Part of an enormous column of armoured vehicles, an M109 Self Propelled Howitzer of the US 1/11th ...

Part of an enormous column of armoured vehicles, an M109 Self Propelled Howitzer of the US 1/11th Armoured Cavalry Regiment takes up a defensive position on Route 23 during a pause in its move towards the staging point for Operation Paddington near Xuyen Moc. The operation, involving the equivalent of nine American, South Vietnamese and Australian battalions, is the largest that has so far been conducted in Phuoc Tuy Province.