![]() ![]() ![]() Since Desert Storm, few nations have had the military capability to go head-to-head with the United States in modern conventional combat. The Battle of 73 Easting was a kill-or-be-killed slugfest of armor that historians consider the most intense battle of the first Gulf War. The battle was named for a simple line on a map that gave reference to the otherwise featureless desert of southern Iraq. It was the third day of the ground war, and the armored clash between Saddam Hussein’s Tawakalna Republican Guard Division and the 2nd ACR would be called the Battle of 73 Easting. It took him years to realize that he and his comrades had made history that day. Today, the 45-year-old has the strong frame of a former football player and the straightforward manner of someone who once had to armor himself for the worst. “Basically, wherever my tank was, that was the front line of the troop.” As the troop commander’s tank driver, Hedenskog knew their M1A1 Abrams - codenamed Eagle 66 – would lead the attack. ![]() Turrets were thrown into the air so high I lost sight of them.”ĭeep in the armored bow of his tank, several feet in front of the rest of the crew, Hedenskog was literally the tip of General Norman Schwarzkopf’s armored spear stabbing into Iraq. #BATTLE OF 73 EASTING GREATEST TANK BATTLES FULL#Full bodies were thrown from the turrets. “When we hit them, the ammo in the T-72s would explode. No books, no movies, nothing can prepare you for how tanks kill people,” said Hedenskog, now a Firestone resident. “We were told to prepare ourselves mentally with every conceivable scenario we could imagine, but it was beyond anything you can conceive. ![]()
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