Posted on 04/04/2013 11:58:49 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
STUTTGART, Germany — The U.S. Army’s 69-year history of basing main battle tanks on German soil quietly ended last month when 22 Abrams tanks, a main feature of armored combat units throughout the Cold War, embarked for the U.S.
The departure of the last M-1 Abrams tanks coincides with the inactivation of two of the Army’s Germany-based heavy brigades. Last year, the 170th Infantry out of Baumholder disbanded. And the 172nd Separate Infantry Brigade at Grafenwöhr is in the process of doing the same.
On March 18, the remaining tanks were loaded up at the 21st Theater Sustainment Command’s railhead in Kaiserslautern where they then made the journey to the shipping port in Bremerhaven, Germany. There they boarded a ship bound for South Carolina.
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
I remember the M-1s in K-town across the river where I was stationed. I remember the 73 Israeli war. We tried to ship a bunch of them on freighters out to Israel from Bremerhaven...the effing NAZI germans wouldn’t allow them to leave.
Does this mean that WWII is finally over?
Did we ever find Hitler?
70 tons....with rubber road treads for the autobahn....I remember driving alongside them.
Don’t mention the war.
The closing of an era.
Thank you to all who kept a watchful eye on the Fulda Gap during those years, and kept western Europe free.
???? is it a secret?
Congress should have let sequestration happen a long time ago.
/sarc mode = off
I love tanks, but I think their day has passed. The only thing they’re good for now is running over unarmed civilians, and we don’t do that. Tanks will continue to be used by many regimes who do like running down civilians.
A $10,000 drone can take out a $10,000,000 tank.
Expect the same thing with piloted attack aircraft. Eventually all devices will be remote or robotic.
The real pisser is that the colonization of space will be done by remote/robotic control! How’s that for crazy?
You think we need to remove our fighting capabilities and store them all in Texas and Arizona and New Mexico?
They weren’t M-1’s in 73 Friend
Had a buddy in Germany in the 80s. Said he was driving on the a-baun at about 60mph (in a jeep) and got passed by a M-1.
Then they put the governors on them. :(
The guy on the right is having a hard time lifting that tank with a rope but the guys underneath are doing a great job of helping.
Weren’t they M-60’s then?
Maybe you are thinking of the M60? The M1 didn't enter service till around 80'.
I think we need to closde down the German and Japanese bases,
bring the troops home.
Where in the hell are our Cold War medals, congress?
Whole lot of years since tanks went nose to nose in Berlin...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.