Russia Appears to Be Deploying 75-Year-Old Tanks to Ukraine

[Jilly_in_VA]

Russia appears to be deploying 75 year old tanks to Ukraine.

According to Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), an open source intelligence group based in the country of Georgia, the Kremlin has started pulling T-54 and T-55 tanks from a storage base in the far east of Russia. The T-54 and T-55 tanks were built starting in the late 1940s and the Soviet Union built a lot of them. The USSR manufactured more than 100,000 of the tanks in the decade after the war, making it the most widely produced tank in the world.

CIT found photos on VK, a Russian social media site, from people near the base that showed the tanks had been pulled from storage. They also found photographs of the tanks being placed on trains for shipment. After CIT published its investigation, footage of the T-54s moving by train appeared online.

Russia’s tanks have been having a bad time in Ukraine. It already deployed Cold War era T-62s, upgraded with reactive armor and modern optics, only to lose most of them. According to Oryx, an open source intelligence group that’s tracking Russian losses in Ukraine, the Kremlin has lost almost 2,000 tanks in Ukraine.

Sending in ancient T-54 retrofitted with modern equipment would certainly bolster the numbers, but it’s hard to imagine them fairing better than T-62s. It’s also impossible to know how many of the 75 year old tanks still work and what’s required to make them run again.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxjq7q/russia-appears-to-be-deploying-75-year-old-tanks-to-ukraine

No wonder they're so easy to tow with your John Deere!

[underpants]

1. Gawd did Putin really screw up

This is almost unimaginable how bad they’ve gotten beaten.

[dawg]

3. It's actually a brilliant strategy.

They way, when the Ukrainians eventually capture them, all they'll get is shitty 70 year-old tanks.

[Aristus]

13. Ukraine can sell them to the five or six Third Word nations that are still using them.

They can use the hard cash.

[sarisataka]

16. Multiply that by 10

It is quite amazing how many countries use antique equipment.

The US has state of the art AFVs but I recall using other equipment that had seen action in Korea and even WW2.

[sarisataka]

4. Are these photos more reliable

Than the pre-invasion photos of Russian troops heading back to their barracks?

[CanonRay]

5. I say again, tank crews?

Where are they getting tank crews? Every tank that is hit will probably involve a loss of some or all crew members killed or wounded. Who's driving these things?

[maxsolomon]

7. Raw recruits.

A minimum of training. Right, left, forward, aim, fire.

Russia only expects that tank to work for a couple hours, and the crew is disposable. They'll conscript more.

[CanonRay]

8. You're probably right

[Aristus]

14. The T-55 is notoriously difficult to drive, even when in the best condition.

And the tiny crew space contributes to rapidly developing crew fatigue. Using these tanks is going to be a net loss for Russia in more ways than one.

[Irish_Dem]

17. These tanks are BBQ pits on wheels.

Sorry to put it that way. But it is the truth.

No need to do much training. Stop/Go/Steer/Die.

[CanonRay]

21. This unbelievable callousness concerning their own soldiers

is going to impact Russia long after this war is history.

[Irish_Dem]

23. We shall if the Russian people care or not.

[Kaleva]

26. During WWII, US grabbed random soldiers and made them tankers

They didn't last long

[modrepub]

31. Bury Your Enemy

with corpses. The Soviet philosophy during WWII.

Not a good analogy because the Allies basically supplied their Soviet allies with equipment and financial support. Stalin basically provided the man/woman power.

[maxsolomon]

6. It shows that Rusher has plenty of surplus armaments left.

Why not use up their back stock?

They believe they can keep pounding and win a battle of attrition. Ukraine is reportedly running low on artillery shells because they're using so many.

Same tactic the USSR used against Germany - a meat grinder.

[gordianot]

9. The main difference Russia during WWII had allies who supplied them

Without considerable assistance Russians would speaking German today.

[maxsolomon]

15. They supplied their own meat for the grinder.

Millions of combat deaths.

[Irish_Dem]

19. Yes the Russians threw many bodies at the Germans.

[Disaffected]

22. Yes, and approximately 2/3rds of the entire German army and airforce

were consumed on the Eastern front over the course of the war.

[Irish_Dem]

18. Yes US and UK supplied support to the Russians during WWII.

[Irish_Dem]

20. Yep might as well use the stuff in mothballs.

Can't hurt in a war of attrition.

Just keep pounding Ukraine with everything and anything.

[Kaleva]

27. Russia is reportedly running low on artillery shells too

They don't have the industry to ramp up production

[GoCubsGo]

10. If only we were supplying Ukraine with A-10 Warthogs...

[RKP5637]

12. Yes!!! K&R !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[RKP5637]

11. I wonder where the key is to wind them up?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

24. Russia has suffered massive losses

Link to tweet

[Model35mech]

25. Question 4 Tank experts: Is the T-55 Amphibious?

I am asking because I found this sentence about Israeli captured T-55s (which were designated 'Tiran' by Israel):

"The Tiran was used in the operation “Raviv” on the 8th & 9th of September 1969, which was an amphibious raid across the Suez channel as well as the 1973 Yom Kippur War in the southern front, against Egyptian T-54/55." https://tanknutdave.com/the-russian-t-55-medium-tank/

I know from TV documentaries on tanks that the Russians produced medium amphibious tanks late in WWII, I don't know if they were variants of T54 and T55 which IIRC weren't produced until after WWII ended.

I do know that in the past month there have been reports that Russia has hauled out of mothballs BMPs from the 60's that are lightly armored and amphibious. Just wondering if there is more to Russia's decision than low availability of contemporary heavy battle tanks. Amphibious armor would clearly be useful considering the many rivers needing crossed between Donetsk and Kyiv along the upper Dniper valley

[sarisataka]

28. They are too heavy

To be truly amphibious however I believe there are variants that can be fitted with snorkels to ford maybe upto 8 ft of water

[Model35mech]

30. Well I suppose the issue is can they cross rivers.

I've seen images of light and medium tanks making said riparian crossings.

Running tanks cross-country along the Ukrainian floodplains was a problem Russia solved in WWII

[Kaleva]

29. They can be fitted with snorkels I believe

Allowing them to cross a river by driving on the river bed