Indians For Guns

Hi all
posting some pics of an old tank shell, of T 72 tank, which i inherited from my father( a Maj during the 1971 war),

enjoy viewing

regards
Vivek

You can polish it and make a nice table lamp out of it. I have seen a number of these in the living rooms of retd. Armoured Corps officers.
Doubt if the T 72 actually took part in the 1971 Indo Pak war.

prashantsingh wrote:You can polish it and make a nice table lamp out of it. I have seen a number of these in the living rooms of retd. Armoured Corps officers.
Doubt if the T 72 actually took part in the 1971 Indo Pak war.

Then it could be T 55, I am not too sure about the tank

That's a sizable cartridge! Maybe some enterprising fellow can neck it down to .22 caliber. Seriously, that's a nice little souvenir, for sure! As Prashant notes, it might be nice to polish it up a bit. Are there any markings on it at all? I can't see any from the photos.

maybe get a fake top made from an engineering work shop complete the bad boy polish it and keep it as a show piece.

That's a steel case, though. Will take a lot of polishing.

I did'nt know T-72's were around during the '71 war..

jonahpach wrote:I did'nt know T-72's were around during the '71 war..

I am not sure about the tank,,,Could be T 55 then

Cool trophy Vivek!

A quick search reveals that:

India had T55's, PT76's, AMX13's, and Centurions (the heroic action in Basantar by the Poona Horse was undertaken with the rather aged Centurion - 3 of them - v/s an entire squadron of the modern Pattons of the enemy).

The enemy had M24 Chaffees, T59s (the Chinese one, not the Soviet one), and of course the famous Patton.

The Tank Battle you spoke off, took place between 3 Centurions, one of which was commanded by 2nd Lt. Arun Khetrapal. Despite his tank being hit, he refused to evacuate, in any case his tank could not move. in his last message to his seniors, he informed them that though his tank had taken a hit, his gun was still firing.
The young Lieutenant, seriously wounded, kept firing away, knocking off 10 patton tanks. Finally his gun and life was silenced when his tank took a third and decisive hit from close range.
This exemplary courage in the face of the enemy earned him a Param Vir Chakra.

The Battle of Basantar was an intense one,since both sides wanted to control the Shakhargarh Bulge, a promontory which protuded into the Indian Side . Pakistan could have launched an attack from this Bulge and disrupt the communication links to punjab and Jammu Kashmir. Further, Sialkot a major military base would have been vulnerable to a thrust from the Indian Army, in the same way Pathankot on the Indian side would have been equally vulnerable.

The Poona Horse, named by the Pakistanis as Fakhr-E-Hind, drove deep into the Pakistan territory, despite the mine field that the Pakistanis had laid around the Bulge.
A few days later, the Pakistanis counter attacked the Indian Armoured Brigade in a desperate attempt to repulse the India Army back across the river Basantar. The attack was made in broad daylight against Indian Armour, who were already in 'Hull Down' Position. The Pattons were picked of like shooting fish in a barrel.

I should know, My father's regiment is 17 Horse or 'Thee Poona Horse'.
Regards

1)The shells does not belong to the T72 as the tank itself was on a development phase during 1971 and entered mass produced by 1973 and the India army only bought these Tanks in its early 80 and this tank first saw combat in the hands of Indian Army in the Sri lankan civil war 1987-90.

2) secondly the T72 uses a 125mm 2a46 smooth bore gun with an auto loader where the ammunition for the 2A46 gun is 2-piece, in that the projectile is loaded first, followed by a separate propellant charge....and the pics uploaded by you are either of D10 100mm gun shell used by the T55 or either it can be of the Centurion tank 105mm or locally known as Vijayanta and both 100mm and 105 mm is a single piece shell.

but I guess its an 105mm gun shell because Indian Army even upgraded its T55 main gun to the L7 105mm gun

here 's the difference 1) 125mm
http://balkannovoteh.co.rs/en/wp-conten ... E_tone.png

2) 105mm
http://www.armaco.bg/userfiles/images/ARMASAR100HEP.png

3) upgunned T55 of the Indian Army (105mm l7 gun )
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/51/13739 ... 17b6de.jpg

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/at ... 1242396585

Vivek, HVJ.... a salute to your fathers, and to all servicemen! We sleep soundly of nights because they stand awake.....

There were 2 PVCs awarded on that day, one to Lt. Khetarpal, as mentioned by HVJ (the guy was 23 when he paid the ultimate sacrifice), the second to Maj. Hoshiar Singh of 3 Grenadiers. (ref:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_basantar)

The young Lieutenant, seriously wounded, kept firing away, knocking off 10 patton tanks. Finally his gun and life was silenced when his tank took a third and decisive hit from close range.
This exemplary courage in the face of the enemy earned him a Param Vir Chakra.

I read this account a minute ago. I have no words worthy of being added in comment to this man's actions. Our freedoms and way of life depend on people like this.

hvj1 wrote: The young Lieutenant, seriously wounded, kept firing away, knocking off 10 patton tanks. Finally his gun and life was silenced when his tank took a third and decisive hit from close range.
This exemplary courage in the face of the enemy earned him a Param Vir Chakra.

Just out of interest, did his tank crew get any medals too? I've always wondered who they were.