These were the 6 most massive tank battles in US history

Here are six times when American tank units found themselves massively fighting it out with enemy armor:

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1. Battle of the Bulge

When the Germans assaulted Allied Lines in what would become the Battle of the Bulge, US tanks and infantry struggled to hold the line against the nearly 1,000 tanks and more than 200,000 troops on a 75-mile front.

Tanks with the 7th, 9th, and 10th Armored Divisions helped the infantry hold the lines as the Germans attacked, and tanks operating under Gen. Patton's Third Army spearheaded the effort to save the 101st Airborne Division. The tank that led that rescue effort survived the war and was rediscovered in 2008.

2. Battle of Norfolk

Fourteen coalition and Iraqi divisions fought each other at the Battle of Norfolk, the last battle of the Persian Gulf War. Four US and British divisions plus elements of two more destroyed Iraqis fighting in eight divisions, including the elite Tawakalna Republican Guard Division.

The battle opened with a massive artillery and rocket bombardment that fired almost 20,000 artillery and rocket rounds, destroying 22 Iraqi battalions and hundreds of artillery pieces. Tanks and Apache helicopters moved forward, slaughtering their way through Iraqi resistance. The Tawakalna Republican Guard Division and 10 other Iraqi divisions were destroyed in the fighting. The US lost six men.

3. Battle of Arracourt

The Battle of Arracourt, fought September 18-29, 1944, was the largest tank battle the US had conducted up to that point and saw the American forces brilliantly destroy two Panzer Brigades and additional units from two Panzer divisions.

The US commander used true combined arms artillery, infantry, airpower, and armor to win. On one fog-covered morning, the Shermans flanked the Panzers and took out 11 in a single attack. The 12-day battle in Eastern France ended with 86 German tanks destroyed and 114 damaged or broken down from an original total of only 262.