M1's don't float

A little action photo from 1988 3rd ID 3-63 Armor. Good thing he had the driver's hatch closed. We were in formation at night and the entire platoon got stuck in formation. This guy found a bomb crater.

That is not the standard muzzle plug.

We were in formation at night and the entire platoon got stuck in formation.

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I bet someone got an azz chewing over that manuver.

Yes, the could not recover until AM. If I remember we had to strap 2 tanks together for that one. No M88 was getting that one out.
We were up against a platoon of Leopard 1's in the woodline. Miles gear going off all night. That was the only time we got whipped by the Leo 1's.

Hey, I was with the 3rd Herd also, at Ray Barracks with the 54th FSB. Did my battalion time in 8th ID though at Mannheim.

OK...I was just a light infantry ground pounder...so pardon my ignorance but...don't you guys use scouts ahead of those beasts?

nice picture, was it in the winter there. i hope not., i hated to clean the tanks and hoffman devices, but like to fire them, did a reforger in 83, started a monsgloblock, then in to holland, then to muster, then railed back to monsgoblack. i got to go to amsterdam.fun time. 83 -88 19e 19k

LOL I new tanks made big targets, but didnt know they were great anchors to! Let me guess yall were in defilade!

Lightfighters lead the way! ( 11B )

Let's see 1 M1 stuck fender deep = mire factor of 4 X 68 tons = M88 crews worst nightmare!

We were not using scouts because our LT. was showing off the M1. Turned into a turkey shoot for the Germans.

I did get to drive the Leopard later that week. Kind of similar to M60 but more fwd speeds.

We were in Wilflecken if I remember correctly. Cleaning these things was great fun, sometimes an all day event.

any way to get a bigger image?

Been there 19Kilo...also Graf, Hoenfelds, Tenneloe etc. 1979-1982.
Stationed in Erlangen..1st Armored Division...had 3 tank battalions and one mech infantry battalion (1/46th Inf Mech).
I think the tanks were M60..A1 or A2? at that time?

I feel for ya 19Kilo...when ya get a tank stuck...it's a bad thing

WOW! LOL! Thats terrible!

I was in Kitzingen. I remember all the lovely training areas mentioned. Miss it now. Hated it then. I actually got an M1 airborn once. Maybe 2 inches, but there was daylight.

Think I saw something in a spoof on 'Tankers' about the "Adventures of Tank Mouse" where the idea was to remember the M-1 is not amphibious or something like that. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll get the whole "Tank Mouse" thing posted here. Its a riot, unless you're a real serious tanker. Thinks like "its impolite to refer to Infantry as 'speed bumps' or "Crunchies", how night vision only works during the day or on base, other things that when seen with the background are funny. I'm not a computer friendly person so it may take a bit, or a bit of help from the guy who keeps me from reducing this box to "its basic component parts".

I was 3-66AR at Ft. Hood, 2nd AD (02/87-06/8 then on to 2nd AD Forward (06/88-12/89, Garstedt, FRG) in a COHORT move. Went to Graf, Hohenfels and an NTC rotation.

I put an M1 into a def. position at Hood in the middle of the night. Look like the dog-gone Titanic sinking on dry land. Took two 88's to get her out. Man, they razzed me for days about that one.

I feel for you brother!

Funny how we hated it then, but miss it now.

I was 1SG in A Co, 12th Engineer Bn, 8th ID 82-85 Dexheim. Seems like if we weren't in the field we were getting ready to go. I wonder how they are living without maneuver damage money.

"crunch crunch crunch can you hear him scream? Running over grunts is a tanker's dream!"

I loved that one.

19 KILO said:

Yes, the could not recover until AM. If I remember we had to strap 2 tanks together for that one. No M88 was getting that one out.
We were up against a platoon of Leopard 1's in the woodline. Miles gear going off all night. That was the only time we got whipped by the Leo 1's.

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I was curious how the M1A1s/M1A2s fair against the Leopard IIs. Any input would be appreciated.

68t said:

nice picture, was it in the winter there. i hope not., i hated to clean the tanks and hoffman devices, but like to fire them, did a reforger in 83, started a monsgloblock, then in to holland, then to muster, then railed back to monsgoblack. i got to go to amsterdam.fun time. 83 -88 19e 19k

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Hmmm, speaking of Hoffman Devices, reminds me of a graded wargame we had at Camp Pendleton in the 80s....2 of our M60A1s broke down in a steep canyon at night, and while trying to repair them part of the Aggressor Forces started popping tear gas at us & sniping at us. After repairing the tanks, our platoon sergeant took several Hoffman charges, wired them together, tied comm wire to the leads, and we threw them near where we thought the Opfor guys were hiding (after we cornered them).

Our platoon sergeant then touched the comm wire to the Miles Gear's 9V battery, and BOOOM! A giant flashbang in the making!!

After a couple of these super-Hoffman flashbangs, we captured the Opfor forces. Adapt and overcome!!!

I was in an Armored unit in the Alabama National Guard in the early 80's and sometimes for weekend drill we would go to Pelham Range (next to Fort McClellan) and the tankers would draw tanks from the UTES and do manuver exercises.

I ususlly drove for the First Sergeant (M151A2) and we would ride around checking on the soldiers during the day.

One weekend we were acting as a scout vehicle and leading the tanks through a low area....it had not rained lately and the ground seemed firm.

The radio started squaking and we turned around in time to see the lead tank (M60A2 I think) slowly being sucked down into the slick Alabama red clay nose first. The front end was completly under and the driver had to close the hatch to keep the mud from coming in.

Appearently it had broken thorgh the crust over an underground spring. Attempts to reverse out were futile and only high centered the tank. It continued to slowly move forward and down....they had to rotate the turret to keep the muzzle of the gun from going into the muck.

The tank commander was freaking out (no doubt remembering that he had signed a hand receipt for the M60).

All the tanks were carrying the heavy tow cables you see on tanks and they quickly hooked one on high ground to the floundering tank. They only succeded in tearing up a lot of real estate and almost gettting the other tank stuck.

The weight of the second tank seemed to be holding the first one from sinking any lower and they callled to the rear for an M-88 Tank Retriever. The 88 rolled up in about a half-hour and hooked a tow cable to the rear of the stuck tank.

The driver gunned it and the 88 just sat there spinning the tracks. They backed up and regrouped and decided to winch it out using mechanical advantage and two huge snatch blocks. They engaged the winch and NADA......the suction of the red clay was holding the tank fast.

They sent back to the UTES for another 88 and finally (many hours later) the tank was slowly winched out of the muck. Everybody involved was cold, wet, muddy and tired.

And that is why I hate tanks.