In the Arab world, Czechoslovak-manufactured T-72M1s had a reputation of being of far better quality than Soviet-made examples and unsurprisingly, there was heavy demand for them. However, huge Libyan orders from the early 1980s, and the requirement to equip the Czechoslovak People’s Army with them, kept the local industry busy. Thus, Iraq eventually obtained just 90 T-72M1s in the 1986–1987 period. All were distributed to the armoured and mechanised divisions of the Republican Guards Forces Command and saw intensive action during the closing stages of the war with Iran in 1988, the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and the Second Persian Gulf War in 1991. The T-72M1s in question retained their overall cardboard colour, and rarely wore any insignia other than the tactical markings of the brigades and divisions to which they were assigned, usually applied on the rear turret storage box. (Artwork by David Bocquelet)