By chance I just saw this on Reddit:
66 T-55 tanks being used to strength test the Nussel bridge, Prague(1970).
Yes, when Banting and Best isolated insulin, a discovery that still saves millions of lives - the Nobel Prize went to Banting and… Prof. MacLeod who ran the lab.
1970? I think I saw those exact same tanks in the news the other day. They didn’t look as nice.
After the bridge fell in they did have a little mud on them. And a few dents, but nothing that wouldn’t buff out.
Years later, as you say, they made the really silly mistake of trying to take a group tour of Ukraine. They really looked raggedy after that sojourn. Ukrainian roads are real hard on Russian tanks.