They weren’t expected to get one.

But a man from the Hradec Kralove region came forward to admit he owned not only a Soviet-era tank, but also a self-propelled artillery gun capable of firing 100mm shells.

The T-34/85 tank surrendered to police in the Czech Republic.
The T-34/85 tank surrendered to police in the Czech Republic. (Policie České Republiky)

The man came forward to surrender his T-34/85 tank as well as the SU-100 artillery gun.

He believed he owned the two pieces of heavy weaponry legally, though alarmingly, he was unaware if they had been properly deactivated.

Police then inspected the two vehicles, instructed him on how to deactivate them fully, and allowed him to keep them in his garage.

At the start of the war, the Russian T-34 was unmatched but scarce in numbers, with German shells famously bouncing off its sloped armour.

By the time the Germans had developed tanks capable of destroying the T-34, the Russians had such a dominant numbers advantage that the Germans were overwhelmed.

The T-34 was famously hardy, with one tank surviving 56 years at the bottom of a Estonian bog, before being restored to full working order.

The T-34 then went into production through the Communist world, including in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s.

Hundreds of T-34s remain in service around the world, mostly in Cuba, North Korea, Yemen and Vietnam.

The tank owned by this Czech man would have been made domestically, though there is no explanation why it was painted pink.

The SU-100 was a variant, with a 100mm anti-tank gun built on the chassis of a T-34.

The SU-100 developed a reputation as one of the most devastating tank destroyers of World War II.

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There are 100 Su-100s in operation in North Korea, and another hundred in Vietnam.



This content first appear on 9news

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