Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Rumble in the Jungle: American Tanks in Vietnam” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/american-tanks-in-vietnam/.
Rumble in the Jungle: American Tanks in Vietnam
- Thread starter Mike H.
- Start date
Cedric
Custom
Good article. Recommend Gen. Donn Starry's (RIP) monograph, Armor in Vietnam. The country was long thought to be too restrictive for armor, but the engineers were told to do a detailed terrain study and found the the majority of the country was "tankable" excepting certain times of the year. Also, by the end of the war, by percentage, there were more armor units in country than infantry units. Looking forward to the article on Army armor units.
Lexie__M
Custom
When I was a lil girl and my father was still in Air Force, I had surgery in Walter Reed during the Viet-Nam war.
In my ward, I met many Military who were wounded in Viet-Nam recovering as surgery(S) and some of them were telling me about the Zippo tanks that were flame throwers. They were telling me about firefights they had and the Zippos would move up, touch the area then haul **** backwards as all the VC opened up on them at once.
I do not know the specific tank they were talking about but they did have some type of flamethrower tanks in Viet-Nam. Maybe the pic below in what they were talking about?
Sld1959
Ronin
Flame tanks have been around a while, Vietnam was near the end of thier use. You might find this interesting.
Talyn
SAINT
According to this the US M60 Main Battle Tank did not serve in Vietnam but two of its variants did, the M728 CEV and the M60 AVLB.
Patton Tanks in Vietnam
Patton tanks and its variants were the main armor used throughout the war in Vietnam. The variants included the M48A3, M48A2C, M48/M60 AVLB, M67A2 Flame tank, M88 ARV, and the M728 CEV. M48A3 Patto…
mikesresearch.com
Cedric
Custom
You're correct. The M60 was not in VN. Interestingly, there is on record where an M728 CEV came around a corner and encountered an NVA T-55. One round from its 165mm demolition gun quickly settled the issue. Also, a few units in the Bundeswehr were using M48A2C's well into the late 70s. Our sister unit would go to gunnery with us and I won't forget the sound of the 90mm, Our 105mm was loud, but the 90 had an ear shattering crack that was very painful. Hearing protection was defintely necessary around those tanks!According to this the US M60 Main Battle Tank did not serve in Vietnam but two of its variants did, the M728 CEV and the M60 AVLB.
Patton Tanks in Vietnam
Patton tanks and its variants were the main armor used throughout the war in Vietnam. The variants included the M48A3, M48A2C, M48/M60 AVLB, M67A2 Flame tank, M88 ARV, and the M728 CEV. M48A3 Patto…
There were NO M-60 tanks deployed in Vietnam.
Dale Dye is a prolific writer of fairly good fiction. As far as I know, he never took on the role of infantry officer in Vietnam. He was a reporter for Stars & Stripes newspaper...or another publication.
I spend a fairly good amount of time inside of a US Marine M-67A2 flame thrower tank including during the 1968 Tet battle in Hue City and for the next year in Leatherneck Square in northern I Corps. Again, while Dye's writing is entertaining, it is not kosher.
I spend a fairly good amount of time inside of a US Marine M-67A2 flame thrower tank including during the 1968 Tet battle in Hue City and for the next year in Leatherneck Square in northern I Corps. Again, while Dye's writing is entertaining, it is not kosher.
Talyn
SAINT
Lets not forget another American tank used in VN. The M551 Sheridan.
armyhistory.org
M551 Sheridan
Detailing the technical specifications, development, and operational history of the M551 Sheridan including pictures.
www.militaryfactory.com
M551 Sheridan Light Tank - The Army Historical Foundation
In World War II, the Army’s M3 (and later M5) Stuart light tanks, armed with a 37mm main gun, were immediately outclassed by heavier armed and armored German tanks in North Africa in 1942-43 and were relegated to reconnaissance roles.
armyhistory.org
Yes, when the UN or some other "snowflake" international governmental organization decided that napalm was "cruel and inhumane" it was forbidden to be deployed in war.
Dale Dye mentions NVA tanks attacking the Lang Vei Special Forces camp. He neglected to also report on the one and only tank-on-tank battle that took place further south at the Ben Het Special Forces camp. Three M-48 tanks from the US Army 69th Armor took on several NVA PT-76 amphibious tanks as they attacked the camp. The US Army tanks blew the crap out of the lightly armored NVA tanks. OOO-RAH!!!
You signed up to the forum just to tear this man down?
If you dig into his history, you'd see that he began life as a grunt and was later reclassified as a combat correspondent. And I don't see how being a cc would be shameful in the least - certainly no pog. No one ever claimed he was an infantry officer in Vietnam. He went mustang after 13 years enlisted. However, in Vietnam, he did three tours and earned three purple hearts and a bronze with V, so there's that.
DeploraBill
Operator
What happened to all that military equipment after we left? Did we take it with us?
gordie
Operator
I know this is is about the Zippo's but my experience was with a M-113 APC outfitted with a flame thrower, having dense jungle around the main ordnance facility in Bien Hoa Vietnam some higher up decided that the jungle could be eliminated by using this M-113, it worked well until it had to be refueled by napalm, someone forgot ( or wasn't trained ) to use the ground strap resulting in the loss of life and a pretty complete melt down of the M-113 APC and I went back to clearing jungle with my Caterpillar D-8.
Sld1959
Ronin
Not hardly... some of it probably still being used.