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Battle Of Medina Ridge




The battle, which was waged over approximately two hours, was the largest tank battle of the war and the largest tank battle in U.S. history. It took place west of Phase Line Kiwi, east of Phase Line Smash, and north of Phase Line Grape. Phase lines are map references occurring every few kilometers used to measure progress of an offensive operation.

The 1st Armored Division, commanded by Major General Ron Griffiths, consisted of some 3,000 vehicles including 166 M1A1 Abrams tanks. The brunt of the fighting at Medina Ridge was conducted by the Division's historic 2nd Brigade, known as the " Iron Brigade ", commanded by Colonel Montgomery Meigs (a descendent of General Montgomery C. Meigs of Civil War fame)."

During the battle, the American forces suffered only one KIA while destroying 186 Iraqi tanks (mostly Soviet built T-72 s and T-55 s) and 127 armored vehicles. Thirty-eight of the tanks were eliminated by six U.S. AH-64 Apache s from 3 mi (5 km) away at night and in rain.


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