QDoes that kind of tank really have a five-man crew?
ANo. A T-54/55 has a four man crew: commander, loader, gunner, and driver. There is simply no room in the tank for anyone else. Trick photography was used to make the inside of the tank seem larger than it really was, and the fifth man was added purely to advance the story.
QWhat rank is Daskal, the commander?
AUnknown. It is assumed he is the company commander because he is referred to as "the old man" several times...an appelation normally applied to the company captain. However, his rank is two pips on green shoulder boards, which would imply he is a lieutenant in the medical services...obviously, a mistake. His shoulder boards should be red for armor, with three gold stars as a captain.
QWhat kind of tank is the one in the film supposed to be?
AThe tank is supposed to be a Russian T-54/55 model tank, one of the most numerous models in the world and in use by over 50 countries. In this case, it's an Israeil T-55S, modified with a Sharir 105mm main gun. The T55 would have a 100mm main gun, a coaxial machine gun, and a 12.7mm DShK 1938/46 heavy machine gun. The flamethrower would not be on the standard model (it would replace the coaxial machine gun in the flamethrower varaint OT-54). You can tell this is the T-55S becuase of the rifled gun barrel with fume extractor halfway down the barrel, the radio antenna mounts, and the drivers hatch that you can open from outside. The tank has features of both the T-54 and T-55; it mounts the DShK heavy machine gun of the T-54, but has the engine snorkel found on the T-55. It's basically a hodge-podge of the two designs.
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