Yugoslav T55A 15th armored brigade, Kosovo

In June 1999 a ceasefire was agreed, followed by withdrawal of Yugoslav army and police forces from its southern province. The bulk of Serbian and Roma population followed them trying to avoid ethnic cleansing that ensued by „Kosovo Liberation Army“. During 1999, NATO managed to destroy not more than 12 tanks, and withdrawal surprised NATO troops entering Kosovo, as large scale army, believed to be destroyed, emerged from its hideouts. Yugoslav tanks were characteristic for its 5 digit numbers, only means of identification. In order to prevent NATO intelligence to gather information, those registration numbers were covered.

This picture inspired me to portray this specific tank as it featured red masking tapes over its digit numbers, big load of equipment on the turret and a plank missing from front right wooden crate, showing wood color instead of olive drab.
The model is a combination of various things:
- hull is old ESCI/Italeri kit
- Side skirts are from styrene
- Engine deck is reworked using styrene and Eduard set to portray Czech built tank
- Pipelines were added to connect gas tanks on fenders
- Turret is from Tamiya
- Barrel is metal one
- Figures are combination of resin, miniart, ICM, Zvezda, Tamiya
- Stowage is from different kits