Figure 1) Type 59 Tank Text丨Feng Documentary Editor丨Feng Documentary Tank, is a romantic symbol in the hearts of men, its mighty steel body, people can not ignore the shock it brings.
When this giant beast weighing dozens of tons galloped past at a speed of 70 kilometers per hour, accompanied by the roar of the main gun, the distant target instantly turned to ashes. Countless tanks gallop across the boundless grasslands, and this torrent of steel is powerful enough to crush any obstacle, which is the charm of the tank, which is known as the king of the land.
Figure 2 shows a mighty torrent of steel, awe-inspiring and enviable, but this magnificent spectacle has always been unique to the Soviet army. It was not until the assistance of the Soviet Union that the first tank Type 59 tank in New China was born, and its appearance marked the peak moment of China's tank industry.
From a distance, the turret is scared to death, and up close is to see five pairs of load-bearing wheels", this is the classic description of the Type 59 tank.
The Type 99 tank has become the god of war in modern warfare, while the former Type 59 tank has stepped down step by step from the altar in the tempering of the years. So, what exactly is the reason for the Type 59 tank to go from its peak to decline?
In the past 40 years, what magic changes have we made to the Type 59 tank? Today, let us follow Ah Feng and travel through the long river of time together, from the birth of the Type 59 tank to today's 99A, and appreciate the history of China's tank development together.
The situation on the Korean battlefield was a surprise to everyone, including Stalin, Truman, and MacArthur. MacArthur's dream was shattered, and Stalin had to re-examine the strength of the new China.
New China, a socialist regime that had just taken over the state apparatus, was able to firmly nail the United States, the number one military power of capitalism, to the 38th parallel, which was undoubtedly the beginning of a legend.
In order to have an ice-free port in the Yalu River valley as a garrison port, the Volunteer Army once asked the Soviet Union to send troops to the northeast at the Yalta Conference in exchange for the ports of Dalian and Arthur in China.
However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, our chairman and prime minister took back this privilege from the Soviet Union. To achieve this goal, Stalin set his sights on the ports of South Korea.
If North Korea can unify North Korea, then this ice-free port will become a reality. If the U.S. military entered the war and pushed the front to the Yalu River, then the Soviet Union could justifiably deploy troops in the three eastern provinces to assist in the defense, and even the ports of Dalian and Arthur could become Soviet military ports.
However, Stalin did not expect that we would bravely send troops to resist US aggression and aid Korea, and that the volunteer soldiers would be so strong.
China and the Soviet Union both belonged to the socialist camp and shared common beliefs and doctrines. China is a powerful country capable of confronting nuclear ** and holding back the United States.
Therefore, we should consider handing over military power to China so that it can better play its role in the strategic deployment of the Far East. This will not only protect our buffer zone, but also effectively counter the US threat.
In the Korean War, in the face of the threat of unity, China and the Soviet Union came together. This alliance not only pushed Britain, France and other countries against us, but also provided us with an opportunity to cooperate with the Soviet Union.
Therefore, we turned to the Soviet Union for talent, technology, and capital to accelerate industrialization.
China and the Soviet Union were like-minded, and time became the worst enemy. Cooperation negotiations can be simplified, and if they can be dispensed with, they can be exempted. Many contracts were not perfected, and Soviet specialists had already flown to China with drawings.
Material aid is continuous, whether it is nuclear research or coal needed for daily life, all of which are sent to all parts of our country, regardless of military and civilian use.
Figure 9) Among the 156 key projects of Soviet aid to China, tanks are the most important. However, the creation of tanks is not something that can be done with theoretical knowledge alone, it requires a complete industrial system as a guarantee.
In order to quickly establish such a system, it will take the joint efforts of countless people. And if there are people in a place, logistics are needed, and there are a lot of people. The leaders of China and the Soviet Union agreed that it would be better for us to build a city first, the purpose of which was to make tanks.
As a result, Baotou, an originally unknown city, ushered in a change of fate on this day.
Figure 10) Baotou, a city with a long history and rich cultural heritage, blends the essence of farming culture and nomadic culture. In this place of challenges and opportunities, we need to build our own industrial base from scratch.
First of all, Inner Mongolia is geographically close to the Soviet Union in the northeast, which is one of our major advantages. Secondly, although the Tohoku is the industrial base of our country, it could become the front line of war at any time.
Baotou, with its beautiful environment, close to the Soviet Union and able to stay away from the danger of war, therefore, this city, known as the "grassland steel city", came into being.
Fig. 11) In a small city on the edge of the Yellow River, in just a few years, a large number of Soviet specialists and outstanding young people from all over the country gathered. The torrent of steel, which the USSR was proud of, was replicated here.
One day in April 1956, cars stopped outside a factory in Baotou, where Soviet experts arrived with drawings of the T-54A tank in Russian.
Even if we don't understand the language, we can't stop the clear eyes of our young students. China and the Soviet Union had a common goal at this time, which was to show the world their achievements at the military parade in 1959.
Fig. 12) From the arrival of the first Soviet experts to the departure of the last expert, 242 Soviet teachers have left their footprints here, helping us solve countless technical problems through hands-on guidance.
With the assistance of these Soviet specialists, the Chinese youth grew up rapidly. They were our teachers and our friends, and this relationship was the best adjective for the two countries at that time.
In 1958, Plant 447 succeeded in copying a 100-mm gun, and the first T-54A tank assembled from Soviet parts was born in a Chinese factory.
In 1959, we had fully mastered the production technology of the T-54A, and in October of that year, 32 domestically produced T-54A tanks were unveiled, which was our Type 59 tank.
As soon as the Type 59 tank appeared, it shocked the East.
Figure 13 shows the armored forces of the Chinese military parade in 1959, in which the Type 59 tank was superior to the British Centurion and the American M48 in terms of power, mobility and firepower.
China has made a major breakthrough in tank design and technology, and has become one of the strongest series in the world. The technicians, experts and workers in Baotou have worked hard to accomplish the tasks of the motherland.
However, at this time, the rupture of Sino-Soviet relations led to the end of the friendship between the two countries, and also brought great pressure to our country. In the 60s, all the specialists had already left Baotou, and the USSR, as the original ally, is now called the Soviet repair, which constantly surpassed our country in the advancement of tank technology.
Their tanks were gradually upgraded from T-55 to T-62, while tank technology in our country stagnated. This helpless situation is the story behind the magical modification of the Type 59 tank.
During the Cold War, China used the Soviet-made T-62 tank as a blueprint to develop the Type 59 tank, which was benchmarked against the US M48 tank. However, with the continuous upgrading of the US tanks, in the M60 era, we are still studying the Type 59 tank, which exposes the weakness of China's industrial base and scientific and technological base.
Despite this, we are still making crazy improvements on the basis of the Type 59 tank, which not only shows our love and dedication to the cause of national defense, but also shows the last bit of stubbornness of our middle and first workers.
Therefore, some people jokingly called the Type 59 tank "a turret that scares people to death from a distance, and five pairs of load-bearing wheels at a close look".
In the process of refitting the 59 tank, with the help of Soviet teachers, we mastered the technology of the T-54A, but it is not enough to master it, it is more necessary to make breakthroughs and innovations in technology.
We need to understand that the technical solution is just a means, and more importantly, understand why it is the way it is. The reason why the Soviet steel torrent was famous around the world was precisely because they accumulated a lot of real combat experience during World War II.
On the battlefield, which parts are most likely to be hit and which indicators are the most important, the Soviet Union has constantly summed up and accumulated lessons from one battle after another.
In the real combat experience of large-scale armored confrontation, no country could surpass the USSR. And we didn't even know how to build tanks before. Therefore, how to build a suitable tank according to the country's national conditions and combat environment is a technology that cannot be taught.
It took us a full 40 years from assembling the first tank to actually making the first domestic tank.
Throughout the evolution of the King of Land 99A, our Type 59 has been constantly updated and upgraded, from the barrel to the engine to the fire control system, with each change potentially creating a completely new model.
Just like our Type 69 tank, after in-depth study of the Soviet T-62 tank, a series of improvements and innovations have been carried out, and it has become an important model for us.
The Soviet T-62 tank was successfully salvaged in 1969 and finally finalized in 1974 after several years of research and development. While it feels like it's fast, it's actually not the fastest.
In contrast, after our Type 69 was finalized, other countries had already developed more advanced tank armor, such as the T-64, which was more advanced than the T-62, which was already very common in the Soviet Union, and we had just upgraded the Type 69.
The Type 69 has not changed much from the Type 59, the biggest change is that the rifled gun has been improved to a smoothbore gun, and from the appearance, only the smoke extractor has been changed from the head position to a slightly lower head position.
Without an in-depth study of tanks, it is difficult to tell the difference between Type 59 and Type 69.
Our tanks can only fire with short stops, not on the move, which gives the enemy the opportunity to use anti-tank ** such as RPGs. Therefore, on the battlefield, we can see our tanks going back and forth through the city, suppressing the enemy with machine guns above the tanks, which becomes a common picture.
The improvement of our tanks has become urgent, and after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, the introduction of Western technology has become our top priority. The third-generation tank car developed abroad made us shine, abandoning the casting turret technology inherited from the Soviet Union, and the welded turret covered with reactive armor brought a new change to the Chinese tank.
Decades of Sino-Soviet technological routes began to diverge, and former teachers and students gradually drifted apart. We are starting to forge our own strong military path.
Despite the strength of the Type 85 main battle tank, we are not satisfied with the status quo. We have invested a lot of resources in replacing infrared devices with laser rangefinders, and have trained batches of sharpshooters.
We seize every possible opportunity to buy foreign armored tanks and their derivatives, and do not hesitate to purchase them whenever they are useful. Our technical team has also continued to overcome difficult problems, such as electroslag remelting, full-bore chrome plating, hydraulic self-tightening, etc., and these technologies have been tested and applied on our Type 59 tank.
With the continuous introduction of China's second-generation tanks such as Type 79, Type 80 and Type 88, we have also been improving and optimizing Type 59 tanks. Until 1999, our third-generation tank Type 99 was inspected by the people of the whole country in front of Tiananmen Square, which became a highlight of our industry.
We have always believed that nothing can stand in the way of our determination to be strong.
The Type 99 is our pride, combining Eastern and Western technologies, with the durability of a Soviet-style tank and the sophistication of a Western tank. The 99A heavy tank is a representative of the Type 99 series and enters the ranks of the strongest tanks in the world.
Although there is still a gap between the Type 99 and the world's top tanks, our progress has been very rapid, from the imitation of the Type 59 tank to the successful development of the Type 99, and we even began to develop the third generation tank at the same time before the second generation tank was determined.
This is a milestone leap.
Although the 99A heavy tank has emerged, and the Type 59 tank has completed its historical mission, our modified Type 59 is still active and shining on the African continent.
Compared with the most primitive Type 59 tank, which can only be seen in museums, the current Type 59 has long been renewed, and only the five pairs of load-bearing wheels under the soles of the feet remain as they are.
Figure 24) Type 59 Tank in the Museum: Magic Reform Life, Condensing the History of Military Industry Development Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, China's military industry has developed from scratch, from imitation to independent independent research and development, step by step.
Researchers have overcome all kinds of difficulties, seized all opportunities to become stronger, and did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to buy what is considered backward, just for faster and better development.
It is precisely because of our backwardness that our scientists can break through the technical barriers, accommodate the strengths of hundreds of schools, and are full of yearning for a better future.
Over the past 70 years, our country has made remarkable progress, and our military strength and industrial construction capabilities have been continuously improved. The Shandong and Liaoning aircraft carriers marched forward in our waters, the J-20 soared in our airspace, and the Type 99 tanks formed a torrent of steel on our grassland, demonstrating our great strength.
Our military and industry are stronger now than ever, and we will be even stronger in the future, working tirelessly to protect our peace and tranquility.