Kuwaiti Chieftain Battle of the Bridges

[sardaukar]

Hi Folks

 

I have a plan to build a Kuwaiti Chieftain Mk 5 as it would have looked at the Battle of the Bridges, during the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Which was possibly Chieftain's finest hour as a scratch force of 37 Chieftains held up two Iraqi divisions before having to withdraw from a lack of ammo. 

 

I see takom have a a profile and decals for a Kuwaiti 'Martyrs Brigade' Chieftain during desert storm. Does anyone know if these colours and markings would have been appropriate for a Chieftain at the time of the Iraqi Invasion? I felt the markings in the takom kit were probably coalition based. I havent been able to find much online for this.

 

Cheers

[Kingsman]

The colours were almost certainly the same - no real reason to change in the middle of liberating your country - but the markings might possibly have been different. 

 

The Kuwaiti unit engaged at the Al Jahra bridges was the 35th Brigade, also known as the Martyrs Brigade.  The tanks came from the 7th and 8th Tank Battalions.  So you seem to be talking about the same unit in the action and in the decals. 

 

In the circumstances I'm not sure that I can see any reason why repainting unit markings would have been high on the "to do" list even if the surviving elemnents had been reorganised.  But Coalition recognition markings might have been added, notably the black chevron.

[sardaukar]

8 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

The colours were almost certainly the same - no real reason to change in the middle of liberating your country - but the markings might possibly have been different. 

 

The Kuwaiti unit engaged at the Al Jahra bridges was the 35th Brigade, also known as the Martyrs Brigade.  The tanks came from the 7th and 8th Tank Battalions.  So you seem to be talking about the same unit in the action and in the decals. 

 

In the circumstances I'm not sure that I can see any reason why repainting unit markings would have been high on the "to do" list even if the surviving elemnents had been reorganised.  But Coalition recognition markings might have been added, notably the black chevron.

Hi, yes I never made it clear that I was aware that it was the same unit. I believe that all other Kuwaiti centurions were captured by Iraq. Do you know if they got the 'Martyrs' label after this battle or was that always the 35th's name?

 

What you are saying about the markings makes sense to me so hopefully dropping the chevron is enough.

 

Cheers

[Kingsman]

It doesn't seem to be clear when they got the name.  All "line" Kuwaiti Army Brigades are currently named.  They don't seem to have been named at the time, and the Army was a lot smaller then: only 2 "line" Brigades I believe - 15th infantry and 35th armoured.  Both of these formations took part in the liberation under Joint Forces Command North along with other Middle East Coalition forces.  Hence the ID chevron.

 

But while 35th Brigade is now called "Martyrs", 15th Brigade is called "Mubarak" after a previous Army commander.  Curiously, 6th Brigade is called "Liberation" but does not seem to have existed at the time.  So it does seem logical that 35th might have gained their name after the war as a result of their actions.