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Descended directly from the famous T-34 Medium Tank, known as the Soviet Union's armored
savior, the T-54/55 series is the most-produced tank in history, with an estimated 100,000
models.
A light tank with great maneuverability, the T-54/55 series had the ability to cross areas
where Western tanks would usually get stuck.
And in addition to being the world's most potent frontline combat vehicle, the series
had accessible systems that could be operated even by the lowest ranks.
According to American author and defense consultant Steven Zaloga: [QUOTE] "The T-54 was an excellent
tank combining lethal firepower, excellent armor protection, and good reliability".
For over 75 years, whether a coup d'etat or a civil war broke out anywhere in the world,
there was, and still is, a big chance that a Soviet T-54/55 series primary battle tank
participated in the conflict, as the type continues to be popular with small nations
and non-state irregular armed forces.
From the Soviet Union to Vietnam, Congo, Iraq, and Syria, this Red-Army beast has proved
that economic, well-made, simple, and lethal tanks are still good enough to give the enemy
absolute hell…
The Soviet rise to power following World War 2 could not have been possible without the
Russian T-54/55 series combat tanks.
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An Outdated Savior
Near the end of World War 2, the Soviet Union's tank arsenal was made up mainly of T-34 medium
tanks along with several IS-2 and IS-3 heavy tanks.
This T-34 Prinadlezhit-Chetverki tank was known as the Soviet Union's armored savior.
At the peak of the T-34’s production, the 1940s tank was considered to have the best
balance of firepower, protection, and mobility range for its cost of any tank in the world.
In addition, the series was continually upgraded and finetuned throughout the war, never ceasing
production and performing outstandingly well against the Nazis.
Still, by the time the war was approaching its end, the Russian engineers considered
that its leaf spring suspension and 85-millimeter gun were outdated, and the designers could
not incorporate the latest technologies into their once-star vehicle.
The IS series of heavy tanks, an acronym standing for Iosif Stalin, proved to be quite a match
against Germany's most potent Panzer armored vehicles.
However, the vehicles had a low rate of fire and ammunition reserve, and IS crews had to
load giant 122-millimeter shells and propellant charges into the tank's cannon separately.
The desire for a fresh and new design led the Soviets to create a new steel monster:
the T-54 and the improved T-55 medium tank.
Simple and Effective
In 1943, the Morozov Design Bureau, a state-owned company that developed armored vehicles, resurrected
the pre-war T-34M project to create the T-54 tank.
Consequently, the designers got to work on the new tank by late 1944, and the engineers
were heavily influenced by the Soviet experience during World War 2.
Although the war in Europe ended the following May, work on the new tank continued, as the
Russians direly needed a replacement for the old T-34 series.
After several design revisions and numerous engineering fixes, prototype T-54 was ready
for evaluation in 1946.
Initial trials proved promising, and the design was formally accepted into service by the
Red Army.
The T-54 was an unquestionably superior armored vehicle than its predecessors, with a 7.99
inch thick armor and a 35-ton weight.
Plus, the new tank was equipped with a new transmission system as well as a 520-horsepower
V12 diesel engine.
Built around the powerful 100-millimeter D-10 series main gun, the T-54 was also one of
the world's most potent frontline combat tanks.
It also carried secondary armament that consisted of two 7.62-millimeter machine guns in the
hull and another in the turret, and a 12.7- millimeter anti-aircraft gun mounted on the
loader's hatch.
Based on the T-44 medium tank's chassis, the T-54's turret was cast in one piece with the
top welded on, a common Soviet technique in warfare vehicles.
In addition, the tank had a cabin layout similar to many post-war tanks: a dome-shaped turret
in its hull's center, the fighting compartment in the front, and the engine compartment in
the rear.
And it was designed for four crew members to operate it: a driver, a commander, a gunner,
and a loader.
Revolutionary Features
The tank presented several significant drawbacks during its testing phase that required immediate
attention.
Nevertheless, the Soviet authorities formally ordered the new promising vehicle into serial
production in 1947, with evaluations still underway.
Production of the initial series began rolling out slowly as almost 1,500 modifications were
being made simultaneously, but the Red Army welcomed the tank with open arms, as it was
considered superior to previous Kremlin designs and potentially better than the newest armored
vehicles of potential opponents.
Mechanically simple to use yet robust enough for battle, the T-54 tanks were easier to
operate than Western ones and did not require a high level of training or education among
the crew members, allowing for a larger production.
It was also a smaller main battle tank than contemporary models from other countries,
proving to be a difficult target with excellent mobility due to its relatively light weight.
This characteristic allowed for easy transportation by rail or flatbed truck, wide tracks, and
a cold-weather start-up system, perfect for Russian winters.
Notably, it was the first Soviet tank able to operate completely underwater thanks to
a snorkel that allowed it to cross bodies of water at depths of up to 18 feet.
The T-54 is mainly known as the T-54/T-55 series, as its eventual successor, the T-55,
is quite similar and difficult to distinguish in plain sight.
Their only visible difference is a gap between the first and second road wheels.
Soviet Victories
After its introduction, the T-54/T-55 main battle tank was supplied to a large number
of armies around the world, becoming an iconic armored vehicle.
Although the exact numbers are unknown, the Russians rolled out a staggering approximate
of 83,500 T-54 tanks in the next 15 years, while the Polish and Czechs deployed around
20,000 more.
The Soviet vehicle first served in combat during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, a countrywide
conflict against the government and the domestic policies imposed by the Soviet Union.
In the Hungarian capital of Budapest, the Soviet Army used the tank to attempt to crush
anti-Soviet Hungarian resistance-fighters and rebels that overthrew the pro-Soviet Refine
using Molotov cocktails and several anti-tank guns.
Although the defending forces successfully knocked a few tanks out, the T-54 was crucial
in the Soviet victory, and the Russian Army successfully repressed the revolution.
Still, the first appearance of the medium tank turned into a humiliating affair as anti-communist
revolutionaries captured a vehicle and sent it to the British Embassy in Budapest, giving
Western experts a close look at all its strengths and weaknesses.
The investigations and studies of the sturdy medium tank's powerful armament subsequently
spurred the West to create its own counterparts, such as the United Kingdom's Royal Ordnance
L7 and the United States' M60 Patton.
The T-55
While the T-54 was performing in combat, Soviet designers began working on the T-55.
This main battle tank was mostly the same as the T-54, albeit with a new turret and
a more powerful version of the V-12 diesel engine with 580 horsepower.
Most of the tank's improvements were internal, including a rotating turret floor, eliminating
the loader's cupola, and improved transmission.
The new T-55 model entered service between 1959 and 1960 with an anti-aircraft 12.7-millimeter
turret machine gun.
Also, the previous 7.62-millimeter machine gun was removed to make room for nine more
main-gun ammunition rounds, and the second machine gun placed next to the main cannon
was replaced with the new 7.62-millimeter PKT general-purpose one.
A much more advanced model was then adapted to Cold War nuclear necessities in 1961.
These adaptations included an air filtration system to scrub out chemical and biological
agents and radiation lining.
Still, none of the T-54/55 tank series had proper nuclear-biological-chemical warfare
protection for the 4-person crew.
Vietnam
China cloned the T-54 model for the People's Liberation Army, naming it Type 59 and delivering
it to North Korea, North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia with as many as their armies required.
During the Vietnam War, the People's Army of Vietnam used both T-54/55s and China's
Type 59 extensively against the South Vietnamese and their allied United States forces.
The type's introduction in the conflict occurred in Operation Lam Son 719 in February of 1971,
in which South and North Vietnam engaged each other with tanks for the first time.
During the armed dispute, North Vietnamese tank units using T-54s were involved in over
200 battles.
Also, the type destroyed over 2,000 enemy tanks and 870 other military vehicles, obliterated
3,500 enemy bunkers, and shot down 35 military aircraft, only losing 250 to their enemies.
However, the tank's presence in Vietnam exposed one crucial vulnerability.
The hostile turret conditions in the area reduced the Soviet tank's practical rate of
fire to a disappointing four rounds per minute, while a 1970 Western tank crew could fire
the same number of shells in only 15 seconds.
In addition, North Vietnamese tank crews were often poorly trained in the vehicle's operation,
making them easy prey for hunter units armed with anti-tank weaponry.
Still, by the mid-1970s, the T-54/55 series and the T-62 were still the most common tanks
in the Soviet arsenal, and the two types comprised approximately 85 percent of the Soviet Army's
tanks.
Further Expansion
The T-54 also spread to the Middle East, with dozens of countries operating the type and
its Chinese counterparts.
The tank participated in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, an armed conflict between Israel and
a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria.
While the Syrian-owned T-54/55s outnumbered the Israeli tanks, the Israelis shot down
the Syrians with anti-tank guns fired from the Golan Heights.
The tank also took part in the beginning stages of the Soviet-Afghan War, a nine-year guerrilla
conflict between insurgent groups known collectively as the Mujahideen against the Democratic Republic
of Afghanistan and the Soviet Army.
Then, in late 1979, about 800 Soviet tanks were used in around 39 battalions, only losing
one in action.
Still, the tank was becoming too obsolete for modern warfare by then.
With abysmally uncomfortable crew conditions, slow shooting, shaky riding, and a tendency
to throw its tracks, the T-54/55 was slowly replaced by the T-62, T-64, T-72, T-80, and
T-90 armored vehicles in the Soviet and Russian armies.
A few years later, during the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, the Iraqi Army left their
T-54/55 tanks in stationary positions in the middle of the desert, and this tactical blunder
turned the tanks into standstill targets for coalition airstrikes.
If It Ain’t Broke
The T-54/55 tank was built in the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the People's Republic
of China, and estimated production numbers range from 96,500 to 100,000, making it the
most mass-produced military tank in history.
Used by 47 nations on both sides of the Iron Curtain, the series is so popular that an
extensive array of modernization packages and installations have been made available
around the world.
These international variants include armored recovery vehicles, combat engineering vehicles,
firefighters, mine clearers, command versions, bridge layers, flame throwers, self-propelled
guns, and an armored personnel carrier.
The Soviet-made tank has managed to achieve all this while being significantly smaller
and lighter than its North Atlantic Treaty Organization contemporaries.
But while the T-54/55 is present all over the world, the tank is commonly on the losing
side when fighting more advanced and modern Western designs.
Still, the tank’s simplicity, availability, and adaptability continue to be the primary
reasons it is still used, even 75 years after its introduction, serving in up to 50 armies
in many of the world’s largest armed conflicts as far back as the mid-20th century, and with
as many as 39,000 tanks still in operation.
Currently, captured Iraqi and Syrian T-55s serve under the Islamic State.
For these insurgent yet lethal armies, the 75-year-old tanks are just as useful, proving
once again that sometimes, simple and effective is best.
And it looks pretty likely that the T-54/55 series will continue to serve past its 100th
birthday.
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