page_title: M48 Patton
section_title: Vietnam
hierarchical_section_title: M48 Patton / Combat service / Vietnam
caption_attribution_description: English: Operation “Lincoln” was a search and destroy mission with combined forces from the 69th Armored, 25th Infantry Division and a brigade from the 1st Air Cavalry Division (Air Mobile). A M48A3 tank belonging to the 1st Battalion, 69th Armored, 25th Infantry Division moves through a destroyed Viet Cong camp which was located South of Pleiku, RVN. Other members of the unit grab a ride on the back of the tank.
context_page_description: The M48 Patton is an American first generation main battle tank introduced in February 1952, being designated as the 90mm Gun Tank: M48. Mrs. Beatrice Ayer Patton, wife of the late General George S Patton christened it as a Patton. It was designed as a replacement for the M26 Pershing, M4 Sherman variants and M46 Pattons used in the Korean War, and as the successor to the M47 Patton. Nearly 12,000 M48s were built, mainly by Chrysler and American Locomotive Company, from 1952 to 1961. The M48 underwent many design modifications and improvements during its production life. This led to a wide variety of suspension systems, cupola styles, power packs, fenders and other details among individual tanks. The early designs, up to the M48A2C, were powered by a gasoline engine. The M48A3 and A5 versions used a diesel engine, however gasoline engine versions were still in use in the US Army National Guard through 1968 and through 1975 by many West German Army units. Numerous examples of the M48 saw combat use in various Arab–Israeli conflicts and the Vietnam War. Beginning in 1959, most American M48A1s and A2s were upgraded to the M48A3 model.
context_section_description: The M48 saw extensive action with the US military during the Vietnam War. Over 600 Pattons would be deployed with US forces during that war. The initial M48s first landed with the US Marine 1st and 3rd Tank Battalions in 1965, with the 5th Marine Tank Battalion later becoming a back-up/reinforcement unit. The remaining Pattons deployed to South Vietnam were in three US Army battalions, namely the 1-77th Armor near the DMZ (67 M48A2C (23 tanks supplied from US Army Training Center at Fort Knox,  and 44 tanks from Letterkenny Army Depot) tanks were used by the 77th Armor from August 1968 to January 1969. These were later replaced with M48A3s), the 1-69th Armor in the Central Highlands of central South Vietnam and the 2-34th Armor positioned near the Mekong Delta. Each battalion consisted of approximately 57 tanks. M48s were also used by Armored Cavalry Squadrons in Vietnam until replaced by M551 Sheridan Armored Reconnaissance Airborne Assault Vehicles (ARAAV) in the Divisional Cavalry Squadrons. M48A3 tanks remained in service with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment until the unit was withdrawn from the conflict. The M67A1 flame tank (nicknamed the Zippo) was an M48 variant used in Vietnam. From 1965 to 1968, 120 US M48A3 tanks were written off.
  The M48 Patton has the distinction of playing a unique role in an event that was destined to radically alter the conduct of armored warfare. When US forces commenced redeployment operations, many of the M48A3 Pattons were turned over to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces, in particular creating the battalion-sized ARVN 20th Tank Regiment; which supplemented their M41 Walker Bulldog units. During the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) Easter Offensive in 1972, tank clashes between NVA T-54/PT-76 and ARVN M48/M41 units became commonplace. But, on 23 April 1972, tankers of the 20th Tank Regiment were attacked by an NVA infantry-tank team, which was equipped with the new 9M14M Malyutka (NATO designation: Sagger) wire-guided anti-tank missile. During this battle, one M48A3 Patton tank and one M113 Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle (ACAV) were destroyed, becoming the first losses to the Sagger missile; losses that would echo on an even larger scale a year later during the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East in 1973. By 2 May, 20th Tank Regiment had lost all of their tanks to enemy fire. During the first month of the First Battle of Quảng Trị all ARVN M48 Pattons were lost.
  
  The M48s performed admirably in Vietnam in the infantry-support role. However, there were few actual tank versus tank battles. One was between the US 1-69th Armor and PT-76 light amphibious tanks of the NVA 202nd Armored Regiment at Ben Het Camp in March 1969. The M48s provided adequate protection for its crew from small arms, mines, and rocket-propelled grenades. South Vietnamese M48s and M41s fought in the 1975 Spring Offensive. In several incidents, the ARVN successfully defeated NVA T-34 and T-55 tanks and even slowed the North's offensive. However, due to shortages of fuel and munitions faced by the South Vietnamese military because of the US Congress-placed ban on the further funding and supply of military equipment and logistics to the country, the American-made tanks soon ran out of ammunition and fuel and were quickly abandoned to the NVA, which then put them in their service after the war ended in May 1975. In total, 250 of the ARVN's M48A3s were destroyed and captured and those captured (at least 30) were only used briefly before being phased out and turned into war-memorial displays all over Vietnam.
   M48s, along with Australian 20 pounder (84mm)-gunned Centurions of the 1st Armoured Regiment, were the only vehicles in use by the anti-communist side in the Vietnam War that could reasonably protect their crews from land mines. They were often used for minesweeping operations along Highway 19 in the Central Highlands, a two-lane paved road between An Khe and Pleiku. Daily convoys moved both ways along Highway 19. These convoys were held up each morning while the road was swept for mines. At that time, mi
caption: A 1st Battalion, 69th Armor Patton during Operation Lincoln
exif: {"Image SubfileType": "Full-resolution Image", "Image ImageWidth": "6000", "Image ImageLength": "5999", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image ImageDescription": "[#Beginning of Shooting Data Section]\nImage Size:L (7360 x 4912), FX\n2016/02/19 12:53:04.90\nTime Zone and Date:UTC-5, DST:OFF\nLossless Compressed RAW (14-bit)\nArtist:Joe McCary                          \nCopyright:2015 Photo Response 301-529-7119                      \nImage Comment:Call +1 301-529-7119                \nNikon D800E\nLens:60mm f/2.8G\nFocal Length:60mm\nFocus Mode:AF-S\nAF-Area Mode:Normal Area\nVR:\nAF Fine Tune:--\nAperture:f/8\nShutter Speed:1/25s\nExposure Mode:Aperture Priority\nExposure Comp.:+1.0EV\nExposure Tuning:\nMetering:Matrix\nISO Sensitivity:0.7EV under 100\nDevice:\nWhite Balance:Auto1, 0, 0\nColor Space:sRGB\nHigh ISO NR:OFF\nLong Exposure NR:OFF\nActive D-Lighting:OFF\nImage Authentication:\nVignette Control:Normal\nAuto Distortion Control:OFF\nPicture Control:[VI] VIVID\nBase:[VI] VIVID\nQuick Adjust:0\nSharpening:4\nContrast:0\nBrightness:0\nSaturation:0\nHue:0\nFilter Effects:\nToning:\nOptimize Image:\nColor Mode:\nTone Comp.:\nHue Adjustment:\nSaturation:\nSharpening:\nLatitude:\nLongitude:\nAltitude:\nAltitude Reference:\nHeading:\nUTC:\nMap Datum:\n[#End of Shooting Data Section]", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D800E", "Image StripOffsets": "45634", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image RowsPerStrip": "5999", "Image StripByteCounts": "107982000", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2016:02:22 09:54:18", "Image Artist": "Joe McCary", "Image Rating": "0", "Image Tag 0x4749": "0", "Image Copyright": "2015 Photo Response 301-529-7119", "Image ExifOffset": "3626", "Image XPTitle": "[]", "Image XPComment": "[67, 0, 97, 0, 108, 0, 108, 0, 32, 0, 43, 0, 49, 0, 32, 0, 51, 0, 48, 0, 49, 0, 45, 0, 53, 0, 50, 0, 57, 0, 45, 0, 55, 0, 49, 0, 49, 0, 57, 0, 0, 0]", "Image XPAuthor": "Joe McCary", "Image XPSubject": "[]", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/25", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:02:19 12:53:04", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:02:19 12:53:04", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "290241/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "1", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "7/2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "60", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "90", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "90", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "60", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}