As the West is sending modern military equipment to Ukraine, the rashist slogan “Our granddads fought” seems to find its embodiment in tanks from the era of Uncle Joe, which are being removed from storage in Russia’s Far East and transported westward. To the battlefields in Ukraine?
According to Radio Liberty, the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) reported about trains carrying military equipment from the Far East, including T-54/55 tanks.
Mass production of T-54 began in 1947 – six years before Stalin’s death – and lasted until 1959, when production of its deeply modernized version intended for use in a nuclear war, T-55, was launched.
“We are at a loss to name the possible areas of application for these tanks, but in any case, along with the removal of the BTR-50 [an APC from the 1950s] from storage and the installation of naval anti-aircraft guns on the MT-LB [an AFV], this clearly indicates serious problems with the provision of the Russian armed forces with armored vehicles,” says CIT.
Hopefully, the old tanks used by the Russians’ “granddads” will not scare off their much younger Leopard, Challenger and Abrams adversaries.