Hi all

During the Indo-Pakistani War, several T-54 or T-55 of Indian Army were used with fake smoke extractors and fuel drums in turret and rear.
Questions:
- Were they T-54 or T-55?
- How the drums are fixed in the turret?
- The fume extractor are fake?

Best raegrds

found this picture on Bing search

https://img.etimg.com/photo/56124150/1971-indo-pak-war-tank-bccl.jpg

Hi Ted

Thanks.

This is a T-55?

Regards

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971#/media/File:T-55_tanks_in_the_Bangladesh_Liberation_War.jpg
This is a Wikipedia image of a T-55 with a dummy bore evacuator at the midpoint of the barrel, simulating the British 20 pounder seen on Centurions.

Hello Chief,

From what I can remember, the Indian Army used two (2) regiments of T54 and T55 tanks whilst the Pakistani Army utilized Type 59’s during the 1971 war. I believe that the Sherman, AMX-13 and Centurions were used as well.

In order to avoid fratricide, the Indian Army mounted a large drum or barrel to the rear of their turrets and a smaller but noticeable barrel to the main guns.

Respectfully,

Allen

Just a few period pics :













Full size

Some tanks retained their fake extractor after the war.




This picture has been taken at the army's firing range in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra on 02 January 2006 :



Looks like there are several variants of the fake extractor, and its location varies as well...



H.P.

Great pictures. However the last three tanks seem to have 105mm L7 barrels, so they might undergo a similar upgrade like Tiran 4/5.

The fake bore evacuator and oil drum at the turret tear, were to distinguish them from T-54/ 55's in Pakistani service.

You may be right...So the captions were wrong They indeed look like upgraded T-55's (Project Gulmohar) such as this one :



https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/india/t-55.htm

H.P.

The visual differences that can be seen from front/side photos are the cupola for the air outlet on the turret, on T-54 only, and a protective half rim around the commander's cupola, that should be absent on T-54, or made with a welded curved bar, while on T-55s this rim was merged into the cupola's casting.

Hi
Many thanks to all for the great help.

Best reagrds