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Battle of the Somme (1916) -

The Battle of the Somme is recognized as one of the deadliest military engagements in all of human history. What isn't so well known is that the battle marked the first time the tank was used in warfare.

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Battle of the Somme (1916) -

The first to use tanks in combat were the British, on September 15, 1916, at Flers-Courcelette during the infamous battle. In fact, the name "tank" comes from British attempts to ensure the secrecy of the new weapons under the guise of water tanks while they were being developed.

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Battle of the Somme (1916) -

These early tanks were slow and unreliable. Of the 49 machines deployed that day, only 25 actually moved forward at the start of the attack.

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Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux (1918) -

World War I also saw the first occasion on which tanks fought against each other, at the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. It took place from April 24 to 27, 1918.

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Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux (1918) -

The battle was the biggest and most successful tank action of the German Army in the First World War and proved the battle-worthiness of the A7V 'Wotan'—the only tanks produced by Germany in the Great War to be used in combat.

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Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux (1918) -

The fighting around Villers-Bretonneux was brutal. Australian brigades had taken 2,473 casualties, British casualties were 9,529, and French losses were upwards of 3,500. German losses were 8,000–10,400 men. Pictured are refugees examining the ruins of their homes after the battle.

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Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) -

Fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from 1937 to 1945 as part of World War II, the Second Sino-Japanese War witnessed both countries deploying large forces including tanks and airplanes along the Khalkhin River in the north of Manchuria.

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Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) -

Tanks saw action at the Battle of Taierzhuang, fought from March 24 to April 7, 1938. It ended with a major Chinese victory.

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Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) -

The capture of Nanking by Japanese troops in January 1938 saw dozens of tanks rolling into the city. The fall of Nanking is remembered for the mass murder of Chinese civilians by the invading forces.

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Battles of Khalkhin Gol (1939) -

The Battle of Khalkhin Gol in fact comprised several clashes between the Soviet Union and Mongolia against Japan from May 11, 1939 to September 16, 1939.

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Battles of Khalkhin Gol (1939) -

Often called the "Forgotten War," what started as a minor encounter eventually escalated into a full-scale political and military conflict. Russian armor consisted mostly of BT tanks and a few T-26s. The Japanese fielded many Type 95 Ha-Go tanks.

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Battles of Khalkhin Gol (1939) -

The Type 3 'Chi-Wel' medium tank (pictured) was also used by the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol. Ultimately, the combined strength of the Soviet Red Army and Mongolian forces defeated a weaker and less resilient foe.

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Battle of Kursk (1943) -

No less than 6,000 tanks were involved in the Battle of Kursk, which makes it the largest tank battle in history.

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Battle of Kursk (1943) -

The battle began on July 5, 1943, and lasted more than a month. The clash pitched mighty German Tiger and Panther tanks against equally formidable Russian T-34s.

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Battle of Kursk (1943) -

Besides tanks and other assorted armor, an estimated two million troops and 4,000 aircraft took part in the battle, which resulted in a Soviet victory.

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Battle of Prokhorovka (1943) -

The Battle of Prokhorovka, part of the wider Battle of Kursk, took place on July 12, 1943. It occurred when the 5th Guards Tank Army of the Soviet Red Army attacked the II SS-Panzer Corps of the German Waffen-SS.

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Battle of Prokhorovka (1943) -

The number of tanks used on the day at Prokhorovka was around 910—294 German and 616 Soviet.

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Battle of Prokhorovka (1943) -

The ground engagement was violent and harrowing, but ultimately inconclusive. German forces destroyed many Soviet tanks— approximately 359—and temporarily degraded the striking power of the 5th Guards Tank Army, but they were unable to take Prokhorovka. The number of German tanks lost is estimated at 193. Nearly 3,000 men from both sides were killed in action.

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Battle of Arracourt (1944) -

The largest tank vs. tank clash of the Western Front took place near the town of Arracourt in France between September 18-29, 1944, during the Lorraine Campaign. Adolf Hitler massed hundreds of panzers in a desperate bid to halt George S. Patton's Third Army advance. Pictured is Lieutenant Colonel Creighton Abrams, commander of the 37th Tank Battalion, on his M4 command tank. In 1980, the United States Army named its then new main battle tank, the M1 Abrams, after him.

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Battle of Arracourt (1944) -

Despite the fact that the 5th Panzer Army was equipped with tanks superior to American M4 Sherman tanks in frontal armor protection and main gun range, US forces were armed with better intelligence, tactics, and use of terrain.

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Battle of Arracourt (1944) -

At its conclusion, the battle had claimed 86 German tanks while the Americans lost 25. In the struggle for control of Arracourt, over 1,000 members of the Wehrmacht died. American losses numbered nearly 250. The fighting proved a prelude to a far bigger and more decisive showdown just three months later.

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Battle of the Bulge (1944-45) -

A futile attempt by Hitler to push back Allied forces as the Third Reich began to crumble, the Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during the Second World War, fought from December 16, 1944, to January 23, 1945.

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Battle of the Bulge (1944-45) -

The Germans' initial attack involved around 410,000 men and just over 1,000 tanks, many of them Tiger IIs or 'Königstiger' (King Tiger)—the largest and heaviest operational tank fielded by the German Army during the war.

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Battle of the Bulge (1944-45) -

The 6th Panzer Army were up against General Patton's Third Army and its Sherman M4 'Jumbo' tanks. The siege of Bastogne was a centerpiece engagement. The battle is known for the Malmedy massacre, when 84 US prisoners of war were summarily executed by the Waffen-SS.

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Six-Day War (1967) -

The Six-Day War, also known as the Third Arab-Israeli War, began as a preemptive strike by Israel against Egypt in the Sinai.

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Six-Day War (1967) -

In the brief but bloody conflict, fought from June 5-10, 1967, Israel pitted its roughly 800 tanks against the nearly 2,500 tanks of the surrounding Arab nations.

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Six-Day War (1967) -

Israel triumphed in one of the swiftest and most dramatic victories in modern warfare, the conflict claiming more than 20,000 fatal Arab casualties, while Israel suffered fewer than 1,000 fatal casualties.

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Yom Kippur War (1973) -

Six years later, the Yom Kippur War erupted, the fourth of the Arab-Israeli wars, which was initiated by Egypt and Syria on October 6, 1973. The Arab and Israeli armies were well equipped with then state-of-the-art tanks, jets, and missiles from the Soviet Union and West, respectively.

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Yom Kippur War (1973) -

The Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) primary tank in the Yom Kippur War was the American M48A3. In the ensuing battles, Israel lost roughly a 1,000 tanks that were destroyed or temporarily knocked out.

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Yom Kippur War (1973) -

Arab forces, meanwhile, lost 2,500 armored vehicles, most of them Russian-made T-55 and T-62 tanks. The Yom Kippur War illustrated what modern mechanized warfare looked like—but there would be one last major tank battle before the end of the 20th century.

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Battle of 73 Easting (1991) -

Justly described as "the last great tank battle of the 20th century," the Battle of 73 Easting took place between February 26-27, 1991, during the Gulf War.

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Battle of 73 Easting (1991) -

This large-scale military clash pitted the American 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment's M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks against a numerically superior force of Iraqi Republican Guard armor comprised mainly of mostly Russian-sourced tanks.

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Battle of 73 Easting (1991) -

Coalition forces lost just one tank to enemy fire, an M2 Bradley. The Iraqis lost 160 tanks, and had upwards of 1,000 combatant killed or wounded. Coalition casualties amounted to six dead and 19 wounded. Afterwards, the desert was littered with the destroyed hulks of Iraqi T-62 and T-55 Russian-made tanks.

Sources: (Imperial War Museum) (The Tank Museum) (Military Times) (Military.com) (Warfare History Network) (Tank Encyclopedia) (Al Jazeera) 

See also: Official reasons why the US has gone to war

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