Photo Album 27 - The Mother of all Battles

MODERN ERA DIORAMAS

"The Mother of all Battles" - Desert Storm

M1-A1 Abrams

Iraqi T-72

Above: Operation Desert Storm. An American M1-A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank (MBT) rolls by a knocked out Iraqi Soviet made T-72 MBT. A victim of an earlier battle, the T-72 lies derelict and burned out on the side of the road. Strewn alongside are woven Arab blankets, buckets, ration boxes and other debris of war.

Above: A top view of the Abrams. The model is actually an M1 that I converted into an M1-A1 by adding the thermal sight on the top of the turret, as well as upgrading the gun from the older 105mm to a 120mm. The tank is named for Creighton Abrams, one of George Patton's favorite tank commanders, who later became Army Chief of Staff. The purpose of this MBT is to provide mobile firepower for armored formations of sufficient capability to close with and destroy any opposing armored fighting vehicle in the world, while providing protection for the crew in any known combat environment. The Abrams is capable of engaging the enemy in any weather, day or night. The orange tarp is for aerial identification for friendly air power. This crew has given their tank an appropriate name!

Above: The back of the turret on the M1-A1. As in previous wars, modern US tank crews carry a ton of extra equipment on their MBTs. Most of this equipment seen here is built from scratch. Bedrolls and back packs are made from tissue and/or clay.

Above: The tank commander takes a gander at the T-72 as his tank rolls by. He mans an updated version of the venerable Browning .50 caliber machine gun, a WWI design by John Browning that marches on. Note the desert colored body armor over the standard NATO/US type Euro uniform.

Above: The Iraqi T-72. This MBT has taken several hits from an American Abrams in the right fender. Easily penetrating the Soviet armor, the AP rounds have "brewed up" the Iraqi tank. The intense fire has buckled many thinner metal parts on the tank, including the rear engine panels. The right track has broken loose, and the rubber on the road wheels has melted and flaked on the ground beside the tank.The side "skirt" armor has been blasted away by the hits. Additional small hits from a CBU, or cluster bomb unit, can be seen on the rear right fender. A CBU is a container, dropped from an attack aircraft, that breaks apart and releases dozens of small, armor piercing "bomblets" that are meant to destroy groups of armored vehicles. Smoke has blackened every opening in the tank, including the driver's viewport in the front glacis plate. The "V" on the front of the tank is to divert water away from the driver's view when the tank is fording a river. The sign in the background welcomes Allied forces into sunny Iraq, courtesy of the 24th Mechanized Division of the US Army.