Hobby Master Archive

Under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program (MDAP) Belgium received 423 M26 and M26A1 Pershings at no cost. MDAP was the acronym used for the U.S. Military aid to its Belgium is a bilingual country with French and Dutch all the military units had two names. Belgium is a bilingual country with French and Dutch all the military units had two names. Some of the units were the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Regiment de Guides/Regiment Gidsen - 7th, 9th and 10th Regiments de Lanciers/Regiment Lansiers and the 2nd, 3rd and 5th Bataillon de Tanks Lourds/Bataljon Zware Tanks. In 1961 the reserve system was reduced and revised which meant the M26s now equipped the 1st and 3rd Escadron de Tanks/Tank Escadron. In 1953 the 1st Heavy Tank Battalion of the 1st Infantry Division, an active unit, used the M26 for 3 months until the M26 with active units was replaced by the M47. It wasn’t until 1969 until all M26s were phased out of the Belgium military.