M1 Abrams Tank: Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives

221 Pages·2015·12.61 MB·English

by  Wilson

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by
PEN & SWORD MILITARY
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Pen & Sword Books Ltd
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Copyright © Michael Green, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-47383-423-1
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Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Notes to the Reader
Chapter One
Abrams Background History
Chapter Two
M1 through M1A1 Abrams Tanks
Chapter Three
M1A2 Abrams Tanks
Chapter Four
Marine Corps Abrams Tanks
Chapter Five
Firepower Close-Up
Chapter Six
Specialized Vehicles and Accessory Kits
Dedication
I
would like to dedicate this book to the late Dr Philip W. Lett, Jr. considered
to be the father of the M1 Abrams tank. He was the head of the Chrysler
Corporation Defense Division design and development team for the vehicle,
which later became part of General Dynamics Land Systems Division. Prior to
working on the M1 Abrams tank he played an important role in the design and
development of both the M48 and M60 series of tanks.
A
Acknowledgments s with any
published work, authors must
depend on a great many
people for assistance. These included
over many years, my fellow author,
and my long-time mentor, the late
Richard Hunnicutt. Others who
greatly assisted me in acquiring the
research information and
photographs needed for this work
include Randy Talbot, the Command
historian for the TACOM Life Cycle
Management Command (LCMC),
and Peter Keating, director of
communications for the Land
Systems Division of General
Dynamics (GDLS).
The US Army Brotherhood of Tankers (USABOT) also provided valuable
assistance in the preparation of this work. The organization is committed to
preserving the history of US Army tankers and their tanks. Those interested in
joining USABOT can find the information needed on their website
(www.usabot.org). Additional pictures were acquired from the Defense Video &
Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS). For the sake of brevity, it will be listed
as DOD in the photo credits.
Foreword
T
he mantra of the tanker is to move, shoot, and communicate. No better
tank was ever created to do this than the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank.
In its various stages of evolution over the past four decades, no vehicle in the
history of land warfare has been able to accomplish these three core
requirements better than this tank. Not only is it fast and highly mobile, but it
can destroy targets with a first round hit thousands of meters away in day or
night while on the move, and can communicate by providing key battlefield
information to the crew regardless of the chaos of battle.
When I was first introduced to the M1 as a young soldier it was like nothing I
had seen before. Sleek, fast, and with the latest technology, it was a vision of the
future. I would go on to serve on other armored vehicles before I was finally able
to command an M1A1 in 1988 while serving as the commander of Delta
Company, 3rd Battalion, 35th Armor, 1st Armored Division in Germany.
The Cold War was beginning to thaw at that time, although there was plenty
of uncertainty in the minds of soldiers serving in Europe. The training was still
rigorous with semi-annual tank gunnery exercises where we fired hundreds of
main gun rounds and thousands of machine gun bullets against tough standards.
Field training was equally demanding with the creation of the Combat Maneuver
Training Center (CMTC) at Hohenfels, Germany, nicknamed ‘NTC-East’ in
homage to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. And of course
there were frequent alerts, deployments to local assembly areas, and exercises in
our general defensive positions.
Had the Cold War gone hot, the tankers serving on the front lines of Europe
would have deployed to their battle positions in the best tank in the world. The
armored protection, power of the main gun, and Nuclear-Biological-Chemical
protection it provided would have allowed the crews to not only engage and
destroy enemy forces, but to live to fight another day.
Many of these same highly trained M1A1 crews who witnessed the fall of the
Berlin Wall and the end of the Warsaw Pact found themselves facing a new
enemy not even identified in early 1990. When US forces engaged the Iraqi
Army in February of 1991, the performance of the M1A1 tank proved that it was
a magnificent fighting machine.
When the Abrams rolled in Bosnia a few years later, the opposing forces
knew immediately that this was not a vehicle to tangle with. And, when US
forces rolled again into Iraq in 2003, it was Army tank battalions that led
‘Thunder Runs’ into the heart of Baghdad to formalize the end of the Hussein
regime. This most battle tested tank of modern warfare had made its mark in
history.
Author Michael Green has produced an exceptional work on the M1 series
tank that is easy to follow and understand. Green captures how the Army has
upgraded and adapted the Abrams to meet the changing combat environment it
must operate in; from the plains of Central Europe, to battles fought in the
deserts of the Middle East, and in large urban environments. His easy to follow
narrative and photos make this a read to be enjoyed by veteran tankers, history
buffs, and those who simply want to learn about the history, and future, of this
great tank.
Colonel (retired) John D. Blumenson, US Army Reserve