Even with its innovative technology and better armer protection,
the T-44A still used an 85 mm ZiS-S-53 tank gun, Sony
VGP-BPL15/S Battery
the same as the one fitted on the T-34-85 medium tank. The army
needed a new tank armed with a more powerful 100 mm gun.[25] Two
projects were started, both based on the T-44A and the development of the first
one started in October 1944, and the designing stage was completed in December.
Sony VGP-BPS15/S Battery
The prototype was ready in
February 1945 and the trials conducted between March and April gave positive
results and the vehicle entered service with the Red Army as the T-54.
Differences included thickened front armour (120 mm on the
upper section and 90 mm on the lower section) and a different hatch and
vision slot for the driver. The turret had increased diameter to 1800 mm.
The armament included the 100 mm D-10TK tank gun as well as two
7.62 mm GWT machine guns. Sony
VGP-BPL15 Battery
The tank was powered by a new V-54 12-cylinder 38.88-litre
water-cooled diesel engine developing 520 hp (388 kW) at 2,000 rpm.
The fuel capacity was increased (530 litres in the internal fuel tank and 165
litres in the external fuel tank). Sony VGN-P series Battery
The weight was increased to 35.5 tonnes, which reduced the
maximal road speed to 43.5 km/h. Further development of the T-44 was
cancelled and all the attention was directed towards the development of the new
T-54 main battle tank. Sony VGN-P11Z/Q Battery
With massive quantities of weapons and tanks from War World II,
and the factories to produce them, the Russians exported them and built up
client states which spread their influence and became involved in the
continuing state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, Sony VGN-P11Z/R Battery
and economic competition existing afterwards known as the Cold
War. The Cold War featured periods of relative calm and of international high
tension – the Berlin Blockade (1948–1949), the Korean
War (1950–1953), the Berlin Crisis of 1961, the Vietnam
War (1959–1975), Sony VGN-P11Z/W Battery
the Cuban Missile
Crisis (1962), the Soviet war in Afghanistan(1979–1989), and various
smaller conflicts in which Soviet weapons had significant impact, and we will
focus on the Russian tanks.
nitially, North Korean armour dominated the battlefield with
Soviet T-34-85 medium tanks designed during the Second World War. Sony VGN-P21S/W Battery
The KPA's tanks confronted a tankless ROK Army armed with few
modern anti-tank weapons,[28]:39 including
World War II–model 2.36-inch (60 mm) M9 bazookas, effective only
against the 45 mm side armor of the T-34-85 tank.[29]:25 Sony VGN-P21Z/G Battery
The US forces arriving in
Korea were equipped with light M24 Chaffee tanks (on occupation duty
in nearby Japan) that also proved ineffective against the heavier KPA T-34
tanks.[29]:18
During the initial hours of warfare, some under-equipped ROK
Army border units used 105 mm howitzers Sony VGN-P21Z/R Battery
as anti-tank
guns to stop the tanks heading the KPA columns, firing high-explosive
anti-tank ammunition (HEAT) over open sights to good effect; at the war's
start, the ROK Army had 91 such guns, but lost most to the invaders.[30]
The North Korean invasion of South Korea in June 1950
was spearheaded by a full brigade equipped with about 120 T-34-85s. Sony VGN-P29VN/Q Battery
Additional T-34 tanks
later joined the first assault force after it had penetrated into South Korea.[31] They
were pitted against the M24 Chaffee, M4 Sherman and M26
Pershing, but not the Centurion tanks of the UN forces.
Sony VGP-BPS18 Battery
Sony VGP-BPS18 Battery
The T-34 tanks of the North Korean army rolled across
the border and headed south where they brushed aside opposition with ease, such
as when they came into contact with elements of the 24th Infantry Division in
the Battle of Osan on July 5, 1950 during the first battle between
American and North Korean forces.[32][33] Sony
VGP-BPL18 Battery
The American force, nicknamed Task Force Smith, was unable
to repel the North Koreans' T-34 tanks. Ammunition and weapons designed to
combat the heavily armoured tanks had not been widely distributed to U.S.
Army forces in Korea at the time, and the Task Force only had a few rounds
of effectivehowitzer ammunition. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ35B/B Battery
The Task Force's outdated equipment could not penetrate the
North Korean T-34 tanks armor, which subsequently passed through their lines.
The 24th Infantry Division would continue to fight in delaying actions such as
this one for two more weeks until it was overwhelmed at the Battle of
Taejon, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ54B/B Battery
where the North Koreans advanced on the town with the 3rd and
4th Divisions supported by over 50 T-34 tanks, and the Allies fell back into
the Pusan Perimeter which was defined by the farthest advance of the North
Korean troops during the Korean War. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ55B/B Battery
The Allies fought off the
attacks in the Pusan Perimeter which served as an airhead for resupply and
reinforcement until the Inchon landing, and the ensuing counterattack against
the North.
Countering the initial combat imbalance, the UN Command
reinforcement materiel included heavier US M4 Sherman, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ55GN/B Battery
M26 Pershing,M46 Patton, and
British Cromwell and Centurion tanks that proved effective
against North Korean armour, ending its battlefield dominance. Unlike in
the Second World War (1939–45), in which the tank proved a decisive weapon, the
Korean War featured few large-scale tank battles. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ56 Battery
The mountainous, heavily
forested terrain prevented large masses of tanks from manoeuvring. In Korea,
tanks served largely as infantry support.
The Viet Cong, a lightly armed South Vietnamese
communist-controlled common front, largely fought a guerilla
war against anti-communist forces in the region with light
weapons. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ561N Battery
The North Vietnamese Army (NVA), however, engaged in a
more conventional war, at times committing large units and armour into
battle. North Vietnamese tanks such as the PT-76 tanks and the T-54/T-55 tanks
series which had become the main tank for armoured units of the Soviet Army, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ562N Battery
and exported to many other
armies including the Vietnamese, along with the Type 59s and Type
63s, formed the bulk of the NVA armoured forces.
The first successful action of NVA armour was against
the Lang Vei Special Forces camp on 6–7 February 1968.[35] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ57N Battery
Thirteen PT-76s, of the NVA 202nd Armored Regiment
spearheaded an assault against approximately 24 Green Berets and 500
irregulars. The defenders fought back with M72 LAWs (Light Anti-Tank
weapons/66 mm), and requested support from nearby Khe Sanh, who were
unable to help, as they too, were under siege.[35] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ58GN Battery
The few survivors
broke out, and were airlifted to safety.
The first tank-to-tank engagement occurred in mid-1968 when a US
reconnaissance airplane observed a PT-76 being washed by its crew in the Ben
Hai River in the DMZ (17th Parallel). Sony VAIO VGN-SZ58GN/C Battery
The Forward Air Control pilot radioed the tank's
position to a nearbyM48 Patton tank unit of the US 3rd Marine Tank
Battalion. With the FAC adjusting fire, the Patton fired three 90 mm
rounds;[35] obtaining a hit with the third round. The tank crew
abandoned their vehicle. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ58N Battery
Another tank engagement took place on March 3, 1969, again at
Ben Het in Kon Tum Province near the Laotian border. In a night
assault, the North Vietnamese with PT-76 tanks attacked a US Special Forces
camp. The garrison, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ61MN/B Battery
which had been reinforced with a platoon of M48A3 main
battle tanks from the 1st Battalion 69th Armored battalion, stood their ground.
The North Vietnamese fired 639 artillery and mortar rounds into the camp,
before a battalion from the 66th NVA Regiment supported by ten PT-76s and a few
APCsSony VAIO VGN-SZ61VN/X Battery
attacked the west hill held by a CIDG company supported by the
platoon of M48s. The PT-76s drove into a minefield in which two were destroyed.
Two more PT-76s and one APC were destroyed by the M48As. Six PT-76s were
destroyed by artillery fire and air strikes. US casualties consisted of one M48
being lightly damaged.[ Sony VAIO VGN-SZ61WN/C Battery
The Easter Offensive, officially, the Nguyễn Huệ Offensive and also (Chiến dịch Xuân hè 1972 in Vietnamese), was a military campaign heavy with armoured forces and tanks conducted by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN, the regular army of North Vietnam) against the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Sony VAIO VGN-SZ640N/B Battery
(ARVN, the regular army
of South Vietnam) and the United States military between 30
March and 22 October 1972, during the Vietnam War.[39] This
conventional invasion (the largest offensive operation since
300,000 Chinese volunteers had crossed the Yalu
River into North Korea during the Korean War) was led by
armoured forces. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ645P3 Battery
Two PAVN divisions (the 304th and 308th - approximately 30,000
troops) supported by more than 100 tanks (in two regiments) rolled over the
Demilitarized Zone to attack I Corps, the five northernmost provinces of South
Vietnam. The North Vietnamese moved out of Laos along Route 9, past Khe
Sanh, and east into the Quảng Trị River Valley of South Vietnam. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ650N/C Battery
The PAVN advance was followed by antiaircraft units armed with
new ZSU-57-2 tracked weapon platforms and man-portable,
shoulder-firedGrail missiles, which made low-level bombing attacks against the
columns of tanks hazardous. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ660N/C Battery
On May 9, 1972, the North Vietnamese tanks unwillingly
participated in changing the story of armoured warfare.[34] On
April 24, 1972, a US special experimental UH-1B helicopter team,
consisting of two helicopters mounting the new XM26 TOWanti-tank
missile Sony VAIO VGN-SZ670N/C Battery
(Tube
Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire guided), accompanied
by technicians from Bell Helicopters and the Hughes Aircraft
Corporation, arrived in the country. The team, labelled the 1st Combat
Aerial TOW Team, deployed to the Central Highlands in Vietnam and
commenced gunnery training. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ680ND Battery
From May 2, the team made
daily flights in search of enemy armour. On May 9, NVA armoured units attacked
the Ranger camp at Ben Het; the TOW team destroyed three PT-76s and broke up
the attack.[34]
On May 26, 1972, the North Vietnamese Army moved with armoured
forces on the city of Kon Tum. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ691N/X Battery
TOW aircraft were brought in at first light and found NVA tanks
moving almost at will through portions of the city. Conventional air strikes
would prove risky to friendly forces, but the TOW proved to be ideal for
picking off enemy tanks.[34] At
the end of the first day, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ71E/B Battery
the two TOW helicopters had destroyed nine tanks and damaged one
more. Five of the destroyed tanks had been T-54/55s and the remaining
four destroyed and one damaged were PT-76s. By the end of the month, TOW missiles
launched from helicopters had 47 confirmed kills, of which 24 were tanks.[35] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ71VN/X Battery
But in the end, as South Vietnamese forces crumbled, it was a
T-54 tank of the North Vietnamese Army that bulldozed through the main
gate of the Presidents at 10:45 on 30 April 1975, ending the Vietnam War.
Prior to the Six-Day War, the Arab armies had fought with a
mixture of weapons mostly British, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ71WN/C Battery
although Egypt acquired American M4A4 tanks and fitted them with
the diesel engine of M4A2 and the FL-10 turret of the French AMX-13 light tank.
Syria possessed at least one M4A1 chassis at some time during 1948-1956. But
after the Suez Crisis in 1956 they built up their arsenal mainly with Soviet
arms. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ74B/B Battery
It is known the Syrians got upgraded T-34-85's which they called
T-34/55. This unit was a Syrian modernization of Soviet-made T-34-85s earlier
with an anti-aircraft machine gun fitted to the commander's copula and other
upgrades. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ750N/C Battery
The Syrians also acquired a
T-34 tank conversions desinated a T-34/122 made into a self-propelled howitzer
armed with a 122 mm D-30 howitzer.
The Six-Day War was fought between June 5 and June 10, 1967, by
Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt [known then as the United Arab
Republic (UAR)], Sony VAIO VGN-SZ75B/B Battery
Jordan, and Syria. In the war, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq
had over 2,504 tanks against Israel 800 tanks.[40] However,
Israel completed a decisive air offensive in the first two days, which crippled
the Egyptian, Syrian and Iraqi air forces, destroyed Jordan's Air Force, and
rapidly established complete air supremacy. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ76 Battery
The Israeli Air Force pummelled the Arab armies, and with air
supremacy, was able to destroy many of their tanks at will, but the Israeli
armor also had tank on tank battles. Typical was the Battle of Abu-Ageila,
where Egyptian forces with amoured forces included a battalion of tank
destroyers and a tank regiment, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ770N/C Battery
formed of Soviet World War II armor, which included 90 T-34-85
tanks (with 85 mm guns), 22 SU-100 tank destroyers (with 100 mm
guns), and about 16,000 men,[141] clashed with the Israelis with 150 post-World
War II tanks including the AMX-13 with 90 mm guns, Centurions, and Super
Shermans (both types with 105 mm guns). Sony VAIO VGN-SZ77N Battery
Combined forces of Israeli armor, paratroopers, infantry,
artillery and combat engineers attacked the Egyptian position from the front,
flanks and rear, destroying many tanks and cutting the Egyptian forces off. At
the war's end, Israel had seized the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from
Egypt, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ780 Battery
the West Bank and East
Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.
Egyptian amoured forces were by the time of the Six-Day War,
mostly Soviet. Egypt had ordered 350 T-54s and 50 PT-76s from the Soviet Union
and delivered by 1966 before the Six-Day War. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ78N Battery
Egypt lost 820 vehicles in the Six Day War including 82 T-55s.[25]:11-13 After
the loses, Egypt rearmed and 800 T-54s were ordered in 1967 from the Soviet
Union and delivered between 1967 and 1972. Another 550 T-55s were ordered in
1967 from the Soviet Union and delivered betweenSony VAIO VGN-SZ791N/X Battery
1969 and 1973 along with
200 PT-76s ordered in 1970, 50 T-54s ordered in 1972 and 750 T-62s ordered in
1971 from the Soviet Union and had begun to be delivered by 1972 before the
start of the next conflict.
Milẖemet
Yom HaKipurim or מלחמת יום כיפור, Milẖemet
Yom Kipur; Arabic: حرب أكتوبر;transliterated: ħarb
Aktoobar or حرب تشرين, ħarb Tishrin), also known as
the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli
War, was fought from October 6 to 26, 1973, between Israel and a
coalition of Arab states backing Egypt and Syria. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ84PS Battery
In the Yom Kippur War Egypt, Syria and Iraq
used T-34/85, T-54, T-55, T-62 and PT-76, as well
as SU-100/152 World War II vintage self-propelled guns. While Israel
had M50 and M51 Shermans with upgraded engines, M48A5
Patton,M60A1 Patton, Centurion and about 200 T-54/55 captured during
the Six-Day War. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ84S Battery
All Israeli tanks were
upgraded with the British 105 mm L7 gun, prior to the war.
The Yom Kipur War began with a massive and successful Egyptian
attack across the heavily fortified Suez Canal with tanks it had
received from the Soviet Union, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ84US Battery
T-55s and T-62s tanks, RPG-7 antitank weapons, and
the AT-3 Sagger anti-tank guided missile and using
improved military tactics, based on Soviet battlefield doctrines. They
drove the tanks over portable bridges laid across the Suez Canal, with infantry
with portable and recoilless anti-tank weapons.[42] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ85NS Battery
Egyptian forces advanced, into the Sinai Desert with
two armies (both corps-sized by western standards, included the 2nd
Infantry Division in the northern Second Army) and by the following
morning, some Egyptian 850 tanks had crossed the canal and prepared for the
Israeli conterattack.[43] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ85S Battery
The Egyptian 2nd and 3rd Armies attacked eastward with armored
forces consisted of 800[44]-1,000
tanks[45] however they moved eastward beyond SAM cover over the Suez
Canal, where they came up against 700[44]-750[45] Israeli
tanks. The Egyptian armored and mechanized attack, was a total failure. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ85US Battery
Instead of concentrating forces of maneuvering, they had
expended their tanks and armored forces in head-on attack against the waiting
Israeli brigades."[46] No
fewer than 250 Egyptian tanks and some 200 armored vehicles[48] were
destroyed. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ94NS Battery
After stopping the Egyptian attack, the Israelis then
counterattacked at the seam between two Egyptian armies, crossed the Suez
Canal, and encircled elements of Egypt's Third Army until the United Nations
ceasefire resolution which was imposed cooperatively on October 25 to end the
war. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ94PS Battery
In the north, the Syrians attacked the Golan Heights at the same
time with armoured forces and initially made threatening gains against the
greatly outnumbered defenders. At the onset of the battle, the Syrians came
with three infantry divisions with large armour components comprising 28,000
Syrian troops, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ94S Battery
800 tanks and 600 artillery pieces and followed by two armoured
divisions against the Israeli brigades of some 3,000 troops, 180 tanks and 60
artillery pieces. The Syrians had bridging tanks to cross antitank ditches,
BRDM-mounted Sagger anti-tank missiles, SU-100 gun
carriers, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ94US Battery
and had T-55 tanks equipped with a specially designed infrared
nightscope and also T-62 tanks.[52] The
Israeli forces did not have adequate optical equipment for night fighting, and
had to gauge the position of the Syrian forces by their noise and artillery
flares. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ95NS Battery
Israeli forces were worn down but were gradually reinforced over
days and within a week, Israel recovered and launched a four-day
counter-offensive, driving deep into Syria itself. However, Iraq had also sent
an expeditionary force to the Golan, with 250–500 tanks mostly T-55s, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ95S Battery
and
700 APCs which threatened the Israeli flanks, but the war ended
without the Iraqis becoming heavily engaged.[53][54][55]
The fact that the Arab armies' T-54/55s and T-62s were equipped
with night vision equipment, which the Israeli tanks lacked, gave them an
advantage in fighting at night, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ95US Battery
while Israel tanks had better armor and/or better armament such
as the L7|105 mm L7 gun. Israeli tanks also had a distinct advantage in
the "hull-down" position where steeper angles of depression resulted
in less exposure. The main guns of Soviet tanks could only depress 4 degrees. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ121 Battery
By contrast, the
105 mm guns on Centurion and Patton tanks could depress 10 degrees. The
coalition of Arab states and Egypt and Syria lost 2,300[56] tanks
destroyed or captured 341[57]–514.
During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the Iraqi armor
was usually tanks of Russian design, which included the T-54/55, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ13 Battery
T-62, Type 59, Type 69, and T-72. In the
Battle of Khafji, the first major ground engagement of the Gulf War, Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein, tried and failed to draw Coalition troops into a
costly ground engagements with his amoured forces and sent the 1st and 5th Sony VAIO VGN-TZ130N/B Battery
Mechanized Divisions and
3rd Armored Division to conduct a multi-pronged invasion toward Khafji,
engaging American, Saudi and Qatari forces along the coastline..
but the 3rd Armored Division had a number of T-72 tanks, the
only non-Republican Guard force to have them,[59]while
the other armored battalions had T-62s and upgraded T-55s.[60] During
the battle of Khafji, these upgraded T-55s survived impacts from Milan
anti-tank missiles.[61] Sony VAIO VGN-TZ132/N Battery
As the units moved to the Saudi border, many were attacked by
Coalition aircraft. Around the Al-Wafrah forest, about 1,000 Iraqi armored
fighting vehicles were attacked by Harrieraircraft with Rockeye
cluster bombs.[62] Another Iraqi convoy of armored vehicles was hit
by A-10s, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ132N Battery
which destroyed the first and last vehicles, before
systematically attacking the stranded remainder.[63] The
air raids destroyed many tanks and support vehicles and prevented the majority
of the Iraqi troops deployed for the offensive from taking part in it, allowing
Saudi and Quatari forces to retake the city. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ150N/B Battery
In the launch of the main Allied ground attack, the Iraqi tanks
engaged the M60A1 tanks of the U.S. Marines which were fitted with add-on
explosive reactive armor (ERA) packages. However, the weakness of Iraq's
older Soviet-era tanks, was most evident against the US M1A1 tank. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ150N/N Battery
The M1A1 tank was superior
to Iraq's Soviet-era T-55 and T-62 tanks.
In the Battle of 73 Easting, which was a decisive tank
battle fought on 26 February 1991, during the Gulf War,
between American–British armored forces and those of the
IraqiRepublican Guard. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ160CB Battery
Superior
American night vision equipment turned the poor weather into a U.S.
advantage.The 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2nd ACR), mainly
a reconnaissance element of VII Corpsalong with the corps's
vanguard the American 3rd Armored Division (3rd AD) and 1st
Infantry Division (1st ID), Sony VAIO VGN-TZ160N/B Battery
and
the British 1st Armoured Division (1 AD) enganged and smashed
Iraqi forces and tanks.
initially destroyed several Iraqi armored personnel carriers and
three enemy tanks. Reaching 70 Easting, the lead cavalry troops of 2nd
"Cougar" Squadron knocked out a screen of eight Iraqi T-72
tanks. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ16GN/B Battery
The 2nd ACR surprised the enemy and penetrated the Iraqi
positions so quickly that they were unable to recover. E-Troop attacked forward
and destroyed the Iraqi tanks at 73 Easting at close range. The Iraqis stood
their ground while their tanks and armored personnel carriers of the Sony VAIO VGN-TZ16N/B Battery
Tawakalna Division attempted to maneuver and fight. E-Troop
destroyed more than 20 tanks and other armored vehicles, a number of trucks and
bunkers, and took a large number of prisoners with no losses to themselves.
Other 2nd ACR Troops, I- ("Iron"), K- ("Killer"), and G-
("Ghost"), Sony VAIO VGN-TZ17/N Battery
joined the fighting at 73 Easting and engaged several waves of
Iraqi T-72and T-55 tanks advancing directly into G-Troop.
G-Troop lost one M3 Bradley to Iraqi IFV fire and one soldier, ending
with most of the engaged Iraqi elements burning or destroyed. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ170N/B Battery
The 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division of the British Army,
engaged the Tawakalna Division, while the Medina Division was attempting to
maneuver against 1st Armoured Division. The British responded decisively
with MLRS fire, cannon artillery, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ170N/N Battery
and air strikes and destroyed 40 enemy tanks and captured an
Iraqi division commander. The 2nd ACR's three squadrons, along with the 1st
Infantry Division's two leading brigades, destroyed two Iraqi brigades (18th
Mechanized Brigade and 37th Armored Brigade) of the Tawakalna Division. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ17GN/B Battery
The 2nd ACR alone destroyed about 85 tanks, 40 personnel
carriers and more than 30 wheeled vehicles, along with several anti-aircraft
artillery systems during the battle. The equivalent of an Iraqi brigade was
destroyed at the Battle of 73 Easting, in the defeat of the Republican
Guard tanks and armored forces. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ17N Battery
At the same time, Iraqi troops began retreating from Kuwait, and
a long convoy of retreating Iraqi tanks, vehicles and troops formed along the
main Iraq-Kuwait highway. Although they were retreating, this convoy was bombed
so extensively by Coalition air forces that it came to be known as
the Highway of DeathSony VAIO VGN-TZ18/N Battery
as Iraqi tanks and
other vehicles out in the open were destroyed by Allied planes as they fled,
along with hundreds of Iraqi troops who were killed.
Post war analysis showed that the majority of Iraqi armored
forces still had old Soviet-made T-55s from the 1950s and 1960s, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ180N/RC Battery
and some Asad Babil tanks T-72 (along with some
Chinese Type 59s and Type 69tanks). These machines were not
equipped with up-to-date equipment, such as thermal
sights or laser rangefinders, and their effectiveness in modern
combat was very limited. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ185N/WC Battery
The Iraqis failed to find an effective countermeasure to the
thermal sights and sabot rounds used by the Coalition tanks. This
equipment enabled them to engage and destroy Iraqi tanks from more than three
times the range that Iraqi tanks could engage coalition tanks. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ18GN/X Battery
The Iraqi tank crews used
old, cheap steel penetrators against the advancedChobham
Armour of the U.S. and British tanks, with ineffective results.
he Soviet entry into the Afghanistan conflict was on December
27, 1979, when 700 Soviet troops dressed in Afghan uniforms, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ18N Battery
including KGB and GRU special
force officers from theAlpha Group and Zenith Group,
occupied major governmental, military and media buildings in Kabul, including
the Tajbeg Presidential Palace.
The Soviet Zenith Group destroyed Kabul's
communications hub, paralyzing Afghan military command and the assault on
Tajbeg Palace began; Sony VAIO VGN-TZ190N/B Battery
as planned, president Hafizullah Amin was killed. The Soviet
military command at Termez, Uzbek SSR, announced on Radio
Kabul that Afghanistan had been liberated from Amin's rule. According to
the Soviet Politburo they were complying with the 1978 Treaty
of Friendship, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ190N/BC Battery
Cooperation and Good Neighborliness and
Amin had been "executed by a tribunal for his crimes" by the Afghan
Revolutionary Central Committee. That committee then elected as head of
government former Deputy Prime Minister Babrak Karmal, and said that it
had requested Soviet military assistance. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ191N/XC Battery
Soviet ground forces, under the command
of Marshal Sergei Sokolov, entered Afghanistan from the north on
December 27. In all, the initial Soviet force was around 1,800 tanks, 80,000
soldiers and 2,000 AFVs. In the second week alone, Soviet aircraft had
made a total of 4,000 flights into Kabul.[66] Sony VAIO VGN-TZ195N/XC Battery
With the arrival of the two later divisions, the total Soviet
force rose to over 100,000 personnel. The war with mujahideen forces supported
by secret aid from the CIA dragged on from the initial Soviet deployment of the
40th Army in Afghanistan on December 24, 1979 till the final troop withdrawal
which started on May 15, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ198N/RC Battery
1988, and ended on February
15, 1989 under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
The civil war continued in Afghanistan after the Soviet
withdrawal. In April, 1992. Afghanistan leader Najibullah and his communist
government fell to the mujahideen, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ250N/B Battery
who replaced Najibullah with a new governing council for the
country. With the government institutions either collapsing or participating in
the factional fighting, maintaining order in Kabul became almost impossible.
The scene was set for the next phase of the war which led to the rise
of and the take over of the country by the Taliban regime. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ250N/N Battery
The massive stockpiles of heavy weapons such as T-62 and T-55
tanks, were tanken over by the various Afghanistan warlords and along with
vehicles such as BMD-1s from the war with the Soviet Union, they were then used
in fighting other factions or warlords. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ250N/P Battery
Some tanks in the Afghanistan military or military vehicles were
left behind for them by retreating Soviets and some were derelicts left by the
Soviets all over Afghanistan and brought back to working condition. Since there
wasn't any kind of care taken as to what variant an individual tank may be,
many T-55s have mixed parts from a number of different variants. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ27/N Battery
On October 7, 2001 the United States military began
operation Operation Enduring Freedom, which was launched by the United
States and United Kingdom in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The purpose for the entry into the Afghanistan conflict was stated to
capture Osama bin Laden, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ270N/B Battery
destroy al-Qaeda, and remove the Taliban regime
which had provided support and safe harbor to al-Qaeda. In the war, both the
Taliban and forces allied with American troops had access to a wide array of
Soviet tanks that fell into their hands, when the central government which had
ordered them, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ27N Battery
collapsed after the Soviets left. 50 T-54s and 50 T-55s were
ordered in 1961 from the Soviet Union and delivered between 1962 and 1964
(T-54s were previously in Soviet service). 200 T-54s were ordered in 1978 from
the Soviet Union and delivered between 1978 and 1979 (the vehicles were
previously in Soviet service). Sony VAIO VGN-TZ28/N Battery
705 T-55s were ordered in 1978 from the Soviet Union and
delivered between 1978 and 1991 (the vehicles were previously in Soviet
service).[41] 50 Pt-76 light tanks were ordered in 1958 from the Soviet
Union and delivered between 1959 and 1961. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ285N/RC Battery
1,000 T-54s, T-55s, T-62s
and PT-76s were in service on 1 April 1992.[68]Currently
600 T-55s are in service with the Military of
Afghanistan but are to be replaced with M60 Pattons.
From the beginning of the war, the bulk of the resistance had
been conducted by regular army units, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ28N Battery
equipped with older tanks such as T-54/55 tanks and
T-62s. One division armed with the older tanks that faced the US forces were
the 6th Armored Division of the Iraqi Army.[69] It
was equipped with T-55s and BMP-1s defending the control of key bridges over
the Euphrates River and the Saddam Canal at Nasiriyah. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ290EAB Battery
Its tanks were decimated by
US Marines with M1 Abrams, and the division as a unit rendered incapable
for combat during the Battle of Nasiriyah in March 2003, during the
invasion.
In addition to the T-54/55 and T-62 tanks that Iraq had, the
most feared to US amoured forces were the T-72 tanks in the Iraqi forces. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ290EAN Battery
Only Republican Guard divisions were equipped with
Iraqi-modified T-72s. Many of the Iraqi T-72s were dug-in or hidden in groves,
and then used to ambush the US or British tanks. In the war, the Iraqi T-72s
were the preferred target for Apache helicopters and A-10s, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ290EAP Battery
in an attempt to diminish
the combat power of Republican Guard divisions. The only chance for the Asad
Babil T-72s against American tanks was to lure them to close range
combat, or trying to ambush them from dug-in positions.
as proven in circumstances like the Battle of Baghdad, and
the drive to the capital, where dozens of Iraqi MBTs were obliterated,[71] or
near Mahmoudiyah, south of Baghdad, April 3, 2003, (Iraqi Freedom) when US
tanks engaged their counterparts from just 50 yards, shattering seven enemy Sony VAIO VGN-TZ298N/XC Battery
T-72s without losses.[72] These
encounters also exposed the very poor marksmanship of the Iraqi gunners, in
part due to the shortage of modern night-vision and range-finder assets.[73]The
Iraqis, however, had no idea they could be detected and destroyed at a range of
nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) by the M1 Abrams, and the Challenger. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ33/B Battery
The Lion of Babylon T-72 was utterly outclassed by the M1
Abrams, the Challenger and by any other contemporary Western main battle tank
during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[74] The
last operational Asad Babils were destroyed by the successive waves
of American armored incursions Sony VAIO VGN-TZ33/N Battery
on the Iraqi capital[75] or
abandoned by their crews after the fall of Baghdad, several of them without
firing a single shot, after the collapse of the regime.
The T-24 was a Soviet medium tank built in 1931. Only
twenty-four tanks were built, and was not used in combat. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ33/W Battery
This was the first tank produced at the KhPZ factory in Ukraine,
which was later responsible for the very successful T-34 and T-54 Soviet tanks.
The T-24's suspension was used successfully in the Soviet Union's first
purpose-built artillery tractors. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ350N/B Battery
The T-24's main armament was a 45 mm gun. It had a ball-mount
7.62 mm DT machine gun in the hull, another in the turret, and a third in
a secondary turret atop the main turret. The tank was well-armoured for its
time, but suffered from problems with the engine and transmission. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ350N/N Battery
The T-26 tank was a Soviet light infantry tank used
during many conflicts of the 1930s and during World War II. It was a
development of the British Vickers 6-Ton tank and is widely
considered one of the most successful tank designs of the 1930s.[76] Sony VAIO VGN-TZ350N/P Battery
It was produced in greater numbers than any other tank of the
period, with more than 11,000 produced.[77] During
the 1930s, the Soviet Union developed approximately 53 variants of the T-26,
including other combat vehicles based on its chassis. Twenty-three of these
were mass-produced.[78] Sony VAIO VGN-TZ370N/B Battery
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