The U.S. Army’s 69-year history of basing main battle tanks on German soil quietly ended last month when 22 Abrams tanks, a main feature of armored combat units throughout the Cold War, embarked for the U.S.
The departure of the last M-1 Abrams tanks coincides with the
inactivation of two of the Army’s Germany-based heavy brigades. Last
year, the 170th Infantry out of Baumholder disbanded. And the 172nd
Separate Infantry Brigade at Grafenwöhr is in the process of doing the
same.
On March 18, the remaining tanks were loaded up at the 21st Theater
Sustainment Command’s railhead in Kaiserslautern where they then made
the journey to the shipping port in Bremerhaven, Germany. There they
boarded a ship bound for South Carolina.
The tanks belonged to the 172nd along with a mix that were leftover from other units, according to the 21st TSC.
“It is an honor to be one of the soldiers escorting the last battle
tanks out of Germany,” said Sgt. Jeremy Jordan of the 529th Military
Police Company, in an Army story about the journey. “As these tanks sail
back to the U.S., we are closing a chapter in history.”
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