Type 59 (NVA) – Photos & Video

Photo gallery of a Type 59 (NVA), The Type 59 (Chinese: 59式; pinyin: Wǔjiǔ shì; industrial designation: WZ-120) main battle tank is a Chinese-produced version of the Soviet T-54A tank, the earliest model of the ubiquitous T-54/55 series. The first vehicles were produced in 1958 and it was accepted into service in 1959, with serial production beginning in 1963. Over 10,000 of the tanks were produced by the time production ended in 1980 with approximately 5,500 serving with the Chinese armed forces. The tank formed the backbone of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army until the early 2000s (decade) with an estimated 5,000 of the later Type 59-I and Type 59-II variants in service in 2002.

Source: Type 59 (NVA) on Wikipedia

The Type 59 (NVA) was a variant of the Chinese Type 59 main battle tank that was used by the North Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War. The Type 59 (NVA) was based on the Soviet T-54A tank, which was widely exported to communist countries in the 1950s and 1960s. The Type 59 (NVA) had a 100 mm rifled gun, two coaxial 7.62 mm machine guns, and a 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun.
The Type 59 (NVA) had a four-man crew and a diesel engine that gave it a maximum speed of 50 km/h. The Type 59 (NVA) had a welded steel hull and a cast dome-shaped turret that provided protection from small arms fire and shell fragments. The Type 59 (NVA) was one of the most common tanks used by the North Vietnamese Army, and it faced off against the American M48 Patton and M60 Patton tanks in several battles. The Type 59 (NVA) was also supplied to other communist allies, such as Cambodia and Laos.