Vehicle I-D: Cold War Zombie tank T-55, they’re everywhere!

I calls it a zombie tank because it’s six decades old and refuses to die.

People’s Republic of China, 2021:

CHINA’S TYPE 59D, UPDATED COLD WAR T-54/55, TO LIVE-ON AS A ROBOT TANK?

CHINA STILL USES THE NATO GUNNED TYPE 88 WARSAW PACT BASED T-54/55 TANK

Lost your hull? No problem, mount your turret on a truck trailer:

Syria 2012 to present:

Date and location unknown, possibly inside Syria, a T-55 somehow ended up on its turret!

Government T-55s.

Insurgent T-55.

With a mine-roller.

Iraq 2020: They still like those Chinese Type 69s. See more in Iraqi Armor after the Invasion.

Romanian T-55s taking part in NATOs Saber Guardian, June 2019:

U.S. Navy photo by Lieutenant Alex Cornell du Houx, 13JUN2019.

Video August 2018, Afghan government T-55 Boom Stick in action in Sangin District, while U.S. Marines watch:

Kurdish Peshmerga T-55, Iraq, May 2016:

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Sergio Rangel, 29MAY2016.

Click here to watch extremist insurgents execute captured Syrian soldier with a T-55 tank!

Romanian T-55s, April 2016:

African Union T-55AMV, 2015:

African Union female T-55 crew:

Bamyan, Afghanistan, 2012:

An old T-54.

See more in Steel Skeletons of Soviet Afghanistan.

Daymirdad, Afghanistan, 2011:

T-55, U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Sean Casey, 09JAN2011.

Iraq 2010: U.S. BRINGS DEAD IRAQI T-55 BACK TO LIFE!

Iraqi T-54/55 ARV, Salman Pak, November 2008:

U.S. Army photo by Specialist Chase Kincaid, 15NOV2008.

T-55 Salman Pak, Iraq, November 2008:

U.S. Army photo by Specialist Chase Kincaid, 15NOV2008.

Al Ja’ara village, Iraq, January 2008:

U.S. Defense Department photo, 14JAN2008.

Iraq 2003:

Chinese Type 69 (‘upgraded’ T-55). USN/USMC photo.

See more in Iraq 2003 Battle Damage.

Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, 2002:

Ventilator on turret top and small hole for bow machine gun on front slope indicates this was a T-54. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate First Class Arlo K. Abrahamson, 29MAY2002.

Cambodia:

Iraqi Chinese made T-55 assaults Iranian infantry line during Iran-Iraq War:

Vietnam, T-54:

Supposedly upgraded Nicaraguan T-55:

Bosnia & Herzegovina 1996-98:

Croat (HVO) T-55 crew fires-off their 12.7mm gun, on the Barbara Range in Glamoc, Bosnia and Herzegovina. U.S. Department of Defense photo by Staff Sergeant Kim Price, October 1998.

A U.S. Army First Lieutenant tries to keep flames from spreading. This Serbian T-55 was deliberately blown-up with C-4 plastic explosive by the U.S. Army, on Camp Dobol, Bosnia-Herzegovina. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Angel Clemons, 15MAR1997.

T-55 ‘upgraded’ with vulcanized rubber armor, Broko area of Bosnia-Herzegovina. U.S. Department of Defense photo by Staff Sergeant Jon E. Long, January 1996.

Iraq 1991:

What’s left of an Iraqi Type 69, a Chinese ‘upgrade’ of the T-55. U.S. Department of Defense photo by Staff Sergeant Robert Reeve, March 1991.

Smoldering Iraqi T-55 on the border with Kuwait. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Joel Torres, 28FEB1991.

CzechoSlovakia 1989:

Just a few years before the end of the unofficial Cold War, Czechoslovakia upgraded their T-55s with ‘Western-NATO’ targeting systems.

CzechoSlovak T-54, date and photographer unknown.

Egypt 1985:

Notice the ‘Western’ style square search light. U.S. Department of Defense photo by Captain Mark Beberwyck, August 1985.

U.S.A. 1987:

Captured T-54/55, Foreign Materiel Intelligence Group Training Detachment, Fort Irwin, California. U.S. Army photo by Donna Fulghum, 10MAR1987.

Peru 1983:

Factory fresh/parade ready T-54 (indicated by the bow machine gun hole in the front slope), 1983(?).

U.S.A. 1984:

Photo taken by ‘yours truly’, while on a California Army National Guard drill weekend on Fort Irwin, National Training Center, California. You can see the hole in the front slope of the hull for the bow machine gun, which is typical of the T-54. Early T-54s also had a ventilator on the turret top.

T-54 (it has a ventilator on top of the turret) captured by Israel then turned over to the United States, notice the U.S. military antenna mast mounted on top of the turret. Photo dated November 1984.

Israel 1974:

Photo dated May 1974, location unknown, however it appears to be captured T-55s put to use by the Israeli Defense Forces.

Being cannibalized for parts.

Egypt 1974:

Egyptian T-55 destroyed by Israel, 1974. Notice somebody marked the penetration hole in the turret.

Iraq, November 1963:

Iraqi T-54 during coup led by pro-Egyptian (Nasserists) against the Ba’ath Party, November 1963.

Germany 1961:

U.S. Embassy photo. The then brand new T-54/55 is deployed in response to the U.S. deploying its then brand new M48A1, which were deployed in response to older T-34-85s being deployed in what became the Berlin Crisis which led to the creation of the Berlin Wall.

See (photos & film), and read, more in BERLIN KRISE, ‘GAME OF CHICKEN’ M48A1 VS. T-54/55!