Background

In this latest release, artist Paul Renwick Farley brings us a stunning depiction of the two key elements forming the spearhead of the US armoured thrust that sliced through Iraqi defences to bring the Gulf War to a victorious conclusion within a mere one hundred hours.

Like thunder incarnate, a platoon of Abrams main battle tanks emerge from a desert wadi amidst the swirls of blowing sand, magnified by the downwash of overtaking Apaches. Like lightning out-of-the-blue, the attack helicopters strike ahead, and while the enemy reels in bewilderment as to what has just hit him, he is overwhelmed by the onslaught of the battle phalanx of tanks. It is this tactical maneuver that the Allied Commander General Norman Schwarzkopf called his "Hammer and Anvil".

The Coalition forces under General Schwarzkopf represented everything that professional military excellence and the massive investment in weapons development during the "Cold War" defence buildup of the 1980s. Had Iraq's Saddam Hussein paused to take stock of the forces being arrayed against him during the buildup to Desert Shield, he might have modified his rhetoric about provoking the "Mother of All Battles" and begun a cautious withdrawal from Kuwait before his army was brought to battle and all but destroyed.

Farley has captured the moment in the climactic stages of Desert Storm. A surreal mix of smoke columns from deliberately lit oil well fires, natures brewing storm and the sand swirls from the attacking tanks and helicopters form a tension-filled backdrop to the urgent charge of the Abrams platoon as Apaches roar overhead to lead the assault. This was a scene that was enacted many times across the battlefront as the spearheads of the armoured columns charge in to "take it to the Republican Guards".

Print Specifications

Main Print:	"The Thunder & Lightning of Desert Storm" Limited Edition Print Limited to 650 Prints, Certificate of Authenticity provided Full colour, 34" (width) x 27" (height) Image Area: 29" (width) x 21" (height) Printed on 300gsm archival paper with fade resistant inks