Hell Let Loose Vietnam Tank Guide - Crew Roles & Target Priority (2026)

Armour in Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is the difference between a stalled frontline and a broken one. The M48 Patton can roll a village defence flat, the M67 Zippo turns bunker fights into cleanup duty, and the NVA's T-54s punish US armour that wanders into open rice paddies. But a tank is only as good as its crew — a lone driver with no commander and no gunner is a 40-tonne coffin with a loud engine.

This is the tank guide for launch: the vehicle roster on both sides, who sits where, how to drive and position without getting ambushed, and the target priority that keeps your expensive metal alive.

Here's what you'll learn:

• The launch armour roster: US and NVA tanks, and what each one does
• The crew seats: Tank Commander, Driver, Gunner and the Loader position
• How driving and positioning work on Vietnam's terrain
• The target priority order for a tank crew
• How Armour squads fit into the 50v50 chain of command

Official resources: Steam store page · Official site · IGN game page · Official blog

Tanks in Hell Let Loose: Vietnam - The Launch Roster

The launch vehicle set (as catalogued by GameWatcher's vehicle list and community databases) gives each side its own armoured identity:

US Armed Forces:

• M48 Patton — the US main battle tank. 90mm main gun, thick frontal armour, and the backbone of American armoured pushes. It is the tank you will see holding the long axis of Đắk Tô Airfield and clearing the villages around Vạn Tường.
• M67 Zippo — a Patton chassis with the flamethrower replacing the co-axial gun. Built for close terrain: tunnels, bunkers, and jungle clearings. Devastating at short range, worse than a Patton at range.
• Gun trucks and transports — lighter vehicles that escort convoys and resupply; not proper armour but part of the US road network.

NVA:

• T-54 / T-55 — the NVA's main battle tanks. Comparable armour and a 100mm gun that makes any US tank commander think twice about exposing a flank.
• PT-76 — the NVA's amphibious light tank. Thin armour, but it can cross the rivers that stop every other tank on the roster — a genuine ambush tool on maps like Vạn Tường with its sprawling waterways.

Tank Crew Roles: Commander, Driver, Gunner, Loader

Armour squads are built from two roles — Tank Commander and Crewman (the Steam store page lists exactly these two under the Armour unit) — and the crew then distributes itself across the vehicle's seats. Following the Hell Let Loose armour system, the seat layout is:

• Tank Commander — runs the show. Rides the periscope/hatch seat, spots targets with binoculars, marks them on the map, and talks on the Leadership voice channel. The Commander also handles the squad admin: kicking dead weight, locking the squad, and calling in support from the Commander's own abilities. On the Vietnam tank, the Commander seat also fires the roof machine gun when equipped.
• Driver — owns the vehicle's life. The driver's view is narrow and there is no turret independence: if the driver gets you stuck in a rice paddy, the whole tank is a sitting target. The driver also operates the hull machine gun (a fixed forward weapon) in most vehicles.
• Gunner — fires the main gun. Reads the Commander's marks, leads moving targets, and knows exactly what each shell type does to what it hits. The Gunner's reload is not instant: timing the shot matters as much as placing it.
• Loader — on tanks with a fourth seat, the Loader mans the hull machine gun and can help spot from the crew's limited vision ports. Not every vehicle has a fourth seat; check the seat map shown when you enter the vehicle.

How to Drive and Position a Tank

Driving in Hell Let Loose is a manual affair: the tank uses a manual transmission (gears from high down to reverse), and the driver starts the engine before the vehicle moves. Climbing hills and turning in tight spaces means downshifting; open roads mean the top gear. Master the gear shift in the tutorial's Tank section before you take a tank into a live match — a tank that stalls in a fire lane is a dead tank.

Vietnam terrain punishes the habits from the WW2 version:

• Rivers are everywhere. Vạn Tường and Quảng Ngãi both have serious water networks. Only the PT-76 crosses water; everyone else routes around bridges and fords — and those crossings are exactly where the NVA mines and RPG teams wait. Check the all maps guide for the crossing choke points.
• Jungle kills sightlines. The M48's gun outranges everything on the map, but you rarely get a 500-metre lane. Use the long lanes — the Đắk Tô airfield axis, the rice-paddy margins — and avoid pushing into tree lines where the first shot is a satchel charge.
• Hull down wins fights. Use ridges and dykes so only your turret is exposed. A Patton hull-down behind a dyke is nearly unkillable by RPG-2 fire from the front; a Patton in the open is a two-rocket kill.

Tank Target Priority: What to Shoot First

A tank crew with time to choose targets should work down this list:

1. Enemy tanks and armoured vehicles — the only thing that can trade shots with you. An M48 that ignores a T-54 to farm infantry will lose the match's armour fight and then die anyway.
2. Anti-tank infantry — M72 LAW (US) and RPG-2 (NVA) gunners are your existential threat. If the Commander spots a muzzle flash or a rocket trail, that direction outranks everything.
3. Spawn structures — garrisons, outposts and NVA tunnels. One main-gun round deletes a spawn point and wins the sector around it.
4. Machine guns and HMG nests — the fire lanes that stop your infantry escort.
5. Infantry clusters — area targets on capture points, but only after 1-4 are handled.

Frequently Asked Questions

What tanks are in Hell Let Loose: Vietnam? At launch the US fields the M48 Patton and the M67 Zippo flamethrower tank plus gun trucks; the NVA fields the T-54/T-55 and the amphibious PT-76. Community databases are still confirming exact stats.

What are the tank crew roles in Hell Let Loose: Vietnam? The Armour unit has two roles — Tank Commander and Crewman — who distribute across the vehicle seats: Commander (spotting, marking, command chat), Driver (movement, hull MG), Gunner (main gun), and on some vehicles a Loader seat.

How do I drive a tank in Hell Let Loose: Vietnam? Use the manual transmission — downshift for hills and tight turns, top gear for roads. Start the engine, check the seat map, and never drive into river crossings that only the PT-76 can manage. The in-game Tank tutorial covers the controls.

What should a tank shoot first in Hell Let Loose: Vietnam? Enemy tanks first, then anti-tank infantry (LAW/RPG gunners), then spawn structures and machine-gun nests, and only then infantry clusters. A tank that ignores anti-tank threats doesn't survive long enough to farm kills.

Is the M48 Patton good in Hell Let Loose: Vietnam? Yes — it is the US main battle tank with the strongest frontal armour and the 90mm main gun, ideal for long lanes like Đắk Tô Airfield. Its weakness is close terrain: jungle tree lines and river crossings where RPG-2 gunners and satchel charges get at its flanks.

Related Guides

• Hell Let Loose: Vietnam Weapons Guide — M72 LAW & RPG-2
• Hell Let Loose: Vietnam All Maps Guide
• Hell Let Loose: Vietnam Squad Leader Guide
• Hell Let Loose: Vietnam Mortar Guide
• Hell Let Loose: Vietnam Helicopter Pilot Guide
• Hell Let Loose: Vietnam Push to Talk Guide

Last updated: August 14, 2026.