The first tanks used a battalion symbol of a yellow shield with the inscription ITK applied in red when they were in Vietnam.
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1:72 M48A3 Patton III , USMC 1st Tank Btn, Danang, Vietnam, 1968
The M48 Patton is a main battle tank (MBT) that was designed in the United States. It was the third tank (after M46 & M47) to be officially named after General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. Third Army during World War II and one of the earliest American advocates for the use of tanks in battle. It was a further development of the M47 Patton tank. The M48 Patton was in U.S. service until replaced by the M60 and served as the U.S. Army and Marine Corps’s primary battle tank in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It was widely used by U.S. Cold War allies, especially other NATO countries.
The rectangular light mounted above the 90mm cannon of the M48 Patton tank, commonly seen during the Vietnam War, served multiple purposes. Primarily, it was an infrared (IR) searchlight used for night operations. This light enabled the tank crew to illuminate targets that were otherwise invisible in the dark, particularly in combat situations.
During the daytime, the light was often covered or retracted to prevent it from being damaged or to avoid detection. The cover also helped reduce glare and maintain a lower profile for the tank, which was crucial for its survivability in combat.
Additionally, the IR searchlight could assist in targeting for night vision equipment, allowing the crew to engage enemy positions after dark. Overall, it was a valuable tool for enhancing the combat effectiveness of the M48 Patton tank during night operations in Vietnam.
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 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/South Vietnam Army) forces, in particular creating the battalion-sized ARVN 20th Tank Regiment, which supplemented their M41 Walker Bulldog units. During the North Vietnamese People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) Easter Offensive in 1972, tank clashes between PAVN T-54/PT-76 and ARVN M48/M41 units became commonplace.
On 23 April 1972, tankers of the South Vietnam Army’s 20th Tank Regiment were attacked by a PAVN 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, the 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 (100 tanks) were lost.
M47s and M48s were used in tank warfare by the Pakistan Army against the Indian Army’s Soviet T-55s, British Centurions and US M4 Sherman tanks in both the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 as well as the following war in 1971. Pakistan’s Patton tank failed to live up to its high expectations in the Battle of Asal Uttar in September 1965, where about 97 Pakistani tanks were lost, the majority of them being Pattons (M47s and M48s). During the 1971 war, a counterattack led by Pakistan Army’s 13th Lancers and the 31st Cavalry army units was defeated by the Indian 54th Division around the Battle of Barapind in December 1971. The Pakistan Army Patton tanks could not stop an assault by Indian T-55 tanks of the 2nd Armored Brigade. At least 9 of the Pattons were destroyed by T-55 tanks during the battle of Nainakot. In total, more than 80 Pakistani Pattons were knocked out during the war, mainly by Centurion and T-55 fire.
India later set up a temporary war memorial so named “Patton Nagar” (or “Patton City”) in Khemkaran District in Punjab, where the captured Pakistani Patton tanks were displayed for a short period of time before being scrapped or sent all across India for use as war monuments and military memorials.
Specifications
- Designer: Chrysler Defense Engineering
- Designed: 1950
- Mass: 49.6 short tons (44.3 long tons; 45.0 t)
- Length: 9.3 m (30 ft 6 in)
- Width: 3.65 m (12 ft 0 in)
- Height: 3.1 m (10 ft 2 in)
- Crew: Four (Commander, Gunner, Loader, Driver)
Armor
- Upper glacier
- 110 mm (4.3 in) at 60°
- 220mm (8.7 in) LoS
- Turret front
- 178 mm (7.0 in) at 0°
- Main Armament : 90mm M41/T139 gun
- Secondary Armament : .50 cal (12.7 mm) in M1 commander’s cupola, M37/T153 Machine gun
Engine and other specs
- Engine : Continental AVDS-1790 V12, air-cooled, twin-turbo, diesel engine 750 hp (560 kW)
- Power/weight: 16.6 hp (12.4 kW)/tonne
- Transmission: Allison CD-850-4A or CD-850-4B. Two forward ranges, One reverse
- Suspension: Torsion bar suspension
- Ground clearance : 16 in (0.41 m)
- Fuel capacity: 300 US gal (1,100 L)
- Operational Range : 463 km (288 mi)
- Maximum speed: 30 mph (48 km/h)
This M48 is tank number 34 from Company C, 1st Tank Batallion, USMC and is depicted in the markings it had during Operation Pipestone Canyon. The 1st tanks used a battalion symbol of a yellow shield with the inscription ITK applied in red when they were in Vietnam.
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