Marine Corps’ M60A1 Tanks in Desert Storm
When American forces went to war against Iraq in 1991, the U.S. Army entered battle with the M1 Abrams.
Many United States Marines went to war in something considerably older.
The M60A1 Patton.
The basic M60 design dated to the Cold War confrontation of the late 1950s and early 1960s. By Operation Desert Storm, Marine M60A1s represented an earlier generation of American tank design.
But the Marines had upgraded their tanks, trained their crews and prepared them for combat.
When the ground war began on February 24, 1991, Marine M60A1s rolled across the Saudi border and into Kuwait.
Within days, they would help smash through Iraqi defenses, engage enemy armor and participate in the liberation of Kuwait.
An Old Tank Preparing for a New War
Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990.
The United States quickly began deploying forces to Saudi Arabia as part of Operation Desert Shield, intended initially to prevent further Iraqi expansion.
Marine forces poured into the region.
Among them came Marine tank battalions equipped primarily with the M60A1.
The situation presented a serious challenge.
The M60 had entered American service decades earlier. The Army was already transitioning heavily to the newer M1 Abrams.
The Marines, however, had continued operating upgraded M60A1s.
Those upgrades would prove important.
The M60A1 RISE/Passive
Marine tanks deployed to the Persian Gulf included the M60A1 RISE/Passive, incorporating improvements made during the long service life of the M60.
RISE stood for Reliability Improved Selected Equipment.
Among the most important improvements for combat in the Gulf were enhanced night-fighting capabilities and other upgrades that helped keep the aging tank effective.
Many Marine M60A1s were also fitted with explosive reactive armor, giving the tanks their distinctive block-covered appearance during Desert Storm.
The additional protection was intended to improve survivability against shaped-charge weapons.
Underneath those upgrades, however, the M60A1 remained a conventional Cold War tank.
Its crew consisted of four Marines:
Commander.
Gunner.
Loader.
Driver.
Its primary weapon was the 105mm M68 cannon.
And in February 1991, Marine tank crews were preparing to use it in combat.
Facing the Iraqi Army
The Iraqi military that occupied Kuwait was enormous.
Its forces had months to prepare defensive positions consisting of trenches, bunkers, minefields, obstacles and fortified lines.
Iraq also possessed thousands of armored vehicles.
Among them were Soviet-designed T-54s, T-55s and T-62s, along with other tanks and armored vehicles.
More modern Iraqi formations operated variants of the T-72.
The Marines therefore faced the possibility of significant armored combat.
But the coming battle would not simply be tank against tank.
Marine infantry, artillery, engineers, aviation and armor would work together as a combined-arms force.
The M60A1 would be one piece of that larger Marine assault.
The Ground War Begins
After weeks of coalition air attacks, the ground offensive began on February 24, 1991.
The 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions attacked northward toward Kuwait.
Before Marine armor could race into the open desert, the divisions first had to penetrate prepared Iraqi defensive belts.
Engineers opened lanes through minefields and obstacles.
Assault units moved through the breaches.
M60A1s followed, providing heavy direct fire against Iraqi positions and armored vehicles.
The desert rapidly filled with smoke, burning vehicles and surrendering Iraqi troops.
But resistance had not disappeared.
There would still be tank battles ahead.
The Battle of the Burqan Oil Field
As Marines advanced deeper into Kuwait, Iraqi forces set hundreds of oil wells on fire.
Thick black smoke rolled across the battlefield.
Day could suddenly become almost night.
Visibility collapsed.
For Marine tank crews, the environment was surreal.
M60A1s moved through smoke, sand, burning oil and wreckage while searching for Iraqi positions.
Thermal sights became enormously valuable.
Enemy vehicles that were difficult to see with the naked eye could sometimes be detected through the smoke by their heat signatures.
The ability to fight under those conditions gave Marine tank crews a major advantage.
The Reveille Engagement
One of the best-known Marine armored engagements of Desert Storm occurred on February 25.
Elements of the 1st Marine Division encountered Iraqi armored forces in what became known as the Reveille engagement.
Marine tanks and anti-armor forces engaged Iraqi vehicles at ranges where training, fire control and crew proficiency became decisive.
The 105mm gun of the M60A1 remained lethal against the Iraqi armor the Marines encountered.
Marine tank crews identified targets, fired and continued moving north.
The supposedly outdated M60 was demonstrating that an older tank in the hands of a well-trained crew could still be extremely dangerous.
Task Force Ripper
One of the major Marine formations driving toward Kuwait City was Task Force Ripper, the 1st Marine Division's mechanized assault force.
Its tanks, infantry and other armored vehicles pushed through Iraqi defenses during the rapid advance.
Marine M60A1s operated alongside infantry mounted in assault amphibious vehicles and other elements of the division.
This was the Marine combined-arms concept in action.
Tanks provided protected firepower.
Infantry cleared positions and protected the armor.
Engineers opened routes through obstacles.
Artillery struck enemy positions farther ahead.
Marine aircraft attacked Iraqi forces from above.
Together, they kept moving.
Fighting Through the Oil Fires
Perhaps the most striking images of Marine armor during Desert Storm came from Kuwait's burning oil fields.
Iraqi forces had ignited hundreds of wells as they withdrew.
Huge columns of smoke covered the sky.
Oil coated vehicles and Marines.
In some locations, the smoke became so dense that crews were operating in near darkness during daylight hours.
Through that landscape came the M60A1s.
Their reactive armor blocks became covered with grime and oil. Crews worked in conditions that looked almost apocalyptic.
Yet the Marine advance continued.
The very technology developed for fighting at night helped tank crews operate through the artificial darkness created by the burning oil fields.
M60 Against T-62
Marine tank crews encountered Iraqi T-55s and T-62s during the campaign.
On paper, these were machines from roughly the same Cold War generation as the M60.
What separated the opposing forces was about far more than armor thickness or gun size.
Training mattered.
Maintenance mattered.
Gunnery mattered.
Coordination mattered.
And the ability of American forces to combine tanks with infantry, artillery and aircraft mattered enormously.
Marine crews had trained repeatedly to locate and engage enemy armor quickly.
When the opportunity came, they put that training into practice.
The Liberation of Kuwait
The ground campaign moved with astonishing speed.
Coalition forces shattered Iraqi formations in Kuwait while the larger coalition offensive swept around Iraqi positions farther west.
Marine units continued driving toward Kuwait City.
By February 27, coalition and Kuwaiti forces were entering the capital.
The Iraqi occupation was collapsing.
The following day, offensive operations were suspended.
The ground war had lasted approximately 100 hours.
For Marine M60A1 crews, months of preparation had culminated in four days of rapid, violent armored warfare.
The End of an Era
Desert Storm represented one of the final combat chapters for the M60 in American service.
The Marine Corps was already moving toward the M1A1 Abrams, and the transition accelerated following the Gulf War.
Marine M1A1s also participated in Desert Storm, with the 2nd Marine Division receiving Army tanks to augment its forces.
The future was clear.
The Abrams would become the Marine Corps' primary battle tank.
The M60's long American career was ending.
But before it disappeared, the old tank had been given one more war.
The Old Tank That Went to Kuwait
The M60A1 was not the most advanced American tank on the battlefield in 1991.
It didn't need to be.
Marine tank crews knew their vehicles.
They understood their weapons.
They had trained to fight as part of a Marine air-ground team.
When the order came to cross into Kuwait, they took a tank whose design belonged to an earlier era and drove it straight into one of the largest armored campaigns since World War II.
They breached Iraqi defenses.
They fought through burning oil fields.
They destroyed enemy armor.
And they helped liberate Kuwait.
Within a few years, the M60A1 would largely disappear from Marine Corps service.
But it went out fighting.
For the Marine Corps' M60A1, Desert Storm was the last great battle of a Cold War warrior.