USMC M-1A1 Abrams Tank, Twentynine Palms, CA, 1998

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This color photo was taken by a U.S. Marine Corps photographer at the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, CA on 27 January 1998. Tankers from the USMC 2nd Tank Battalion ("Masters of the Iron Horse") are moving their M-1A1 Abrams main battle tank across the California desert as part of a Combined Arms Exercise.

The principal armament of the M-1A1 is the 120mm M-256 smoothbore gun. The commander has a 12.7mm (.50 cal.) Browning M-2 machine gun and the loader has a 7.62mm M-240 machine gun. A second M-240 machine gun is mounted coaxially on the right hand side of the main gun.

Today in WW II: 9 Jul 1940 Battle of Calabria [Battle of Punta Stilo, the toe of Italy] fought between the Italian Royal Navy and the British/Australian Royal Navies, 30 miles [48km] east of Punta Stilo. More ?

9 Jul 1943 US-British invasion of Sicily begins [night of 9-10 Jul].
9 Jul 1944 British and Canadian forces capture Caen from the Germans, a critical post-D-Day objective in Normandy, France.
9 Jul 1944 US forces reach the northern end of Saipan, finding thousands of Japanese civilian men, women, and children who commit suicide by leaping off the cliffs rather than be captured.
Visit the Olive-Drab.com World War II Timeline for day-by-day events 1939-1945! See also WW2 Books.