PT-76 Amphibious Tank

The PT-76 is a Soviet amphibious tank which was introduced in early 1950s and soon became the standard reconnaissance tank of the Soviet Army and the other Warsaw Pact armies. About 7,000 PT-76s were built, of which about 2,000 were exported. Over 25 countries employed the vehicle. Several other vehicles were based on the PT-76 chassis.

The PT-76 was employed by North Vietnam several times during the Vietnam War. During the Battle of Lang Vei (1968) twelve PT-76s were used in an assault against a US Special Forces camp. At least five PT-76s were involved in the only tank-against-tank battle of the Vietnam War, on March 3, 1969 at Ben Het near the Laotian border, with two of them destroyed by US Army M48A3 tanks.

Poland used PT-76 in the Polish Marines Units.

Museum example

Serial # 7069731 
In museum since 1991 from Słupsk.

PT-76 Technical data

Weight: 14 t
Length / Carriage Length: 7.63 m / 6.91 m
Width: 3.14 m
Height: 2.20 m
Crew: 3 men
Armament: D-56TM, 76.2 mm gun (40 rounds), 7.62 mm SGMT and 12.7 DShK machine guns
Powerplant: W-6, 6 cylinder in-line diesel engine, 240 hp at 1800 rpm
Maximum Speed: 44 kph

(c) Copyright Leszek Chmielewski 2008