6 Most Massive Tank Battles in U.S. History

Here are 6 times American tank units found themselves massively fighting it out with enemy armor:

Photo: US Army Sgt. Bill Augustine

When the Germans assaulted Allied Lines in what would become the Battle of the Bulge, U.S. tanks and infantry struggled to hold the line against the nearly 1,000 tanks and over 200,000 troops that struck on a 75-mile front.

Tanks with the 7th, 9th, and 10th Armored Divisions helped the infantry hold the lines as the Germans attacked, and tanks operating under Patton’s Third Army spearheaded to effort to save the 101st Airborne Division. The tank that led that rescue effort survived the war and was rediscovered in 2008.

2. Battle of Norfolk 

Photo: US Department of Defense

Fourteen coalition and Iraqi divisions fought each other at the Battle of Norfolk, the last battle of the Persian Gulf War. Four U.S. and British divisions plus elements of two more destroyed Iraqis fighting in eight divisions, including the elite Tawakalna Republican Guard Division.

The battle opened with a massive artillery and rocket bombardment that fired almost 20,000 artillery and rocket rounds, destroying 22 Iraqi battalions and hundreds of artillery pieces. Tanks and Apache helicopters moved forward, slaughtering their way through Iraqi resistance. The Tawakalna Republican Guard Division and ten other Iraqi divisions were destroyed in the fighting. The U.S. lost six men.

3. Battle of Arracourt 

Photo: Public Domain

The Battle of Arracourt from Sep. 18 to 29, 1944, was the largest tank battle the U.S. had conducted up to that point in history and saw the American forces brilliantly destroy two Panzer Brigades and additional units from two Panzer divisions.

The U.S. commander used true combined arms artillery, infantry, airpower and armor to win. On one fog-covered morning, the Shermans flanked the Panzers and took out 11 in a single attack. The 12-day battle in Eastern France ended with 86 German tanks destroyed and 114 damaged or broken down from an original total of only 262.

4. Battle of Sidi Bou Zid 

Photo: US Army Signal Corps

The Battle of Sidi Bou Zid took place within the Battle of Kasserine Pass. German Gen. Heinz Zeigler led over 200 tanks, including two veteran Panzer divisions. Meanwhile, the American forces were a single understrength division with only 7 of its 13 maneuver battalions. Worse, many of the units were still using the technologically inferior M3 General Grant tanks.

The U.S. units were quickly pushed back and then surrounded on a series of hilltops. After days of hard fighting, the U.S. retreated and left the cutoff forces. American units lost over 2,500 men and had 103 tanks destroyed.

5. Battle of Medina Ridge 

Photo: US Marine Corps Jeremy Fasci

Over 100 U.S. tanks raced towards about 100 Iraqi tanks that were dug into defensive positions at the Battle of Medina Ridge in Apr. 1991. The fights was one-sided as the Americans had air support and tanks that could fire from nearly twice as far as the Iraqis. After only 40 minutes, most of the Iraqi tanks were burning in their holes while the Americans continued their advance.

6. Battle of 73 Easting

Photo: US Navy PHC D. W. Holmes II

The Americans cut a five-kilometer-wide swath through the Iraqi division and then their brothers in Ghost, Killer, and Iron Troops joined the fight. By the time the U.S. stopped firing to ask for the Iraqis’ surrender, 1,000 Iraqi soldiers had been killed and 85 tanks, 40 armored vehicles, 30 other vehicles, and two artillery batteries had been destroyed. Most of the Iraqis quickly surrendered.

This article originallyl appeared at We Are the Mighty.