era T-55 and T-62 tanks.
  In the Battle of 73 Easting, which was a decisive tank battle fought on 26 February 1991, during the Gulf War, between American–British armored forces and those of the Iraqi Republican Guard. Superior American night vision equipment turned the poor weather into a U.S. advantage.
  The 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2nd ACR), mainly a reconnaissance element of VII Corps along with the corps's vanguard the American 3rd Armored Division (3rd AD) and 1st Infantry Division (1st ID), and the British 1st Armoured Division (1 AD) engaged and smashed Iraqi forces and tanks.
  One of 2nd ACR's cavalry units, G- ("Ghost") Troop, initially destroyed several Iraqi armored personnel carriers and three enemy tanks. Reaching 70 Easting, the lead cavalry troops of 2nd "Cougar" Squadron knocked out a screen of eight Iraqi T-72 tanks. The 2nd ACR surprised the enemy and penetrated the Iraqi positions so quickly that they were unable to recover. E-Troop attacked forward and destroyed the Iraqi tanks at 73 Easting at close range.  The Iraqis stood their ground while their tanks and armored personnel carriers of the Tawakalna Division attempted to maneuver and fight. E-Troop destroyed more than 20 tanks and other armored vehicles, a number of trucks and bunkers, and took a large number of prisoners with no losses to themselves. Other 2nd ACR Troops, I- ("Iron"), K- ("Killer"), and G- ("Ghost"), joined the fighting at 73 Easting and engaged several waves of Iraqi T-72 and T-55 tanks advancing directly into G-Troop. G-Troop lost one M3 Bradley to Iraqi IFV fire and one soldier, ending with most of the engaged Iraqi elements burning or destroyed.
  The 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division of the British Army, engaged the Tawakalna Division, while the Medina Division was attempting to maneuver against 1st Armoured Division. The British responded decisively with MLRS fire, cannon artillery, and air strikes and destroyed 40 enemy tanks and captured an Iraqi division commander. The 2nd ACR's three squadrons, along with the 1st Infantry Division's two leading brigades, destroyed two Iraqi brigades (18th Mechanized Brigade and 37th Armored Brigade) of the Tawakalna Division. The 2nd ACR alone destroyed about 85 tanks, 40 personnel carriers and more than 30 wheeled vehicles, along with
caption: An Iraqi T-55 tank, lies amidst other wreckage along the highway between Kuwait City and Basra in April 1991
exif: {}