Highway of Death
An Iraqi Faun Herkules tractor truck with a semi-trailer carrying a 2P25 TEL shows battle damage after the retreat of Iraqi forces along the Basra-Kuwait Highway out of Kuwait City during Operation Desert Storm.
An Iraqi main battle tank on a highway south of Kuwait City destroyed in a Coalition attack during Operation Desert Storm.
The British flag waves from an armored personnel carrier of the 7th Brigade Royal Scots as it advances along the Basra-Kuwait Highway near Kuwait City following the retreat of Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm.
Abandoned cars and trucks clog the road leading out of Kuwait City after the retreat of Iraqi forces from the city. In the foreground is an Iraqi Type 54 anti-aircraft heavy machine gun mounted on top of a Type 69 tank damaged in one of the final attacks by Coalition forces during Operation Desert Storm.

Demolished vehicles line Highway 80, also known as the "Highway of Death", the route fleeing Iraqi forces took as they retreated from Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. The tank visible in the center of the picture is either a Type 59 or a Type 69 as evidenced by the dome-shaped ventilator on the top of the turret and the headlamps on the right fender.
A Polish-built T-55 and Soviet-built T-55 obr.1970, both of 26th Armored Brigade, 5th Mechanized Division "Muhammad ibn al Qasim," lie abandoned on the Basra-Kuwait Highway near Kuwait City after the release of Iraqi forces from the city during Operation Desert Storm.
Two M1A1 Abrams tanks remove an Iraqi T-54, T-55, Type 59 or Type 69 tank from the road during Operation Desert Storm.
The charred remains of an Iraqi 2S1 Gvozdika 122mm self-propelled howitzer lie next to the road leading out of Kuwait City following the retreat of Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm.
A destroyed Iraqi T-55 main battle tank, painted with graffiti by Coalition troops, lies amidst other destroyed vehicles along the highway between Kuwait City and Basra, Iraq, following the retreat of Iraqi forces from Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. An IFA truck is behind. VIRIN: DF-ST-92-08469
A destroyed Iraqi T-55 main battle tank and IFA supply truck, painted with graffiti by Coalition troops, lie along the highway between Kuwait City and Basra, Iraq, following the retreat of Iraqi forces from Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. VIRIN: DF-ST-92-08468
A disabled Iraqi T-55 main battle tank lying next a burned out civilian car along the Basra-Kuwait Highway, the scene of one of the final Coalition attacks as Iraqi forces retreated from the city during Operation Desert Storm.
Abandoned cars and trucks clog the road leading out of Kuwait City after the retreat of Iraqi forces from the city during Operation Desert Storm.
A view of the Basra-Kuwait Highway near Kuwait City after the retreat of Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm. In the background are British AFVs (including FV510 Warrior), and in the foreground is an abandoned loaded Iraqi ZPU-4 anti-aircraft gun.
British soldiers examine the contents of an Iraqi transport truck on the Basra-Kuwait Highway near Kuwait City after the retreat of Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm. Behind the truck is an Iraqi ZPU-4 anti-aircraft gun.
Abandoned cars and trucks clog the Basra-Kuwait Highway out of Kuwait City after the retreat of Iraqi forces from the city during Operation Desert Storm. The heavy antiaircraft machine gun mounted on top of a turret of a tank is either a DShKM or a Type 54. Depending on which of the aforementioned HMGs it is, the tank can either a T-54 or T-55 (DShKM) or Type 59 or Type 69 (Type 54).
An abandoned Iraqi MT-LB multipurpose, tracked APC lies near the Basra-Kuwait Highway following the retreat of Iraqi forces from the city during Operation Desert Storm.
A view of the Basra-Kuwait Highway, clogged with abandoned vehicles, following the retreat of Iraqi forces from the city during Operation Desert Storm. The vehicle in the left part of foreground is an MT-LB.

The highway of death in Kuwait 2005.

A view of Iraqi armored personnel carriers, tanks and trucks destroyed in a Coalition attack along a road in the Euphrates River Valley during Operation Desert Storm.
Military vehicles clog the road leading out of Kuwait City after the retreat of Iraqi forces from the city during Operation Desert Storm. In the foreground are looted containers and abandoned arms, and at right is a burned Iraqi Type 69 tank.
An Iraqi T-62 main battle tank sits between a Mitsubishi truck a Mercedes-Benz tank truck after being abandoned on a road during Operation Desert Storm.
An MT-LB multipurpose tracked APC, foreground, and a T-62 main battle tank sit on a road among other vehicles after being abandoned by Iraqi troops during Operation Desert Storm.

Civilian and Iraqi military vehicles litter a section of the Kuwait City Highway attacked by Allied aircraft during Operation Desert Storm.

A rusting Type 69 tank at the Highway of Death in Iraq. Author Christiaan Briggs Time of creation 28 Feb, 2003 Licence GNU FDL and CC-by-SA Camera Fujifilm Finepix S304 Focal length 6.00 mm Shutter 1/340 Aperture f8.2 ISO Speed 100 (colour and light balance enhanced using iPhoto)
Highway of Death shoe sole. A sole, the only remaining part of a shoe, left behind while fleeing Kuwait along the Highway of Death.
Historische Übersicht
Massiver Luftangriff auf die flüchtenden irakischen Truppen.
Fakten auf einen Blick
Koalition (Luftwaffe)
- Befehlshaber: Norman Schwarzkopf
- Truppenstärke: -
- Verluste: 0
Irak (Rückzugskräfte)
- Befehlshaber: -
- Truppenstärke: 1.500 Fahrzeuge
- Verluste: ca. 1.000
Strategischer Kontext
Vernichtung des irakischen Materials vor der Grenze.
Weiterführende Literatur
Historische Orte
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