Tank Nicknamed 'The Beast' Takes on ISIS in Iraqi City
The tank earned the nickname because of its success in taking on ISIS fighters.
— -- An American-made, Iraqi-operated tank has been nicknamed "The Beast" on Iraqi social media because of its success in taking on ISIS fighters in Hit, Iraq.
During a briefing from Iraq with reporters, Colonel Steve Warren, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, praised the exploits of the tank's crew in Hit, a city in western Anbar Province along the Euphrates River Valley where last month the Iraqi military launched an offensive against ISIS-held areas.
"It has been handing it to the enemy regularly now for several days,” said Warren. “This [Abrams] M-1 tank has been driving all around Hit, crazy, and blasting IEDs, punching holes in enemy defenses, and maneuvering between multiple engagements and allowing the CTS [Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service] and other Iraqi Army ground forces, you know, to clear and help evacuate civilians.”
He said American advisers monitoring the offensive in Hit had awarded the tank's crew their unofficial "Hero of the Day" award several times.
In fact, they were seeing so much success against ISIS targets in the city that they believed there were multiple Iraqi military tanks operating in the city.
“We actually had to reach [out to] the unit and [we discovered] it was just one tank that was tearing up Hit all by itself,” said Warren.
"This tank has become a little bit of a folk hero here in Iraq," he added. Warren noted that on Iraqi social media "they've nicknamed this tank 'The Beast.' So now all of a sudden, 'The Beast' has become a thing here in this part of Iraq."
After the briefing, Warren tweeted a video of the tank in question targeting a moving car packed by ISIS with explosives.
He used the tank’s success as an example of how the Iraqi military is getting better.
“I don't think it's Brad Pitt running it, but it's the crew,” said Warren, referring to the World War II movie “Fury,” in which Pitt plays a tank commander.
Warren noted that maintenance is still a problem with the Iraqi military since three tanks had initially gone into Hit as part of the offensive on the ISIS-held town. The other two dropped out of the fight after they broke down, leaving "The Beast" by itself in the town -- and giving the crew and their tank their new-found fame in Iraq.
