Socotra: Old Soviet T-34 Tanks Along the Coast

In the 1970-90s, Socotra Island was part of the South Yemen aka Democratic Yemen, which was a pro-USSR communist state (in fact, the only communist state on the Arabic Peninsula). To protect the island from any potential invasion from the mainland, the USSR gracefully installed several dozen old and rusty T-34 tanks (from the days of WWII), along the sand dunes of the north coast. Most were broken and couldn’t really operate other then just act as cannon guns facing the sea. Today, they are some of the first landscape objects da you get to see as you leave the Socotra airport and drive along the northern coastline.