WWII Russian Tank recovered from bottom of a lake after 56 years.

The Soviet-built T34/76A tank had been resting at the bottom of the lake for 56 years.

According to its specifications, it's a 27-ton machine with a top speed of 53km/h.

From February to September 1944, heavy battles were fought in the narrow, 50 km-wide, Narva front in the north-eastern part of Estonia.

Over 100,000 men were killed and 300,000 men were wounded there.

During battles in the summer of 1944, the tank was captured from the Soviet army and used by the German army. (This is the reason that there are German markings painted on the tank's exterior.)

On 19 September 1944, German troops began an organized retreat along the Narva front.

It is suspected that the tank was then purposefully driven into the lake, abandoning it when its captors left the area.

At that time, a local boy walking by the lake Kurtna Matasjarv noticed tank tracks leading into the lake, but not coming out anywhere.

For two months he saw air bubbles emerging from the lake. This gave him reason to believe that there must be an armored vehicle at the bottom of the lake.

A few years ago, he told the story to the leader of the local war history club 'Otsing'. Together with other club members, Mr. Igor Shedunov initiated diving expeditions to the bottom of the lake about a year ago.

At the depth of 7 metres (about 25 ft.) they discovered the tank resting under a 3-metre layer of peat.

Enthusiasts from the club, under Mr Shedunov's leadership, decided to pull the tank out.

The 'rescue' operation began by opening the vegetation for access to the lake.

In September 2000 club members turned to Aleksander Borovkovthe, manager of the Narva open pit of the company, "AS Eesti Polevkivi", to rent the company's Komatsu D375A-2 bulldozer.

The pulling operation began at 09:00 and was concluded at 15:00, with several technical breaks.

The weight of the tank, combined with the travel incline, made a pulling operation that required significant "muscle" and the D375A-2 handled the operation well.

The weight of the fully armed tank was around 30 tons, so the force required to retrieve had to exceed that number.  Additional weights had to be added to the dozer to provide enough traction to pull the tank free of the mud and peat.

The discoveries continued to get better by the minute. A close inspection revealed the that the tank was in MINT condition.

After the tank surfaced, it turned out to be a trophy tank, which had been captured by the German army in the course of the battle at Sinimaed (Blue Hills) about six weeks before it was sunk in the lake.

Altogether, 116 shells were found on board.

Eight hours after the 'rescue' began, the Russian tank was well on its way to the top of the ridge.

Remarkably, the tank was in Good Condition, with NO RUST and ALL SYSTEMS (except the engine) in working condition.

This is a very rare machine, especially considering that it fought both on the Russian and the German sides.

Plans are under way to fully restore the tank. It will be displayed at a war history museum, which will be founded at the Gorodenko village on the left bank of the River Narv.