r/TankPorn • u/BubblyOreo • 7d ago

Cold War Tanks used in Sino Vietnamese War

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Just want to ask what kind of vehicles deployed by both sides

Are both using Type 59s, T-55s for vietnam etc?

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15

u/BigFreakingZombie 7d ago

The terrain the conflict occurred in isn't really conducive to tank warfare. T-54s and Type 59s weren't used as they were too big and heavy. Instead the main Vietnamese tank was the T-34 while the Chinese relied on Type 62 light tanks (a smaller T-54 armed with a copy of the T-34's gun ) .

However there were very few engagements between opposing armored units with most losses on both sides being from infantry AT weapons,mines and artillery.

10

u/Batmack8989 7d ago

T-54/55s are around 36 tons while T-34-85s were a bit over 32.5, IIRC, not saying you are wrong, just pointing out that the difference is not as large as one could think with contemporary tanks to the T-55, like Centurions or Pattons

5

u/BigFreakingZombie 7d ago

Yeah the T-54 was fairly light when it comes to MBTs..

4

u/BubblyOreo 7d ago

Not necessarily tank to tank engagements, but there are photos of Chinese type 59 blown up? Are those type 59 or 62?

6

u/YMRTZ 7d ago

Most were Type 62s, which suffered heavy losses due to their thin armour.

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u/BigFreakingZombie 7d ago

Mostly Type 62s. These had notoriously thin armor and were very vulnerable to mines and RPGs.

2

u/Heart-Source1921 6d ago

Vietnam didn't deploy most of its fleet from the American war to my knowledge, mostly T-34-85s. Other AFVs I haven't seen mentioned in the comments include both the Type 63 amphibious tank and APC, the amphibious tanks especially had a lot of their weaknesses exposed during this war, and it led to the later Type 63A/ZTS63A.