T-55


The T-55 was built in great numbers and supplied to many Soviet client states during the Cold War. This particular example, being a heavily modified Iraqi vehicle, was captured during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The Iraqi T-55 had numerous armour blocks crudely affixed on its glacis, turret and hull sides and was ungainly. The up-armouring was not adequate in the face of Coalition firepower as numerous Iraqi T-55s and Type 59s* were destroyed during one of the most one-sided campaigns in history.

The T-55 mounted the 100m gun which was one of the most formidable anti-tank armament during the Second World War and the early post war years.

*Chinese supplied copy of the T-55 tanks. The Chinese, like the Soviets and the French, supplied vast amounts of armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) to the Iraqis.