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The M1A1 Abrams tank to which Pfc. Nicholaus E. Zimmer was assigned was designed with the purpose of preserving the lives of crew members. But Zimmer was killed when the tank came under attack Sunday from rocket-propelled grenades, which should not have been able to penetrate the tank's armor. Details of the attack and how Zimmer, of southern Delaware County, died were sketchy yesterday. "We know it was RPGs and he was assigned to a tank, and the tank came under attack," said Cathy Gramling, a Defense Department spokeswoman. "But we don't know the circumstances." Zimmer could have been struck...

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2004 -- Commanders on the ground in Iraq are getting all the armored protection they determine necessary to do the job, the operations chief for U.S. Central Command told Pentagon reporters today. Marine Maj. Gen. John F. Sattler, speaking via teleconference from U.S. Central Command's forward headquarters in Qatar, said ground commanders' requests for additional M1A1 tanks, "up-armored" humvees and kits to up-armor vehicles already in the theater are being filled quickly and completely. The requests came from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force operating in western Iraq and the 1st Infantry Division in north-central Iraq. The last...

AL AZIZIYAH, Iraq – The Iraqis fired rocket-propelled grenades from behind a taxi parked along a distant canal. One grenade zipped across the nose of an armored amphibious vehicle and exploded in the dirt. That angered Maj. Andrew Bianca, executive officer of the Marines' 2nd Tank Battalion. Sheathed in aluminum plate, the tracked amphibious vehicles known as amtracks can withstand rifle fire, but not rocket grenades. And Maj. Bianca's support team was in amtracks. He ordered his tank crew to fire a round at the Iraqis. The 120 mm cannon barrel dropped slightly, then erupted with smoke and flame. The...

Tanks for the Memory By Ralph Kinney Bennett TCS One of the enduring images of the recent war in Iraq is a column of M-1A1 Abrams tanks barreling down the streets of Baghdad on a "thunder run," deep into the city. This spring, American tanks in Iraq gave a small reprise of their astounding successes in the 1991 Gulf War. The superiority of both American and British tanks (and their superbly trained crews) was beyond question. When they engaged Iraqi armor directly, their ability to get off the vital first shot and make it count was decisive. Iraq is littered...