ANZAC - Centurion

The Centurion was the primary Main Battle Tank used by the British Army of the post-World War II period. Introduced in 1945, it is widely considered to be one of the most successful post-War tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing combat into the 1980s.

The Centurion first entered combat on November 14th, 1950 with the British Army's 8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars after landing in Pusan, during the Korean War.

The Australian government, under criticism in Parliament, decided to send a squadron of Australian Centurion tanks to South Vietnam to reinforce the lightly-armored M113's of "A" Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, Royal Australian Armored Corps. Arriving in February of 1968 and headquartering at Nui Dat the Centurions were used to help the lighter M113 APC's force their way through the dense jungle during combat operations, and were heavily committed during the six-week battle of Coral–Balmoral in May.

58 Australian Centurions were committed to South Vietnam combat operations. 42 were damaged, with 6 beyond repair; however, only two crewmembers were killed in action. A small testament of the solid design of the Centurion.