Russian tank question

What is the log at the back end of the tank used for? Tool used to help repair a broken track?

FUEL

Fuel how?

It's a receiving unit, the fuel gets broadcast to the log thing.











Just kidding. It's an auxiliary tank, it's hollow, fuel get put in it.

I know that the drums at the rear of the tank are for extra fuel but I'm talking about actual wooden log the Russians have at the rear of the tanks.
Google pics of T55s ,T72s, or the T90 and you may see what I mean. Located under the drums. Thanks for your responses though.

And yes, they were jettisoned prior to going into combat; they carried aux fuel to get to the fight.

Yep, looks like a fuel tank to me.

OP; I was told what they were in the past. Forgot though, sorry.



EDIT: " the log attached to the rear of a T-54 is indeed a log that can be used to get the tank out from mud or other wet ground. You use chain or other similar thing to attach the log on the tracks, and then you carefully drive backwards or forwards, and with the help of the log the vehicle gets unstuck. It might damage the track or the suspension, though, if you aren't careful."

Oh, that: snorkel (attached to turret or sometimes strapped to engine deck or a fender).

OK, give me a break, I posted before the actual picture of "THE LOG" was up.

Said to be BII for help getting the thing unstuck; if that were true, then why don't you see chewed up (used) ones? Whatever it really is (maybe a tanker will be along to set us straight) I've never seen one IRL or even a picture of an operational (i.e. non-museum/model) tank with one so crews must routinely ditch or lose them.

He said they don't travel alone so they usually just try to have another tank tow them out.

Also the logs attached to the tank are normally dried out and brittle, so they just use a log cut from a nearby tree to do it instead.

Many thanks guys. I thought it had something to do with the tracks but I wasn't certain.

We never carried logs on the tank but we used them often. Logs and trees were used in various ways. One method was when the track jumped the sprocket but wasn't completely off, one or two guys could lever one the track with a log to get it back in place. The driver would go forward or back while the loader or tank commander would lever the crap out of the track. It would usually work quite well. The log would get chewed up in the process and discarded on the spot. One time we got stuck in a swamp in Louisiana and the tank's belly became bogged down and the mud suction kept it there. We fed logs and brush under both treads until the tank broke suction and we were able to drive up onto a bunch of other logs and got out of the swampy spot. Every once in a while the log was used to pop the track back into the idler wheel (The first road wheel) but you rarely had to do that since the track teeth either popped back into the roadwheel groove on the first road wheel or they popped off completely before you could stop it.

The purpose is to get out of mud - its used on BVPs too.
At the picture above you can clearly see its long enough to fit under both tracks.

unditching beam, look at pics of t34's in ww2 they almost all have them...russian mud isnt fun! also in ww2 the russian would take thwm off thier tanks and make "makeshift" bridges w/ them fordeep obsticles.

Unditching.

Also, good for firewood so long as comrade commander doesn't catch you. Where log get you comrade gunner?

Take a look at the WWI tanks. You'll see a wooden beam on the top for the same reason. On the WWI tanks, with the big treads, they'd actually attatch the log with the chain and the tracks would bring the log back up to the top of the tank.

They will get chewed up with use, but not as bad as you'd think. The log/beam sinks in the mud some, so it's not like you're running over the thing on hardstand.

in class we were told it was used to help get the tank unstuck

Slug-O 0352

They also work as a push-bumper, if the tank needs a nudge from another tank.

NTM

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