Battle of 73 Easting 1991
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 26 February 1991 – 27 February 1991 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1991 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Post-1945 (1946 onwards) | derived from year |
| Location | Iraq | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Gulf War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Ba'athist Iraq, Frederick M. Franks, Jr., H. R. McMaster, Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., Salah Aboud Mahmoud, United Kingdom, United States | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 29.5447, 46.6258 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of 73 Easting was fought on 26 February 1991, during the Gulf War, between Coalition armored forces (US VII Corps and UK 1st Armoured Division) and Iraqi armored forces (Republican Guard and Tawakalna Division). It was named for a UTM north–south coordinate line (an "Easting", measured in kilometers and readable on GPS receivers) that was used as a phase line by Coalition forces to measure their progress through the desert. The battle was later described by Lt. John Mecca, a participant, as "the last great tank battle of the 20th century." This battle took place several hours after another, smaller, tank battle at Al Busayyah.
The main U.S. unit in the battle was the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2nd ACR), a 4,500 man reconnaissance and security element assigned to VII Corps. It consisted of three ground squadrons (1st, 2nd and 3rd), an attack helicopter squadron (4th), and a support squadron. Each ground squadron was made up of three cavalry troops, a tank company, a self-propelled howitzer battery, and a headquarters troop. Each troop comprised 120 soldiers, 12–13 M3 Bradley fighting vehicles and nine M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of 73 Easting (revision 1380511319), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Wadi al-Batin 1991 · 43 km
- Battle of Phase Line Bullet 1991 · 45 km
- Battle of Medina Ridge 1991 · 76 km
- Battle of Al Busayyah 1991 · 80 km
- Battle of the Bridges 1990 · 98 km
- Battle for Jalibah Airfield 1991 · 111 km
Other battles of the Gulf War
- Battle of Dasman Palace 1990
- Battle of Failaka 1990
- Battle of the Bridges 1990
- Battle for Jalibah Airfield 1991
- Battle of Al Busayyah 1991
- Battle of Khafji 1991
- Battle of Medina Ridge 1991
- Battle of Phase Line Bullet 1991
- Battle of Rumaila 1991
- Battle of Wadi al-Batin 1991
All 12 battles of the Gulf War →
Browse more: battles in Iraq · Asia · Post-1945 battles