Because of Saddam’s words, two elite divisions were wiped out in 40 minutes. What did he say?

As we all know, Saddam was once a representative figure of the Middle East powers and was known as an anti-American fighter. Saddam himself was very bellicose and invaded Iran in the 1980s after the Iran-Iraq War. Iraq invaded Kuwait, ultimately angering the United States. In the Gulf War, the United States defeated Saddam Hussein.

Some people may say that since Iraq was so wealthy at that time, why did it not listen to the advice of the United States and resolutely refuse to withdraw its troops from Kuwait, which ultimately led to the United States turning to Iraq with weapons? In fact, Iraq was very arrogant at the time. Saddam spent huge sums of money to import a large amount of advanced equipment from the Soviet Union. At that time, the overall equipment level of the Iranian Air Force, Air Defense Force and Army was even more advanced than that of our country. Therefore, Saddam believes that relying on his familiar terrain and elite troops, he can give the United States a fight.

At that time, Saddam's two elite armored divisions were in Kuwait and did not withdraw their troops. Iraqi officers once told Saddam that they should beware of US military attacks from the flanks of western Kuwait. However, Saddam and most Iraqi military officers at the time were very confident. Because southern Iraq and western Kuwait are vast deserts with raging sandstorms, Saddam once said that even the locals have no way to get out of that desert. It was this sentence that led to Saddam's two elite armored divisions being ruined in vain.

What Saddam didn’t know was that at that time, the US GPS positioning system had been networked and was running. At that time, the U.S. Army's M1A1HA main battle tanks had already been equipped with data links, which could share information in real time on the battlefield. At that time, two regiments of the U.S. Army's 7th Division crossed the vast desert and faced huge sandstorms to kill. The Iraqi army was caught off guard. Of course, the Iraqi army is also well prepared for the two divisions deployed in Kuwait. They are the two most elite divisions among Saddam's five mechanized divisions. They are all equipped with Soviet T-72 main battle tanks and BMP infantry fighting vehicles.

After the encounter between the two sides, the United States used its advanced thermal imaging cameras and other equipment to catch Iraq off guard. Amidst the billowing sand and dust, the Iraqi tank soldiers did not even know where the attack came from. The M1A1HA main battle tank at that time was able to destroy the Iraqi T-72 main battle tank at a long distance. But the T-72 main battle tank can hardly penetrate the depleted uranium armor of the M1A1HA. In this battle, the American Bradley infantry fighting vehicle also made a lot of achievements, using Dow anti-tank missiles and machine guns to destroy a large number of Iraqi tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.

In the end, in just 40 minutes, the US military destroyed 157 T-72 main battle tanks. In the end, all 186 Iraqi tanks and 127 infantry fighting vehicles were destroyed, and all troops from the two divisions were killed or captured. However, only one tank on the US side was damaged due to hitting a mine. Due to the severe sandstorm weather, there was no air support involved in this battle. It was completely a battle between American armored forces and Iraqi armored forces. Therefore, it is also known as the last pure large-scale tank showdown of the last century. Saddam's words also exposed his underestimation and ignorance.