Today we would like to discuss how one of world’s most powerful main battle tanks
‘Leopard 2’ was defeated by ISIS In Syria.
Germany’s Leopard 2 main battle tank has a reputation as one of the finest in the world,
competing for that distinction with proven designs such as the American M-1 Abrams and
the British Challenger 2. However, that reputation for nigh-invincibility has faced setbacks
on Syrian battlefields, and placed Berlin in a uniquely awkward national-level dispute
with Turkey, its fellow NATO member. The question is why did Turkish soldiers suffer
a terrible defeat although they were equipped with one of the best and most modern combat
tools? According to various sources, Turkey had procured
354 Leopard 2A4 tanks from Germany in the early 2000s when the political relations between
the two countries were good, with both being NATO members. The acquisition had given Turkey
a significant capability over its Patton M-60 tanks that constitute a bulk of the nation’s
armored brigades. They received them from the German Bundeswehr’s surplus at the beginning
of the century, on the condition that the Leopards would never be used in warfare against
the Kurdish community in Turkey. Leopards 2A4, the most modern tanks in Turkish arsenal,
equipped units of the Turkish 1st Army, deployed in the west and the north of the country.
Turkish Leopards’ crews were trained according to the highest NATO standards, but unfortunately,
the machines were not adjusted to quickly changing battlefield conditions.
In December 2016, the Turkish General Staff decided to transfer to the Syrian front several
Turkish Armed Forces battalions equipped with the Leopard 2A4 tanks, mainly from the 2nd
Brigade. Meanwhile, Turkish situation in Operation Euphrates Shield was so bad that when the
Turkish Army’s armored units got to the transfer point in southern Turkey, they immediately
had to join the operation in neighboring Syria. In the middle of December 2016, the pro-Turkish
FSA groups, supported by Turkish Armed Forces detachments and the Turkish Air Force, launched
yet another offensive on al-Bab, a city heavily fortified by IS militants. Ankara was anxious
to seize the agglomeration before it was reached by the Syrian Armed Forces or Syrian Democratic
Forces (SDF) units. The fighting peaked between December 12-17, 2016, and December 16 proved
to be particularly ill-fated. On that day, during another attack undertaken by the Turkish
forces and the FSA on al-Bab’s western suburb, about 30 Leopard 2A4s and 10 to12 M60Ts Sabra
(which is Turkish modification of the tank done by the Israelis) were used. The potential
was quite big, but the machines were sent to fight without proper cover of their own
infantry, apart from several hundred FSA Syrians, mainly in Turkish armored combat vehicles
(ACV-15 and Otokar Cobra), and several dozen TSK Special Forces soldiers. The weather was
also not a friend of the Turks, below zero temperatures, cloudy skies, fog, and occasional
snowfalls made it difficult for the air force and artillery to operate. On top of that,
the attackers constantly had to struggle with mobile IS task forces equipped with heavy
machine guns, RPGs and ATGM launchers. As a result, Caliphate’s militants not only
successfully slowed down the Turkish Army’s attack, but also thwarted its command’s
original plan. It was forced to divide the units into many smaller groups and attack
the Islamists’ separate resistance points. The Turks led themselves straight into the
interrelated and complementary system of traps and ambushes prepared by the IS. The consequences
of the several-hour chaotic battle conducted in such conditions proved fatal for the Turkish
Army’s elite armored forces. The Turkish Ministry of Defense, in addition
to underestimating the threat, also has forgotten the design history of the indestructible Leopard
2, specifically designed to counter Soviet armored forces in the plains of northern Germany.
For the records, Leopard 2 was not designed for combat in an urban environment. The project
is not spoiled but was determined by the awareness and the need for greater maneuverability in
the field. To achieve an optimal combination, the designers made the armor on the sides
and on the back of the vehicle lighter than other western tanks.
Underestimating the enemy, Ankara sent their own Leopard 2 without an explosive reactive
shell and an active protection system such as the Defensive Aids System Shtora-1 of the
Russian T-90 present in Syria. The militants of the Islamic State seem to have seized this
vulnerability to attack the Leopard, focusing the fire on the hips. The narrow streets of
al-Bab have effectively eliminated the initial tactical advantage of 60-ton tanks. The inevitable
casualties on the ground forced the Turkish army to abandon the siege on the city.
Finally, forgetting one of the fundamental principles underlying the reference doctrine
for modern mobile armored forces. The main heavy vehicle must never be conceived as an
isolated weapon system, but inserted into a diversified mobile force. The fate of the
Turkish tanks, without any protection on the flanks by the infantry, was already marked
a few minutes after the start of the main offensive on al-Bab. The only known fact about
this defeat is that ten eliminated Leopards and several other Turkish vehicles remained
on the battlefield after the defeat. At least five of those machines were completely burnt
and destroyed, with ripped-off turrets or hulls torn apart by anti-tank ammunition.
Two least damaged Leopards were taken off the battlefield by the Islamists as a military
trophy. So the December 2016 battle of al-Bab, lost
by the Turks, also requires proper placement in the operational and political context.
There is no doubt that the problem did not lie in the tanks as such, but more in the
crews of particular machines, as well as strategic level commanders, and politicians who decided
to carry out the operation. December 2016 was the time when repressions in the Turkish
Army reached their peak. Not only the morale, but also the soldiers’ objective combat
capabilities were significantly impaired at the time. This was especially true for units
that most actively participated in the attempt to overthrow the constitutional order in Turkey.
One of such units was the 2nd Armored Brigade from Istanbul. On the evening of July 15,
2016, the Brigade’s Leopards blocked bridges on Bosporus, as well as the main squares and
intersections in the city. Possibly, some of them were the same machines which five
months later ended their life near al-Bab. Even so, the crews fighting in Syria were
most definitely brand new, undertrained, lacking coordination, and poorly commanded, both at
the team level and higher. The total of all those mistakes resulted in one of the biggest
defeats suffered by the Turkish Army in its 100-year history.
What made it even more humiliating was that the Turkish soldiers were equipped with the
Leopard 2, undoubtedly one of the most advanced and best warfare tools in its class, now and
for a long time to come. Thanks for watching and see you in the next
videos.