Albanian Type 59 image - Tank Lovers Group

Type 59 tanks were Chinese copies of T-55 and T-62 combined. During the time of the Albanian-Chinese alliance, China shipped +721 Type 59s to support the Albanian Army create a strong armoured wing to resist any possible invasion from the neighbouring countries. After the breakup with China and the fall of Communism in Albania, these tanks began to break down, since Albania lacked the industry to maintain the vast military that was inherited from the Communist regime. These tanks saw action in 1999, 8 years after the fall, when Yugoslav Army invaded Albania to fight KLA. Yugoslavian soldiers were surprised to see the Albanian military buildup after the incursion, which led them to retreat. After that, the tanks were put in reserve, later retired

Albania is the only country in Europe that had these tanks in their military/

Photo:Albanian army units speeding towards the Yugoslav border to counter the incursion of Yugoslav Paratroopers in Albanian territory. The incursion ended in a failure since Yugoslav Paratroopers lacked Anti-Tank weapons and so on.