At one point Russians said that if there is a need, they will use tanks from monuments to fight Ukraine. Something very similar is already happening as a famous movie studio decided on its own to support the Russian war effort with its own military assets.
Mosfilm, a film company whose name you’ve only seen if you’ve been forced to watch Soviet/Russian films, is actually one of the largest film concerns in Europe. It’s a state-owned Russian movie production company with a large infrastructure. As you can imagine, Mosfilm has a lot of military equipment that’s needed for films that are designed to fuel the myth of Russian military prowess.
PT-76 in a museum somewhere. Image credit: Darkone via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 2.5)
However, Mosfilm’s military equipment collection used to be much larger. Studio director Karen Shakhnazarov revealed during a meeting with Putin that last year Mosfilm handed over 28 T-55 and 8 PT-76 tanks, 6 infantry fighting vehicles, and other military equipment to the Russian Army. It sounds ridiculous, but Mosfilm has a huge military equipment base, and many of those weapons are not deactivated.
Since Mosfilm is a state organization, the weapons are supervised by Russian Army experts, so they can’t easily fall into civilian hands. Of course, this transfer was made due to the huge losses of the Russian Army in the war in Ukraine.
The T-55 is a very old tank, which can trace its roots back to World War II. The T-55 is a modified T-54, which was developed from the T-44, which is essentially a T-34 with a larger turret. It may seem like a long chain, but it can be shortened by realizing that the T-55/T-54 are direct descendants of the T-34 with a 100 mm gun. They were used by the Soviets from 1946 to 1981.
And yes, the Soviets retired these tanks, largely replacing them with T-72s, but now Russians have brought them back into service for their war in Ukraine. The T-55 weighs about 37 tonnes (probably about 40 with additional armour), has a crew of 4, and reaches a maximum speed of 51 km/h.
The PT-76 is a slightly different military machine. It is an amphibious tank with a 76.2 mm rifled gun and a crew of 3. The PT-76 is also very old – this armoured vehicle was produced in 1951-1969. On the road, this tank weighing about 15 tonnes develops a speed of only 44 km/h, and in water, it swims at a speed of 10.2 km/h.
As you can guess from its weight, the PT-76 is quite poorly armoured. In the war in Ukraine, the usage of these tanks would be difficult to understand – a drone would punch right through PT-76 and additional armour would make it heavier and even slower. It really wasn’t built for the warfare we see in Ukraine.
It is possible that the equipment transferred by Mosfilm to the Russian Army will be used for training instead. That is, better equipment was sent to war and young soldiers were given such antique toys to play and train with. But who knows – equipment from the film industry may also come to the front lines.
Written by Povilas M.
Source: Special Kherson Cat on X
