Free Republic

Russia's president Vladimir Putin, 70, is taking tanks as old as he is out of storage in his desperate bid to crush Ukraine on the battlefield. A video showing long obsolete Soviet-era T-54B and T-55A tanks - designed to be used in the armies of Soviet tyrant Josef Stalin - on a train carried across Russia, presumably destined for the frontlines of the war, has emerged. It comes with Putin having already raided museums and storage depots for retired T-62 battle tanks, which halted production 12 years ago. The geriatric T-54 was originally produced by Stalin after the Second World...

Like the AK-47 but for tanks, T-54 and T-55s endure on battlefields around the world. Simple to operate and maintain, these decades-old Soviet armored beasts are still popular in small nations and with non-state irregular forces — a true “people’s tank.” If a coup or fratricidal civil war breaks out in one of Moscow’s current or former beneficiaries, there’s good chances T-54 or T-55s are taking part. When Afghanistan collapsed in the 1990s, the Taliban and Northern Alliance coalition both inherited T-55s formerly belonging to the communist government. The tanks served in Yugoslavia’s multi-sided civil war during the same decade. Today, captured...

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CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar (AP) -- Iraqi paramilitary forces in Basra fired mortars and machine gunfire Friday on a "couple of thousand" Iraqi civilians trying to flee city, British military officials said. Members of Britain's 7th Armored Brigade were trying to neutralize the fire, evacuate the civilians and treat the wounded, said Lt. Col. Ronnie McCourt, a spokesman for British forces in the Gulf. He said a "couple of thousand" Iraqi civilians had tried to break out of the besieged city in the north and west, but came under fire from Iraqi paramilitary forces inside. "We are trying to...

Challengers wipe out column of Iraqi T55s after chance encounter in Basra desert THE morning sun was up, the fog of war had briefly lifted. In the distance, a moving cloud of dust betrayed a column of armour on the move. Twenty miles southeast of Basra, 14 Challenger 2 tanks of C Squadron, Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, were on their way to reinforce 3 Commando Brigade, Royal Marines on al-Faw peninsula. They were not expecting tanks from the north; they had another mission in mind. But they had reached the position they were in only because of some speedy and...

British tanks wipe out Iraqi Soviet-made tanks around Basra Iraqi armored units have proven to be no match to British main battle tanks. Officials said Britain's Challenger-2 tanks have easily picked off Iraqi T-55 tanks around the southern city of Basra. So far, they said, scores of Soviet-origin T-55 tanks have been destroyed in battles around Basra over the last two days. On Thursday, officials reported the destruction of 14 Iraqi tanks, believed to have been T-55s. Iraq first obtained the T-55 in the mid-1960s and some of them were upgraded in the 1980s. Officials said Iraq appears to...

UK forces fight tank battle south of Basra By Peter Graff ABOARD HMS ARK ROYAL, March 25 (Reuters) - British forces south of Basra have blocked an attempted breakout by up to 50 Iraqi tanks seeking to press southward from the edge of the city, a British naval commander said on Tuesday. Captain Alan Massey of the flagship aircraft carrier Ark Royal said British light tanks from the Queen's Dragoons' Guard and marines from two battalions on the Faw Peninsula had halted the advance of the Iraqi tanks overnight and on Tuesday morning. "They were aided by small helicopter gunships...