T-26
Encyclopedia
The T-26 tank was a Soviet
light
infantry tank
used during many conflicts of the 1930s as well as during World War II
. It was a development of the British
Vickers 6-Ton
tank and is widely considered one of the most successful tank designs of the 1930s.
It was produced in greater numbers than any other tank of the period, with more than 11,000 produced. During the 1930s, the USSR developed approximately 53 variants of the T-26, including other combat vehicles based on its chassis. Twenty-three of these were mass-produced.
The T-26 was used extensively in the armies of Spain, China and Turkey. In addition, captured T-26 light tanks were used by the Finnish, German, Romanian and Hungarian armies.
Though nearly obsolete by the beginning of World War II
, the T-26 was the most important tank of the Spanish Civil War
and played a significant role during the Battle of Lake Khasan
in 1938 as well as in the Winter War
in 1939-40. The T-26 was the most numerous tank in the Red Army
's armored force during the German invasion of the Soviet Union
in June 1941. The Soviet T-26 light tanks last saw use in August 1945, during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.
The T-26 was reliable and simple to maintain, and its design was continually modernised between 1931 and 1941. However, no new models of the T-26 were developed after 1940.
Vickers 6-Ton
(Vickers Mk.E) light tank, which was designed by the Vickers-Armstrongs company in 1928–1929. The simple and easy to maintain Vickers 6-Ton was intended especially for export to less technically advanced countries: the Soviet Union, Poland, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Thailand, China and many others. Vickers advertised the tank in military publications, and both the Soviet Union and Poland expressed interest in the Vickers design.
In spring 1930, the Soviet buying committee, under the direction of Semyon Ginzburg
, arrived in Great Britain to select tanks, tractors and cars to be used in the Red Army. The Vickers 6-Ton was among four models of tanks selected by Soviet representatives during their visit to Vickers-Armstrongs. According to the contract signed on May 28, 1930, the company delivered to the USSR 15 twin-turreted Vickers Mk.E (Type A, armed with two .303 calibre
(7.7 mm) water-cooled Vickers machine gun
s) tanks together with full technical documentation to enable series production of the tank in the USSR. The ability of the two turrets of the Type A to turn independently made it possible to fire to both the left and right at once, which was considered advantageous for breakthroughs of field entrenchments. Several Soviet engineers participated in assembly of the tanks at the Vickers Factory in 1930.
The first four Vickers 6-Ton tanks arrived in the USSR at the end of 1930. The last tanks did not arrive until 1932, when series production of the T-26 was already in progress. The British tanks were issued to Soviet factories for study in preparation for series production and to military educational institutions and training units. Later, some tanks were given to military supply depots and proving grounds.
The Vickers-built 6-Ton tanks had the designator V-26 in the USSR. Three British tanks were successfully tested for cross-country ability at the small proving ground near Moscow on Poklonnaya Hill
in January 1931. One tank hull was tested for gunfire resistance in August 1931. Kliment Voroshilov
ordered the creation of the "Special Commission for the Red Army (RKKA)
new tanks" under the direction of S. Ginzburg to define the tank type suitable for the Red Army. The T-19
8-ton light infantry tank, developed by S. Ginzburg under that programme at the Bolshevik Factory in Leningrad
was a theoretical competitor to the British Vickers 6-Ton. The first prototype of the complex and expensive T-19 was not finished until August 1931. Because both tanks had advantages and disadvantages, S. Ginzburg suggested developing a more powerful, hybrid tank (the so-called "improved" T-19) with the hull, home-developed engine and armament from the native T-19, and the transmission and chassis from the British Vickers 6-ton.
However, on January 26, 1931, I. Khalepsky (chief of the Department of Mechanisation and Motorisation of the RKKA) wrote a letter to S. Ginzburg with information obtained via the intelligence service that the Polish government had decided to purchase Vickers 6-Ton light infantry tanks as well as Christie
cavalry tanks and to mass produce them with the assistance of both the British and French. Because Poland was then considered, in Soviet military doctrine, to be the USSR's main enemy, the Soviet Revolutionary Military Council
took this erroneous information into consideration and decided to pass the aforementioned foreign tanks into Red Army service immediately in order to counter possible aggression. At that time, the RKKA had only several dozen outdated Mk.V
, Mk.A and Renault FT-17
tanks, captured during the Russian Civil War
, together with various armoured cars and obsolescent domestic MS-1 (T-18)
light infantry tanks. On February 13, 1931, the Vickers 6-Ton light infantry tank, under the designator T-26, officially entered service in the Red Army as the "main tank for close support of combined arms units and tank units of High Command reserve".
One of the Vickers 6-Ton tanks (equipped with Soviet-made turrets for the T-26) was tested for gunfire resistance in August 1931. The hull was subjected to rifle and Maxim machine gun fire with the use of normal and armour-piercing bullets at a range of 50 m (164 ft). It was found that the armour withstood gunfire with minimal damage (only some rivets were damaged). Chemical analysis showed that the front armour plates were made from high-quality cemented armour (S.t.a Plat according to Vickers-Armstrongs classification), whereas the homogeneous roof and bottom armour plates were made from mediocre steel. Nevertheless, the British armour was better than armour produced by Izhora Factory for the first T-26s due to a shortage of modern metallurgical equipment in the USSR that time.
At the same time, the Faculty of Mechanisation and Motorisation of the Military Technical Academy named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky
developed two tank models (TMM-1 and TMM-2) based on the purchased Vickers 6-Ton tank design but with an American Hercules 95 hp six-cylinder water-cooled engine, improved front armour (to 15–20 mm), and a driver's position on the left side. TMM stands for tank maloy moshchnosti or "tank of low power". The TMM-1 was equipped with transmission details from the Ya-5 truck and a ball mount for the DT tank machine gun in front of the hull, whereas the TMM-2 was equipped with an improved gear box, a steering device without clutches and a 37 mm Hotchkiss gun
in the right turret. However, representatives from the main Soviet tank manufacturers together with officials from the RKKA Mobilization Department considered the Hercules engine to be too difficult to produce, and the engine tended to overheat inside the engine compartment. Tests of TMM-1 and TMM-2 prototypes performed in the beginning of 1932 demonstrated no advantage over the Vickers 6-Ton and the T-26 (the TMM-2's maneuverability was found to be even worse).
configuration and was designed to carry two machine guns, mounting one in each turret. A major difference between the Soviet T-26 mod. 1931 and the British 6-Ton were higher turrets on the T-26, complete with observation slit. Also Soviet turrets had a round firing port for the DT tank machine gun
, as opposed to the rectangular ports used by the original British design for the Vickers machine gun. The front part of the hull was also slightly modified.
Hulls of twin-turreted T-26s were assembled using armoured plates riveted to a frame from metal angles. Some tanks, produced in 1931, had sealing zinc shims at the hull bottom at the interface between armoured plates for fording water obstacles. After experiencing problems with precipitation entering the engine compartment, a special cover was installed over an air outlet window after March 1932. A number of T-26s produced at the end of 1932-1933 had a riveted and welded hull. The T-26 mod. 1931 had two cylindrical turrets mounted on ball bearings; each turret turned independently through 240°. Both turrets could provide common fire in front and rear arcs of fire (100° each). The disadvantage of such configuration was impossibility to use all tank fire-power at once on the same side. Four technological modifications of turrets existed, and they were mounted on tanks in different combinations (for instance, a tank with a riveted hull could have riveted and welded turrets).
The hull and turrets of the T-26 mod. 1931 had a maximum armour thickness of 13–15 mm (until 1938, see below), which was sufficient to withstand a light machine gun fire. Nevertheless, many twin-turreted tanks of the first series had 10 mm armour plates of low quality, which could be penetrated by 7.62 mm armour-piercing bullets from 150 m.
In 1933, the Soviets unveiled the T-26 mod. 1933. The Model 1933, with a new single cylindrical turret carrying one 45 mm cannon and one 7.62 mm
machine gun, would become the most common T-26 variant. The 45 mm 20K tank gun was based on the Soviet 45 mm anti-tank gun 19K (mod. 1932). The T-26 could carry up to three secondary DT 7.62 mm machine guns in coaxial, rear, and anti-aircraft mounts. This increased fire-power was intended to aid crews in defeating dedicated anti-tank teams, as the original machine gun armament had been found insufficient. The turret rear ball mounting for the additional DT tank machine gun was installed on the T-26 tanks from the end of 1935 until 1939.
The T-26 Model 1933 carried 122 rounds of 45 mm ammunition, firing armour-piercing 45 mm rounds with a muzzle velocity of 820 m/s (2,690.3 ft/s), or lower-velocity high-explosive munitions. Tanks intended for company commanders were equipped with a radio set and a hand-rail radio antenna on the turret. Later the hand-rail antenna was replaced with a buggy-whip antenna, because the Spanish Civil War
and Battle of Lake Khasan
demonstrated that the hand-rail antenna unmasked commander tanks for enemy fire.
The tank was powered by a T-26 90 hp flat
row 4-cylinder air-cooled
petrol engine
which represented a Soviet full copy of the Armstrong Siddeley
engine used in the Vickers 6-Ton. The engine was located in the rear part of the hull. In the beginning, Soviet-made tank engines were of bad quality; they were improved beginning in 1934. The T-26 (Armstrong Siddeley) engine did not have an over-speed limiter, which often resulted in overheating and engine valve breakage, especially in summer. A fuel tank for 182 litre and an oil box for 27 litre were placed alongside of the engine. The engine required top-grade petrol; the use of second-rate petrol could cause damage to the valve units because of engine detonation. From mid 1932, a more capacious fuel tank (290 L instead of 182 L) and a simplified oil box were introduced. An engine cooling fan was mounted over the engine in a special shroud. From spring 1932, the exhaust muffler was affixed by three clamps instead of two.
The transmission of the T-26 consisted of single-disk main dry clutch
, a gearbox with five gears in the front part of the vehicle, steering clutches, final drives and band brake
s. The gearbox was connected to the engine by a drive shaft passing through the vehicle. A gear change lever was mounted directly on the gearbox.
A tank suspension (for each side) consisted of two bogies, four rubber-covered return rollers, a track driving wheel and a track idler. Each bogie consisted of a cast box, four twin rubber-covered road wheels connected by balancing levers and two one-quarter elliptic leaf springs. The cast track driving wheel with removable sprocket ring was located in front, and the track idler with a crank lever tightener was located in the rear part of the vehicle. A track made from chrome-nickel steel was 260 mm (10.2 in) wide and consisted of 108-109 links.
The T-26 mod. 1931 did not have a radio set. A tank commander communicated with the driver by speaking tube, which was replaced with a signalling lamp in 1932. The T-26 was equipped with one fire extinguisher, a kit of spare parts tools and accessories (including a tank jack), a canvas stowage, and a tow chain fixed on the rear of the hull.
The T-26 could cross 0.75 m high vertical obstacles and 2.1 m wide trenches, ford 0.8 m deep water obstacles, cut 33 cm thick trees and climb 40° gradients. The T-26 proved to be easy to drive.
Beginning in 1937, there was an effort to equip many tanks with a second machine gun in the rear of the turret and an anti-aircraft machine gun on top of it, as well as the addition of two searchlights above the gun for night gunnery, a new VKU-3 command system, and a TPU-3 intercom. Some tanks had vertically stabilised TOP-1 gun telescopic sight. Ammunition stowage for the main gun was improved from 122 rounds to 147. In 1938, the cylindrical turret was replaced with a conical turret, with the same 45 mm model 1934 gun. Some T-26s mod. 1938/1939, equipped with radio set, had a PTK commander's panoramic sight.
In 1938, the T-26 was upgraded to the model 1938 version which had a new conical turret with better anti-bullet resistance but the same welded hull as the T-26 mod. 1933 produced in 1935-1936. This proved insufficient in the Battle of Lake Khasan
, which took place in 1938, so the tank was upgraded once more in February 1939 to have an underturret box with sloped (23°) 20 mm side armoured plates. The turret featured an increase to 20 mm at 18 degrees sloping. This time it was designated T-26-1 (known as the T-26 mod. 1939 in modern sources). There would be subsequent attempts to thicken the front plate, but T-26 production soon ended in favor of other designs, such as the T-34
.
, which had experience manufacturing the MS-1 (T-18)
light tanks since 1927. It was also planned to use the Stalingrad Tractor Factory
which was under construction at that time. But the production of the T-26 proved to be much more complicated than the semi-handicraft assembly of the MS-1, so the planned production of 500 T-26s in 1931 proved to be impossible. The Bolshevik Factory needed to convert all tank drawings from inch scale into metric scale, to develop a production technology, special tools and equipment. The first 10 T-26s were assembled in July 1931 – they were identical to British Vickers 6-Ton tanks except for their armament. Soviet tanks were armed with the 37 mm Hotchkiss (PS-1) gun in the right turret and the 7.62 mm DT tank machine gun in the left turret. These T-26s from the development batch were of low quality and made from unarmoured steel, but it was an important test of the new tank production technology.
The series production of the T-26, equipped with new higher turrets with observation window, began in August 1931. Such turrets proved to be more suitable for mass production. The production of the T-26 encountered many problems: a lot of armoured hulls and turrets supplied by the Izhora Factory were of low quality (with cracks) and were 10 mm in thickness instead of the planned 13 mm. Poor production standards were the reason behind the frequent failures of tank engines, gear boxes, springs in suspension, tracks and rubber-covered road wheels of early T-26s. Thirty-five of the 100 T-26s produced by the Bolshevik Factory in 1931 had hulls and turrets made from unarmoured steel. Later, it was planned to replace these hulls with armoured ones as well as to mount engines of better quality. Nevertheless, the business plan for 1932 called for 3,000 T-26s. For this, the tank workshop of the Bolshevik Factory was reorganised into the Factory No. 174 named after K.E. Voroshilov in February 1932. The director of the tank factory became K. Sirken and the chief engineer was S. Ginzburg. But the problems with organizing the complicated new technological processes, poor production planning of parts suppliers, a great shortage of qualified engineers and technicians as well as of necessary equipment still resulted in a large percentage of the tanks being flawed, and thus were not accepted by army representatives. On October 26th 1932, the Trust of Special Machine Industry, consisting of four factories, was established to solve the problem of tank production in the USSR. The planned production of T-26s for 1932 was decreased significantly and special attention was given to increasing the quality of the tanks. A production run of the new model single-turreted T-26 armed with the 45 mm gun was launched in the middle of 1933.
The Factory No. 174 also manufactured a few T-26s for military educational institutions. These were dissected tanks to demonstrate the relative position and function of tank components during training of tankers.
into production in Stalingrad in 1941. The T-26s produced by STZ had no visual differences from other T-26s, but Stalingrad tanks were less reliable and more expensive.
Some number of early T-26 tanks were repaired in tank units or at factories with the use of later production details. This meant replacing the all-rubber road wheels (except the front wheels) and track idlers with new strengthened ones. In addition, armour was added for the headlight, the armour thickness of the driver's hatch lower door of the twin-turreted tanks was increased from 6 to 10 mm and armoured PT-1 or PTK observation devices were installed. A common hatch above the engine, oil tank, and fuel tank was mounted starting in May 1940. In 1940, 255 T-26s were modernised in this way and in the first half of 1941 another 85 tanks were improved. A central factory responsible for the T-26's repair and modernisation was the Factory of Carrying-and-Conveying Machines named after S. Kirov
in Leningrad
, and the Factory No. 105 named after L. Kaganovich
in Khabarovsk
from the beginning of the Great Patriotic War until 1945.
light tank. This work was slowed by delays in the delivery of new equipment and series production of the T-50 did not begin on schedule (planned for June 1st 1941). As a result, factory management decided to resume the production of the T-26, using T-26 hulls, turrets, and other parts already in stock. About 47 T-26 tanks were assembled and 77 were repaired in July-August 1941 before the factory was relocated from Leningrad
to Chelyabinsk
in the end of August 1941, and then to Chkalov
in the end of September 1941. In addition, the Factory No. 174 produced engines and spare parts for the T-26, installed additional armour plates on some T-26s, replaced flame-throwers with 45 mm tank guns in turrets of 130 KhT-133
flame-throwing tanks, repaired tanks in army units (846 T-26s since the beginning of 1941) and mounted about 75 turrets from the T-26 and the T-50 as bunkers for the defense of Leningrad.
in 1932; it was used in many conflicts of 1930s as well as during World War II
. The T-26 together with the BT was the main tank of the RKKA during the interwar period.
The T-26 tank first saw action in the Spanish Civil War
. The Soviet Union provided Republican Spain with a total of 281 T-26 mod. 1933 tanks starting in October 1936. T-26s were used in almost all military operations of the Spanish Civil War in 1936-1939 and demonstrated there a superiority over the German Panzer I
light tanks and Italian CV-33 tankettes armed only with machine guns. During the battle of Guadalajara
T-26s outclassed the Italian tankettes, strongly inspiring the design of the first Italian medium tank the Fiat M13/40
tank.
The first military operation of the RKKA in which T-26 light tanks participated was the Soviet-Japanese border conflict, the Battle of Lake Khasan
, in July 1938. The 2nd Mechanised Brigade, the 32nd and the 40th Separate Tank Battalions had 257 T-26s, from which 76 tanks were damaged and 9 burnt towards the end of battle action. A small number of T-26 tanks and flame-throwing tanks based on the T-26 chassis participated in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol
in 1939.
On the eve of World War II, T-26s served mainly in separate light tank brigades (each brigade had 256–267 T-26s) and in separate tank battalions of rifle divisions (one company of T-26s consisted of 10-15 tanks). This was the type of tank units that participated in the Soviet invasion of Poland
in September 1939 and in the Winter War
of December 1939-March 1940. The Winter War proved that the T-26 was obsolete and its design reserve was totally depleted. Finnish anti-tank guns easily penetrated the T-26's thin anti-bullet armour, and tank units equipped with the T-26 suffered significant losses during the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line
, in which the flame-throwing tanks based on the T-26 chassis played a significant role.
On June 1st 1941 the Red Army had 10,268 T-26 tanks of all models, including armoured combat vehicles based on the T-26 chassis. T-26s composed a majority of the fighting vehicles in Soviet mechanised corps of border military districts. For instance, the Western Special Military District
had 1,136 T-26 tanks on June 22nd 1941 (52% of all tanks in the district). The T-26 (mod. 1938/39, especially) could withstand German tanks (except the Panzer III
and Panzer IV
) participating in Operation Barbarossa
in June 1941. The majority of the Red Army's T-26s were lost in the first months of the German-Soviet War, mainly to enemy artillery and air strikes. Many tanks broke down for technical reasons and lack of spare parts.
Nevertheless, the remaining T-26s participated in combat with the Germans and their allies during the Battle of Moscow
in winter 1941/1942, the Battle of Stalingrad
and the Battle of the Caucasus
in 1942. Some tank units of the Leningrad Front
used their T-26 tanks until 1944.
The defeat of the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria in August 1945 was the last military operation in which Soviet T-26s were used.
In the 1930s, T-26 light tanks were delivered to Spain (281), China (82), Turkey (60) and Afghanistan. They were used in the Second Sino-Japanese War
by the Chinese in 1938–1944. A considerable number of captured T-26s of different models were used by the Finnish Army during the Continuation War
, some tanks served in Finland till 1961. Captured T-26s were also used by the German, Romanian and Hungarian armies.
As the series production of the PS-2 gun was delayed, the Main Artillery Agency
of the RKKA gave preference to a new gun. It was developed by the Artillery Design Office of the Bolshevik Factory
, constructed from parts taken from the previously purchased German 37 mm anti-tank gun developed by Rheinmetall
and the PS-2 gun. This system was successfully tested and the Artillery Factory No. 8 named after M. Kalinin
started its series production under the designator B-3 (5K). The B-3 gun had less recoil and a smaller breech compared to the PS-2, so it could be easily mounted in the normal machine gun turret of the T-26. The first twin-turreted T-26 was armed with a B-3 gun in the right turret in autumn 1931. Unfortunately, series production of the B-3 gun proceeded slowly due to poor production standards (none of 225 guns produced in 1931 were accepted by army representatives; it took until 1933 to complete the original order for 300 guns placed in August of 1931). In addition, completed B-3 guns would be mounted on BT-2 light tanks after summer 1932. This meant that twin-turreted T-26 tanks would continue to be equipped with old 37 mm Hotchkiss (PS-1) guns. As production of the PS-1 gun had ended, some guns were taken from military supply depots and scrapped MS-1(T-18)
tanks.
The initial plan was to arm every fifth T-26 with the 37 mm gun in the right turret, but the final proportion was somewhat higher. About 450 twin-turreted T-26 mod. 1931 tanks mounting the 37 mm gun in the right turret were produced in 1931–1933 (including only 20-30 tanks with the B-3 gun). There were 392 T-26 mod. 1931 tanks with gun plus machine gun armament in the Red Army on 1 April 1933.
Additionally, one twin-turreted T-26 was given to the Research Institute of Communication in March 1932 to develop special tank communication devices. The plan was to equip each tank with a keyphone, while a platoon commander's tank would be equipped with a telephone switch for 6 subscribers (four for the tanks in the platoon, one for communication with infantry and one for contacting headquarters). A special terminal block was mounted on the rear of the tank so that communication wires could be connected. The work remained experimental.
The T-26 mod. 1939 with appliqué armour weighed 12 tonne, which caused an overload of the chassis, transmission, and engine of the light tank. Drivers were advised to use low gears only.
During the Great Patriotic War, a mounting of 15–40 mm appliqué armour on about a hundred different T-26s was performed by local factories in Leningrad
in 1941–1942, during the Siege of Odessa (1941), the Battle for Moscow and the Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942). A cutting of armoured plates was more rough than developed during the Winter War; the majority of these modified tanks did not have a moving armoured gun mask as seen in Factory No. 174's original design, and some tanks had front appliqué armour only.
It was found that the A-43 turret was very tight for two crewmembers; it had insufficient observation field; there was not any turret ventilation which made continuous gunfire difficult; and it was hard to rotate the turret manually. At the beginning of 1933, a new 76 mm KT tank gun mod. 1927/32 with reduced (from 900 mm to 500 mm) recoil length was installed into the A-43 turret. Nevertheless, it was proved again that the turret was still a very tight place for crew members. In addition, the ammunition stowage for 54 rounds was unsuccessful. As a result, the military refused the A-43 turret.
The T-26-4 with the KT tank gun passed tests successfully and five vehicles were built in 1933-1934 as pilot batch. Initially it was planned to arm three of these T-26-4 with the 76.2 mm KT tank gun mod. 1927/32 and the other two tanks with the 76.2 mm PS-3 tank gun. The PS-3 tank gun was developed at the Experimental Engineering-Mechanical Department (OKMO) of the Factory No. 174 by engineer P. Syachentov. The PS-3 had better specifications in comparison with the series-produced KT tank gun and also had several technical innovations (foot firing switch, original training gear, travelling position fixing, binocular optical sight). The T-26-4 armed with the PS-3 tank gun was tested in October 1933 but it was found that the PS-3 was too powerful for the T-26 light tank—turret's race ring and hull roof were deformed during gun fire, and the suspension springs were damaged. It was decided to arm the T-26-4 with the 76.2 mm KT tank gun only. All five experimental T-26-4 artillery tanks were tested during military exercises near Leningrad in September 1934 before scheduled series production of 50 such vehicles in 1935. But on September 19th, 1934 an incident with a T-26-4 took place: a blow-back because of shell case destruction during gun fire. Despite the fact that this defect was unrelated to turret design, the military representatives cancelled the order to produce the T-26-4. Also the work to design turretless AT-1
artillery tanks armed with the powerful 76.2 mm PS-3 tank gun started at that time. Nevertheless, the T-26-4's turret construction was the design used in the series-produced BT-7A artillery tank.
In 1939, the Armored Directorate of the Red Army (ABTU RKKA) ordered the development of a new conical turret for the T-26 similar to the BT-7's turret and to arm it with the 76.2 mm L-10 tank gun. But engineers of the Factory No. 174 felt it was impossible to implement this project because it would lead to a significant overload of T-26's chassis.
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
light
Light tank
A light tank is a tank variant initially designed for rapid movement, and now primarily employed in low-intensity conflict. Early light tanks were generally armed and armored similar to an armored car, but used tracks in order to provide better cross-country mobility.The light tank was a major...
infantry tank
Infantry tank
The infantry tank was a concept developed by the British and French in the years leading up to World War II. Infantry tanks were tanks designed to support the infantry in the attack. To achieve this they were generally heavily armoured compared to the cruiser tanks, to allow them to operate in...
used during many conflicts of the 1930s as well as during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It was a development of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Vickers 6-Ton
Vickers 6-Ton
The Vickers 6-Ton Tank or Vickers Mark E was a British light tank designed as a private project at Vickers. It was not purchased by the British Army, but was picked up by a large number of foreign armed forces and was copied almost exactly by the Soviets as the T-26. It was also the direct...
tank and is widely considered one of the most successful tank designs of the 1930s.
It was produced in greater numbers than any other tank of the period, with more than 11,000 produced. During the 1930s, the USSR developed approximately 53 variants of the T-26, including other combat vehicles based on its chassis. Twenty-three of these were mass-produced.
The T-26 was used extensively in the armies of Spain, China and Turkey. In addition, captured T-26 light tanks were used by the Finnish, German, Romanian and Hungarian armies.
Though nearly obsolete by the beginning of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the T-26 was the most important tank of the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
and played a significant role during the Battle of Lake Khasan
Battle of Lake Khasan
The Battle of Lake Khasan and also known as the Changkufeng Incident in China and Japan, was an attempted military incursion of Manchukuo into the territory claimed by the Soviet Union...
in 1938 as well as in the Winter War
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
in 1939-40. The T-26 was the most numerous tank in the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
's armored force during the German invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
in June 1941. The Soviet T-26 light tanks last saw use in August 1945, during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.
The T-26 was reliable and simple to maintain, and its design was continually modernised between 1931 and 1941. However, no new models of the T-26 were developed after 1940.
British origin
The T-26 was a Soviet development of the BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Vickers 6-Ton
Vickers 6-Ton
The Vickers 6-Ton Tank or Vickers Mark E was a British light tank designed as a private project at Vickers. It was not purchased by the British Army, but was picked up by a large number of foreign armed forces and was copied almost exactly by the Soviets as the T-26. It was also the direct...
(Vickers Mk.E) light tank, which was designed by the Vickers-Armstrongs company in 1928–1929. The simple and easy to maintain Vickers 6-Ton was intended especially for export to less technically advanced countries: the Soviet Union, Poland, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Thailand, China and many others. Vickers advertised the tank in military publications, and both the Soviet Union and Poland expressed interest in the Vickers design.
In spring 1930, the Soviet buying committee, under the direction of Semyon Ginzburg
Semyon Alexandrovich Ginzburg
Semyon Alexandrovich Ginzburg , attended the Dzerzhinsky Military Technical Academy in Leningrad. He worked in the GKB and in the KB-3 in Moscow...
, arrived in Great Britain to select tanks, tractors and cars to be used in the Red Army. The Vickers 6-Ton was among four models of tanks selected by Soviet representatives during their visit to Vickers-Armstrongs. According to the contract signed on May 28, 1930, the company delivered to the USSR 15 twin-turreted Vickers Mk.E (Type A, armed with two .303 calibre
.303 British
.303 British, or 7.7x56mmR, is a .311 inch calibre rifle and machine gun cartridge first developed in Britain as a blackpowder round put into service in December 1888 for the Lee-Metford rifle, later adapted to use smokeless powders...
(7.7 mm) water-cooled Vickers machine gun
Vickers machine gun
Not to be confused with the Vickers light machine gunThe Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled .303 inch machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army...
s) tanks together with full technical documentation to enable series production of the tank in the USSR. The ability of the two turrets of the Type A to turn independently made it possible to fire to both the left and right at once, which was considered advantageous for breakthroughs of field entrenchments. Several Soviet engineers participated in assembly of the tanks at the Vickers Factory in 1930.
The first four Vickers 6-Ton tanks arrived in the USSR at the end of 1930. The last tanks did not arrive until 1932, when series production of the T-26 was already in progress. The British tanks were issued to Soviet factories for study in preparation for series production and to military educational institutions and training units. Later, some tanks were given to military supply depots and proving grounds.
The Vickers-built 6-Ton tanks had the designator V-26 in the USSR. Three British tanks were successfully tested for cross-country ability at the small proving ground near Moscow on Poklonnaya Hill
Poklonnaya Hill
Poklonnaya Gora is, at 171.5 metres, one of the highest spots in Moscow. Its two summits used to be separated by the Setun River, until one of the summits was razed in 1987...
in January 1931. One tank hull was tested for gunfire resistance in August 1931. Kliment Voroshilov
Kliment Voroshilov
Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov , popularly known as Klim Voroshilov was a Soviet military officer, politician, and statesman...
ordered the creation of the "Special Commission for the Red Army (RKKA)
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
new tanks" under the direction of S. Ginzburg to define the tank type suitable for the Red Army. The T-19
T-19
The T-19 was a Soviet light tank design of the interwar years. Conceived as the mainstay of the new Soviet tank armies, it was a development of the T-18, ultimately based on the First World War-era French Renault FT-17...
8-ton light infantry tank, developed by S. Ginzburg under that programme at the Bolshevik Factory in Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
was a theoretical competitor to the British Vickers 6-Ton. The first prototype of the complex and expensive T-19 was not finished until August 1931. Because both tanks had advantages and disadvantages, S. Ginzburg suggested developing a more powerful, hybrid tank (the so-called "improved" T-19) with the hull, home-developed engine and armament from the native T-19, and the transmission and chassis from the British Vickers 6-ton.
However, on January 26, 1931, I. Khalepsky (chief of the Department of Mechanisation and Motorisation of the RKKA) wrote a letter to S. Ginzburg with information obtained via the intelligence service that the Polish government had decided to purchase Vickers 6-Ton light infantry tanks as well as Christie
Christie suspension
The Christie suspension is a suspension system developed by American engineer Walter Christie for his tank designs. It allowed considerably longer movement than conventional leaf spring systems then in common use, which allowed his tanks to have considerably greater cross-country speed and a lower...
cavalry tanks and to mass produce them with the assistance of both the British and French. Because Poland was then considered, in Soviet military doctrine, to be the USSR's main enemy, the Soviet Revolutionary Military Council
Revolutionary Military Council
Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic or Revvoyensoviet Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic or Revvoyensoviet Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic or Revvoyensoviet (Революционный Военный Совет, Revolyutsionny Voyenny Sovyet; Реввоенсовет, Revvoyensovyet; also...
took this erroneous information into consideration and decided to pass the aforementioned foreign tanks into Red Army service immediately in order to counter possible aggression. At that time, the RKKA had only several dozen outdated Mk.V
Mark I tank
The British Mark I was a tracked vehicle developed by the British Army during the First World War and the world's first combat tank. The Mark I entered service in August 1916, and was first used in action on the morning of 15 September 1916 during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, of the Somme...
, Mk.A and Renault FT-17
Renault FT-17
The Renault FT, frequently referred to in post-WWI literature as the "FT-17" or "FT17" , was a French light tank; it is among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history...
tanks, captured during the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, together with various armoured cars and obsolescent domestic MS-1 (T-18)
T-18 tank
The T-18 light tank was the first Soviet-designed tank. Produced from 1928–31, it was based on the Renault FT-17, with the addition of a vertically sprung suspension....
light infantry tanks. On February 13, 1931, the Vickers 6-Ton light infantry tank, under the designator T-26, officially entered service in the Red Army as the "main tank for close support of combined arms units and tank units of High Command reserve".
One of the Vickers 6-Ton tanks (equipped with Soviet-made turrets for the T-26) was tested for gunfire resistance in August 1931. The hull was subjected to rifle and Maxim machine gun fire with the use of normal and armour-piercing bullets at a range of 50 m (164 ft). It was found that the armour withstood gunfire with minimal damage (only some rivets were damaged). Chemical analysis showed that the front armour plates were made from high-quality cemented armour (S.t.a Plat according to Vickers-Armstrongs classification), whereas the homogeneous roof and bottom armour plates were made from mediocre steel. Nevertheless, the British armour was better than armour produced by Izhora Factory for the first T-26s due to a shortage of modern metallurgical equipment in the USSR that time.
Soviet military academies
There were/are a number of military academies in the Soviet Union/Russia of different specialties.Unlike Western military academies such as West Point, Soviet, now Russian, military and police institutions referred to as "academy" are post-graduate professional military schools for experienced...
developed two tank models (TMM-1 and TMM-2) based on the purchased Vickers 6-Ton tank design but with an American Hercules 95 hp six-cylinder water-cooled engine, improved front armour (to 15–20 mm), and a driver's position on the left side. TMM stands for tank maloy moshchnosti or "tank of low power". The TMM-1 was equipped with transmission details from the Ya-5 truck and a ball mount for the DT tank machine gun in front of the hull, whereas the TMM-2 was equipped with an improved gear box, a steering device without clutches and a 37 mm Hotchkiss gun
Hotchkiss gun
The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch light mountain gun; there was also a 3-inch Hotchkiss gun...
in the right turret. However, representatives from the main Soviet tank manufacturers together with officials from the RKKA Mobilization Department considered the Hercules engine to be too difficult to produce, and the engine tended to overheat inside the engine compartment. Tests of TMM-1 and TMM-2 prototypes performed in the beginning of 1932 demonstrated no advantage over the Vickers 6-Ton and the T-26 (the TMM-2's maneuverability was found to be even worse).
Design
The Soviets did not simply replicate the Vickers Six-Ton. Like its British counterpart, the T-26 mod. 1931 had a twin-turretedGun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
configuration and was designed to carry two machine guns, mounting one in each turret. A major difference between the Soviet T-26 mod. 1931 and the British 6-Ton were higher turrets on the T-26, complete with observation slit. Also Soviet turrets had a round firing port for the DT tank machine gun
Degtyarev light machine gun
The Пулемёт Дегтярёвa Пехотный or DP was a light machine gun firing the 7.62x54mmR cartridge that was used by the Soviet Union starting in 1928. It was cheap and easy to manufacture - early models had fewer than 80 parts and could be built by unskilled labour. The DP was especially able to...
, as opposed to the rectangular ports used by the original British design for the Vickers machine gun. The front part of the hull was also slightly modified.
Hulls of twin-turreted T-26s were assembled using armoured plates riveted to a frame from metal angles. Some tanks, produced in 1931, had sealing zinc shims at the hull bottom at the interface between armoured plates for fording water obstacles. After experiencing problems with precipitation entering the engine compartment, a special cover was installed over an air outlet window after March 1932. A number of T-26s produced at the end of 1932-1933 had a riveted and welded hull. The T-26 mod. 1931 had two cylindrical turrets mounted on ball bearings; each turret turned independently through 240°. Both turrets could provide common fire in front and rear arcs of fire (100° each). The disadvantage of such configuration was impossibility to use all tank fire-power at once on the same side. Four technological modifications of turrets existed, and they were mounted on tanks in different combinations (for instance, a tank with a riveted hull could have riveted and welded turrets).
The hull and turrets of the T-26 mod. 1931 had a maximum armour thickness of 13–15 mm (until 1938, see below), which was sufficient to withstand a light machine gun fire. Nevertheless, many twin-turreted tanks of the first series had 10 mm armour plates of low quality, which could be penetrated by 7.62 mm armour-piercing bullets from 150 m.
In 1933, the Soviets unveiled the T-26 mod. 1933. The Model 1933, with a new single cylindrical turret carrying one 45 mm cannon and one 7.62 mm
7.62 mm caliber
7.62 mm caliber is a nominal caliber used for a number of different cartridges. Historically, this class of cartridge was commonly known as .30 caliber, the Imperial unit equivalent, and was most commonly used for indicating a class of full power military main battle rifle cartridges...
machine gun, would become the most common T-26 variant. The 45 mm 20K tank gun was based on the Soviet 45 mm anti-tank gun 19K (mod. 1932). The T-26 could carry up to three secondary DT 7.62 mm machine guns in coaxial, rear, and anti-aircraft mounts. This increased fire-power was intended to aid crews in defeating dedicated anti-tank teams, as the original machine gun armament had been found insufficient. The turret rear ball mounting for the additional DT tank machine gun was installed on the T-26 tanks from the end of 1935 until 1939.
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
and Battle of Lake Khasan
Battle of Lake Khasan
The Battle of Lake Khasan and also known as the Changkufeng Incident in China and Japan, was an attempted military incursion of Manchukuo into the territory claimed by the Soviet Union...
demonstrated that the hand-rail antenna unmasked commander tanks for enemy fire.
The tank was powered by a T-26 90 hp flat
Flat engine
A flat engine is an internal combustion engine with multiple pistons that move in a horizontal plane. Typically, the layout has cylinders arranged in two banks on either side of a single crankshaft and is sometimes known as the boxer, or horizontally opposed engine. The concept was patented in 1896...
row 4-cylinder air-cooled
Air-cooled engine
Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over hot parts of the engine to cool them.-Introduction:Most modern internal combustion engines are cooled by a closed circuit carrying liquid coolant through channels in the engine block and cylinder head, where the coolant absorbs heat,...
petrol engine
Petrol engine
A petrol engine is an internal combustion engine with spark-ignition, designed to run on petrol and similar volatile fuels....
which represented a Soviet full copy of the Armstrong Siddeley
Armstrong Siddeley
Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury motor cars and aircraft engines.-Siddeley Autocars:...
engine used in the Vickers 6-Ton. The engine was located in the rear part of the hull. In the beginning, Soviet-made tank engines were of bad quality; they were improved beginning in 1934. The T-26 (Armstrong Siddeley) engine did not have an over-speed limiter, which often resulted in overheating and engine valve breakage, especially in summer. A fuel tank for 182 litre and an oil box for 27 litre were placed alongside of the engine. The engine required top-grade petrol; the use of second-rate petrol could cause damage to the valve units because of engine detonation. From mid 1932, a more capacious fuel tank (290 L instead of 182 L) and a simplified oil box were introduced. An engine cooling fan was mounted over the engine in a special shroud. From spring 1932, the exhaust muffler was affixed by three clamps instead of two.
The transmission of the T-26 consisted of single-disk main dry clutch
Clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device which provides for the transmission of power from one component to another...
, a gearbox with five gears in the front part of the vehicle, steering clutches, final drives and band brake
Band brake
A band brake is a primary or secondary brake, consisting of a band of friction material that tightens concentrically around a cylindrical piece of equipment to either prevent it from rotating , or to slow it . This application is common on winch drums and chain saws and is also used for some...
s. The gearbox was connected to the engine by a drive shaft passing through the vehicle. A gear change lever was mounted directly on the gearbox.
A tank suspension (for each side) consisted of two bogies, four rubber-covered return rollers, a track driving wheel and a track idler. Each bogie consisted of a cast box, four twin rubber-covered road wheels connected by balancing levers and two one-quarter elliptic leaf springs. The cast track driving wheel with removable sprocket ring was located in front, and the track idler with a crank lever tightener was located in the rear part of the vehicle. A track made from chrome-nickel steel was 260 mm (10.2 in) wide and consisted of 108-109 links.
The T-26 mod. 1931 did not have a radio set. A tank commander communicated with the driver by speaking tube, which was replaced with a signalling lamp in 1932. The T-26 was equipped with one fire extinguisher, a kit of spare parts tools and accessories (including a tank jack), a canvas stowage, and a tow chain fixed on the rear of the hull.
The T-26 could cross 0.75 m high vertical obstacles and 2.1 m wide trenches, ford 0.8 m deep water obstacles, cut 33 cm thick trees and climb 40° gradients. The T-26 proved to be easy to drive.
Beginning in 1937, there was an effort to equip many tanks with a second machine gun in the rear of the turret and an anti-aircraft machine gun on top of it, as well as the addition of two searchlights above the gun for night gunnery, a new VKU-3 command system, and a TPU-3 intercom. Some tanks had vertically stabilised TOP-1 gun telescopic sight. Ammunition stowage for the main gun was improved from 122 rounds to 147. In 1938, the cylindrical turret was replaced with a conical turret, with the same 45 mm model 1934 gun. Some T-26s mod. 1938/1939, equipped with radio set, had a PTK commander's panoramic sight.
In 1938, the T-26 was upgraded to the model 1938 version which had a new conical turret with better anti-bullet resistance but the same welded hull as the T-26 mod. 1933 produced in 1935-1936. This proved insufficient in the Battle of Lake Khasan
Battle of Lake Khasan
The Battle of Lake Khasan and also known as the Changkufeng Incident in China and Japan, was an attempted military incursion of Manchukuo into the territory claimed by the Soviet Union...
, which took place in 1938, so the tank was upgraded once more in February 1939 to have an underturret box with sloped (23°) 20 mm side armoured plates. The turret featured an increase to 20 mm at 18 degrees sloping. This time it was designated T-26-1 (known as the T-26 mod. 1939 in modern sources). There would be subsequent attempts to thicken the front plate, but T-26 production soon ended in favor of other designs, such as the T-34
T-34
The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...
.
The beginning
The only factory suitable for the T-26 production was the Bolshevik Factory in LeningradSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, which had experience manufacturing the MS-1 (T-18)
T-18 tank
The T-18 light tank was the first Soviet-designed tank. Produced from 1928–31, it was based on the Renault FT-17, with the addition of a vertically sprung suspension....
light tanks since 1927. It was also planned to use the Stalingrad Tractor Factory
Stalingrad Tractor Factory
The Volgograd Tractor Factory is a heavy equipment factory located in Volgograd, Russia previously known until 1961 as the Stalingrad Tractor Factory named for Dzerzhinsky .The factory produces tractors and military equipment...
which was under construction at that time. But the production of the T-26 proved to be much more complicated than the semi-handicraft assembly of the MS-1, so the planned production of 500 T-26s in 1931 proved to be impossible. The Bolshevik Factory needed to convert all tank drawings from inch scale into metric scale, to develop a production technology, special tools and equipment. The first 10 T-26s were assembled in July 1931 – they were identical to British Vickers 6-Ton tanks except for their armament. Soviet tanks were armed with the 37 mm Hotchkiss (PS-1) gun in the right turret and the 7.62 mm DT tank machine gun in the left turret. These T-26s from the development batch were of low quality and made from unarmoured steel, but it was an important test of the new tank production technology.
The series production of the T-26, equipped with new higher turrets with observation window, began in August 1931. Such turrets proved to be more suitable for mass production. The production of the T-26 encountered many problems: a lot of armoured hulls and turrets supplied by the Izhora Factory were of low quality (with cracks) and were 10 mm in thickness instead of the planned 13 mm. Poor production standards were the reason behind the frequent failures of tank engines, gear boxes, springs in suspension, tracks and rubber-covered road wheels of early T-26s. Thirty-five of the 100 T-26s produced by the Bolshevik Factory in 1931 had hulls and turrets made from unarmoured steel. Later, it was planned to replace these hulls with armoured ones as well as to mount engines of better quality. Nevertheless, the business plan for 1932 called for 3,000 T-26s. For this, the tank workshop of the Bolshevik Factory was reorganised into the Factory No. 174 named after K.E. Voroshilov in February 1932. The director of the tank factory became K. Sirken and the chief engineer was S. Ginzburg. But the problems with organizing the complicated new technological processes, poor production planning of parts suppliers, a great shortage of qualified engineers and technicians as well as of necessary equipment still resulted in a large percentage of the tanks being flawed, and thus were not accepted by army representatives. On October 26th 1932, the Trust of Special Machine Industry, consisting of four factories, was established to solve the problem of tank production in the USSR. The planned production of T-26s for 1932 was decreased significantly and special attention was given to increasing the quality of the tanks. A production run of the new model single-turreted T-26 armed with the 45 mm gun was launched in the middle of 1933.
The Factory No. 174 also manufactured a few T-26s for military educational institutions. These were dissected tanks to demonstrate the relative position and function of tank components during training of tankers.
Production in Stalingrad
The Stalingrad Tractor Factory (STZ) was considered as one of the factories for production of the T-26 from 1932, but actual production in Stalingrad did not start until August 1933. This process went very slowly, with great difficulties because of delays with deliveries of machining equipment and press tools for the newly built factory. In 1936–1939 the Design Office of the STZ developed several experimental tanks (6 TK, 4 TG, STZ-25, STZ-35) based on the T-26 tank and the STZ-5 transport tractor. For instance, the STZ-25 (T-25) had the turret, rear part of the hull, engine and some transmission details from the T-26 mod. 1938, but the STZ-25 wheeled-tracked tank weighed 11.7 tonne and had 16-24 mm sloped armour. Factory managers tried to promote tanks of their own design rather than producing T-26s. As a result, the STZ failed to organise the series production of the T-26, but this experience helped to bring the T-34T-34
The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...
into production in Stalingrad in 1941. The T-26s produced by STZ had no visual differences from other T-26s, but Stalingrad tanks were less reliable and more expensive.
| 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-26 | 5 | 23 | 115 | ? | — | 301 | ? | 10 |
| 115 with a cylindrical turret and a radio, 5 with a conical turret and a radio, and 10 with a conical turret. | ||||||||
Modernization and repair
Sergey Kirov
Sergei Mironovich Kirov , born Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov, was a prominent early Bolshevik leader in the Soviet Union. Kirov rose through the Communist Party ranks to become head of the Party organization in Leningrad...
in Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, and the Factory No. 105 named after L. Kaganovich
Lazar Kaganovich
Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich was a Soviet politician and administrator and one of the main associates of Joseph Stalin.-Early life:Kaganovich was born in 1893 to Jewish parents in the village of Kabany, Radomyshl uyezd, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire...
in Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk is the largest city and the administrative center of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some from the Chinese border. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, after Vladivostok. The city became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia...
from the beginning of the Great Patriotic War until 1945.
Production in 1941
The Factory No. 174 produced its last T-26 tanks at the beginning of February 1941. After that, the factory began retooling to produce the new and much more complex T-50T-50 tank
The T-50 light infantry tank was built by the Soviet Union at the beginning of World War II. The design for this vehicle had some advanced features, but was complicated and expensive, and only a short production run of 69 tanks was completed...
light tank. This work was slowed by delays in the delivery of new equipment and series production of the T-50 did not begin on schedule (planned for June 1st 1941). As a result, factory management decided to resume the production of the T-26, using T-26 hulls, turrets, and other parts already in stock. About 47 T-26 tanks were assembled and 77 were repaired in July-August 1941 before the factory was relocated from Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
to Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk is a city and the administrative center of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located in the northwestern side of the oblast, south of Yekaterinburg, just to the east of the Ural Mountains, on the Miass River. Population: -History:...
in the end of August 1941, and then to Chkalov
Orenburg
Orenburg is a city on the Ural River and the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies southeast of Moscow, very close to the border with Kazakhstan. Population: 546,987 ; 549,361 ; Highest point: 154.4 m...
in the end of September 1941. In addition, the Factory No. 174 produced engines and spare parts for the T-26, installed additional armour plates on some T-26s, replaced flame-throwers with 45 mm tank guns in turrets of 130 KhT-133
T-26 variants
Main article: T-26 tankMore than 50 different modifications and experimental vehicles based on the T-26 light infantry tank chassis were developed in the USSR in the 1930s, with 23 modifications going into series production...
flame-throwing tanks, repaired tanks in army units (846 T-26s since the beginning of 1941) and mounted about 75 turrets from the T-26 and the T-50 as bunkers for the defense of Leningrad.
Combat history
The T-26 entered active service for the Red Army (RKKA)Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
in 1932; it was used in many conflicts of 1930s as well as during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The T-26 together with the BT was the main tank of the RKKA during the interwar period.
The T-26 tank first saw action in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. The Soviet Union provided Republican Spain with a total of 281 T-26 mod. 1933 tanks starting in October 1936. T-26s were used in almost all military operations of the Spanish Civil War in 1936-1939 and demonstrated there a superiority over the German Panzer I
Panzer I
The Panzer I was a light tank produced in Germany in the 1930s. The name is short for the German ' , abbreviated . The tank's official German ordnance inventory designation was SdKfz 101 .Design of the Panzer I began in 1932 and mass production in 1934...
light tanks and Italian CV-33 tankettes armed only with machine guns. During the battle of Guadalajara
Battle of Guadalajara
The Battle of Guadalajara saw the Republican People's Army defeat Italian and Nationalist forces attempting to encircle Madrid during the Spanish Civil War...
T-26s outclassed the Italian tankettes, strongly inspiring the design of the first Italian medium tank the Fiat M13/40
Fiat M13/40
The Fiat-Ansaldo M13/40 was an Italian medium tank , designed to replace the Fiat L3, the Fiat L6/40 and the Fiat M11/39 in the Italian Army at the start of World War II...
tank.
The first military operation of the RKKA in which T-26 light tanks participated was the Soviet-Japanese border conflict, the Battle of Lake Khasan
Battle of Lake Khasan
The Battle of Lake Khasan and also known as the Changkufeng Incident in China and Japan, was an attempted military incursion of Manchukuo into the territory claimed by the Soviet Union...
, in July 1938. The 2nd Mechanised Brigade, the 32nd and the 40th Separate Tank Battalions had 257 T-26s, from which 76 tanks were damaged and 9 burnt towards the end of battle action. A small number of T-26 tanks and flame-throwing tanks based on the T-26 chassis participated in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol
Battle of Khalkhin Gol
The Battles of Khalkhyn Gol was the decisive engagement of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese Border Wars fought among the Soviet Union, Mongolia and the Empire of Japan in 1939. The conflict was named after the river Khalkhyn Gol, which passes through the battlefield...
in 1939.
On the eve of World War II, T-26s served mainly in separate light tank brigades (each brigade had 256–267 T-26s) and in separate tank battalions of rifle divisions (one company of T-26s consisted of 10-15 tanks). This was the type of tank units that participated in the Soviet invasion of Poland
Soviet invasion of Poland
Soviet invasion of Poland can refer to:* the second phase of the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 when Soviet armies marched on Warsaw, Poland* Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939 when Soviet Union allied with Nazi Germany attacked Second Polish Republic...
in September 1939 and in the Winter War
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
of December 1939-March 1940. The Winter War proved that the T-26 was obsolete and its design reserve was totally depleted. Finnish anti-tank guns easily penetrated the T-26's thin anti-bullet armour, and tank units equipped with the T-26 suffered significant losses during the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line
Mannerheim Line
The Mannerheim Line was a defensive fortification line on the Karelian Isthmus built by Finland against the Soviet Union. During the Winter War it became known as the Mannerheim Line, after Field Marshal Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. The line was constructed in two phases: 1920–1924 and...
, in which the flame-throwing tanks based on the T-26 chassis played a significant role.
On June 1st 1941 the Red Army had 10,268 T-26 tanks of all models, including armoured combat vehicles based on the T-26 chassis. T-26s composed a majority of the fighting vehicles in Soviet mechanised corps of border military districts. For instance, the Western Special Military District
Belorussian Military District
The Byelorussian Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces. Originally in the times of Russian Civil War it formed as the Western Front, and in April 1924 it was renamed to the Western Military District. In October 1926 it was redesignated the Belorussian Military...
had 1,136 T-26 tanks on June 22nd 1941 (52% of all tanks in the district). The T-26 (mod. 1938/39, especially) could withstand German tanks (except the Panzer III
Panzer III
Panzer III was the common name of a medium tank that was developed in the 1930s by Germany and was used extensively in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen III translating as "armoured battle vehicle". It was intended to fight other armoured fighting vehicles and...
and Panzer IV
Panzer IV
The Panzerkampfwagen IV , commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a medium tank developed in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz...
) participating in Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
in June 1941. The majority of the Red Army's T-26s were lost in the first months of the German-Soviet War, mainly to enemy artillery and air strikes. Many tanks broke down for technical reasons and lack of spare parts.
Nevertheless, the remaining T-26s participated in combat with the Germans and their allies during the Battle of Moscow
Battle of Moscow
The Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Hitler's attack on Moscow, capital of...
in winter 1941/1942, the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
and the Battle of the Caucasus
Battle of the Caucasus
The Battle of Caucasus is a name given to a series of German and Soviet operations in the Caucasus area during the Soviet-German War.-1941 operations:...
in 1942. Some tank units of the Leningrad Front
Leningrad Front
The Leningrad Front was first formed on August 27, 1941, by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front, during the German approach on Leningrad .-History:...
used their T-26 tanks until 1944.
The defeat of the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria in August 1945 was the last military operation in which Soviet T-26s were used.
In the 1930s, T-26 light tanks were delivered to Spain (281), China (82), Turkey (60) and Afghanistan. They were used in the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
by the Chinese in 1938–1944. A considerable number of captured T-26s of different models were used by the Finnish Army during the Continuation War
Continuation War
The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War...
, some tanks served in Finland till 1961. Captured T-26s were also used by the German, Romanian and Hungarian armies.
Variants
| Weight, t | Front armour, mm | Side and rear armour, mm | Roof armour, mm | Turret armour, mm | Armament | Ammunition (gun rds./MG rds.) | Engine power, hp | Range (high-road/off-road), km | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twin-turreted T-26, produced in 1932 | 8.2 | 13–15 | 13–15 | 6 | 13–15 | 2 × 7.62mm DT | —/6615 | 90 | 130–140/70–80 |
| Twin-turreted T-26 with gun plus machine gun armament, produced in 1932 | 8.7 | 13–15 | 13–15 | 6 | 13–15 | 1 × 37mm + 1 × 7.62mm DT | 222/3528 | 90 | 130–140/70–80 |
| T-26 with cylindrical turret (and a radio), produced in 1933–1934 | 9.4 | 15 | 15 | 6–10 | 15 | 1 × 45mm + 1 × 7.62mm DT | 124 (84)/2961 | 90 | 130–140/70–80 |
| T-26 with cylindrical turret, additional fuel tank (and a radio), produced in 1935–1936 | 9.6 | 15 | 15 | 6–10 | 15 | 1 × 45mm + 1 × 7.62mm DT | 122 (82)/2961 | 90 | 220–240/130–140 |
| T-26 with cylindrical turret armed with rear MG, produced in 1935-1936 | 9.65 | 15 | 15 | 6–10 | 15 | 1 × 45mm + 2 × 7.62mm DT | 102/2961 | 90 | 220–240/130–140 |
| T-26 with cylindrical turret, radio (and P-40 anti-aircraft MG mounting), produced in 1937 | 9.75 | 15 | 15 | 6–10 | 15 | 1 × 45mm + 2 × 7.62mm DT | 111 (107)/2772 (3024) | 93 | 220–240/130–140 |
| T-26 with conical turret armed with rear MG, radio and straight sides of underturret box, produced in 1938 | 9.8 | 15 | 15 | 6–10 | 15 | 1 × 45mm + 2 × 7.62mm DT | 107/2772 | 95 | 220–240/130–140 |
| T-26 with conical turret armed with rear MG and sloped sides of underturret box, produced in 1939 | 10.25 | 15–20 | 15 | 6–10 | 15–20 | 1 × 45mm + 2 × 7.62mm DT | 185/3528 | 95 | 220–240/130–140 |
Twin-turreted tanks
- T-26 model 1931: twin-turretedGun turretA gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
version armed with two DT tank machine guns. The first series-produced variant of the T-26 which was equipped with turrets differing from the initial Vickers design (Soviet turrets were higher and had an observation window). Tanks produced from 1931 to March 1932 had a riveted hull and turrets, a muffler affixed with two clamps, and lacked any cover over the air outlet window. About 1,177 T-26 mod. 1931 tanks armed with machine guns were accepted by the Red Army, which had 1,015 such twin-turreted tanks on April 1st 1933. - T-26 model 1931 with gun plus machine gun armament: twin-turreted version with a 37 mm gun in the right turret (some modern sources mention this tank as T-26 model 1932). There were two models of 37 mm guns in the USSR suitable for mounting in light tanks that time—the Hotchkiss gunHotchkiss gunThe Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch light mountain gun; there was also a 3-inch Hotchkiss gun...
(or its Soviet improved variant PS-1), and the more powerful PS-2 gun developed by P. Syachentov. The latter was superior, but only experimental models existed. Therefore, the first 10 pre-production T-26s, which had a design identical to the Vickers 6-Ton, were equipped with a Hotchkiss gun in the right turret to increase firepower compared to the machine gun armed Vickers tank. The experimental PS-2 gun was mounted on only three T-26 tanks, the right turrets of which were replaced with small gun turrets from the T-35-1 (prototype of the T-35T-35The T-35 was a Soviet multi-turreted heavy tank of the interwar period and early Second World War that saw limited production and service with the Red Army. It was the only five-turreted heavy tank in the world to reach production but proved to be slow and mechanically unreliable...
heavy tank).
As the series production of the PS-2 gun was delayed, the Main Artillery Agency
Grau
Grau is a German word meaning "gray" and a Catalan word meaning "grade". It may refer to:* BAP Almirante Grau , a De Zeven Provinciën class cruiser in service with the Peruvian Navy* Grau Käse, Tyrolean grey cheese...
of the RKKA gave preference to a new gun. It was developed by the Artillery Design Office of the Bolshevik Factory
Obukhov State Plant
Obukhov State Plant is a major Russian metallurgy and heavy machine-building plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was founded in 1863 to produce naval artillery based on German designs by Krupp. It has since been a major producer of artillery and other military equipment. From 1922 to 1992 it...
, constructed from parts taken from the previously purchased German 37 mm anti-tank gun developed by Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and defence company with factories in Düsseldorf, Kassel and Unterlüß. The company has a long tradition of making guns and artillery pieces...
and the PS-2 gun. This system was successfully tested and the Artillery Factory No. 8 named after M. Kalinin
Kalinin Machine-Building Plant
JSC Kalinin Machine-Building Plant, ZiK or MZiK for short is a large Soviet/Russian industrial factory, now part of Almaz-Antey holding.Founded in 1866 in St...
started its series production under the designator B-3 (5K). The B-3 gun had less recoil and a smaller breech compared to the PS-2, so it could be easily mounted in the normal machine gun turret of the T-26. The first twin-turreted T-26 was armed with a B-3 gun in the right turret in autumn 1931. Unfortunately, series production of the B-3 gun proceeded slowly due to poor production standards (none of 225 guns produced in 1931 were accepted by army representatives; it took until 1933 to complete the original order for 300 guns placed in August of 1931). In addition, completed B-3 guns would be mounted on BT-2 light tanks after summer 1932. This meant that twin-turreted T-26 tanks would continue to be equipped with old 37 mm Hotchkiss (PS-1) guns. As production of the PS-1 gun had ended, some guns were taken from military supply depots and scrapped MS-1(T-18)
T-18 tank
The T-18 light tank was the first Soviet-designed tank. Produced from 1928–31, it was based on the Renault FT-17, with the addition of a vertically sprung suspension....
tanks.
The initial plan was to arm every fifth T-26 with the 37 mm gun in the right turret, but the final proportion was somewhat higher. About 450 twin-turreted T-26 mod. 1931 tanks mounting the 37 mm gun in the right turret were produced in 1931–1933 (including only 20-30 tanks with the B-3 gun). There were 392 T-26 mod. 1931 tanks with gun plus machine gun armament in the Red Army on 1 April 1933.
- T-26 (BPK) (BPK stands for batal'onnaya pushka Kurchevskogo or "battalion gun by Kurchevsky"): twin-turreted version with a 76.2 mm recoilless gunRecoilless rifleA recoilless rifle or recoilless gun is a lightweight weapon that fires a heavier projectile than would be practical to fire from a recoiling weapon of comparable size. Technically, only devices that use a rifled barrel are recoilless rifles. Smoothbore variants are recoilless guns...
(or "dynamic reaction gun", as it was called at the time) in the right turret. At the end of 1933 M. TukhachevskyMikhail TukhachevskyMikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky was a Marshal of the Soviet Union, commander in chief of the Red Army , and one of the most prominent victims of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge.-Early life:...
suggested equipping some T-26 mod. 1931 tanks with the 76.2 mm BPK recoilless gun designed by L.V. KurchevskyLeonid KurchevskyLeonid Vasilyevich Kurchevsky was a Russian/Soviet weapons designer....
in a right turret to increase a fire power. One prototype tank was built in 1934. BPK had a muzzle velocity of 500 m/s and a range of 4 km (2.5 mi). The tank was able to carry 62 4-kg rounds. The test performed on 9 March 1934 demonstrated a significant increase in firepower, but the recoilless gun proved difficult to reload on the move and the powerful jet blast projected behind the weapon when fired would be dangerous to infantrymen behind the tank. Shortcomings were also observed in the design of the gun itself, and so the planned rearmament of twin-turreted T-26 tanks with recoilless guns did not take place.
- T-26TU (TU stands for tank upravleniya or "command tank"): twin-turreted version with a simplex radio station No. 7N (communication range: 10 km) and a hand-rail frame antenna on the hull. The antenna lead was located in the front part of the underturret box roof between the turrets. The vehicle was intended for platoon (and higher) commanders. Three such tanks were successfully tested in September 1932 and seven more radio stations were delivered to the Factory No. 174, but it is unknown whether they were ever mounted on twin-turreted T-26 tanks. Series production of twin-turreted command radio tanks was scheduled to begin on January 1st 1933, but this did not occur because radio stations No. 7N were in short supply and because of the introduction of single-turreted T-26s with series-produced 71-TK-1 radio stations.
Additionally, one twin-turreted T-26 was given to the Research Institute of Communication in March 1932 to develop special tank communication devices. The plan was to equip each tank with a keyphone, while a platoon commander's tank would be equipped with a telephone switch for 6 subscribers (four for the tanks in the platoon, one for communication with infantry and one for contacting headquarters). A special terminal block was mounted on the rear of the tank so that communication wires could be connected. The work remained experimental.
Single-turreted tanks
- T-26 model 1933: single turret version armed with 45 mm 20K tank gun and DT tank machine gun. This version had a new cylindrical turret with a large rear niche. Some tanks were equipped with a 71-TK-1 radio station with a hand-rail antenna around the turret (so-called radio tanks). They were upgraded in 1935 with a welded hull and turret, and again in 1936 with a rear DT tank machine gun in the turret. In 1937, some tanks were equipped with an anti-aircraft machine gun and a searchlight. The model 1933 was the most numerous variant.
- T-26 model 1938: new conical turret, small changes in hull parts, increased volume of fuel tanks. Tank gun mod. 1937 and mod. 1938 were equipped with an electric breechblock and a vertically stabilized TOP-1 telescopic sight (or a TOS telescopic sight on the 1938 model).
- T-26 model 1939 (T-26-1): underturret box with sloped armoured plates, rear machine gun removed on some tanks, 97 hp engine. Tanks built after 1940 were equipped with an underturret box made from 20 mm homogeneous armour, a unified observation device, and a new turret ring. Some tanks were equipped with armoured screens. About 1,975 T-26 tanks with a conical turret (T-26 mod. 1938, T-26 mod. 1939) were produced.
- T-26 screened: tank with additional armour plating (appliqué armour). Some modern sources mention this tank as T-26E (E stands for ekranirovanny or "screened"). The Factory No. 174 developed the design of 30–40 mm appliqué armour for all types of single-turreted T-26s during the Winter WarWinter WarThe Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
. On December 30th, 1939, factory tests proved that the T-26 with appliqué armour successfully resisted fire from a 45 mm anti-tank gun at a range from 400-500 m. Side and front armoured plates were mounted with the use of blunt bolts and electric welding. Toward the middle of February 1940, the RKKA received 27 screened T-26 mod. 1939 tanks and 27 KhT-133T-26 variantsMain article: T-26 tankMore than 50 different modifications and experimental vehicles based on the T-26 light infantry tank chassis were developed in the USSR in the 1930s, with 23 modifications going into series production...
flame-throwing tanks; an additional 15 T-26 mod. 1939 tanks were armoured by workshops of the 8th Army in SuoyarviSuoyarviSuoyarvi is a town and the administrative center of Suoyarvsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located northwest of Petrozavodsk. Population:...
in the beginning of March 1940. All in all, 69 T-26s with appliqué armour were used during the Winter War and 20 more were delivered to tank units after the end of the war. Combat use proved that Finnish light anti-tank guns could not penetrate the armour of these tanks.
The T-26 mod. 1939 with appliqué armour weighed 12 tonne, which caused an overload of the chassis, transmission, and engine of the light tank. Drivers were advised to use low gears only.
During the Great Patriotic War, a mounting of 15–40 mm appliqué armour on about a hundred different T-26s was performed by local factories in Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
in 1941–1942, during the Siege of Odessa (1941), the Battle for Moscow and the Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942). A cutting of armoured plates was more rough than developed during the Winter War; the majority of these modified tanks did not have a moving armoured gun mask as seen in Factory No. 174's original design, and some tanks had front appliqué armour only.
Artillery tanks
- T-26 with the A-43 turret: artillery T-26 or "tank of fire support" with a turret developed by self-taught inventor N. Dyrenkov at the Experimental Design Office of the Department of Mechanization and Motorization of the RKKA (UMM RKKA). Two types of turrets, armed with the 76 mm regimental gun mod. 1927 and DT tank machine gun in a ball mount, were assembled by the Izhora Factory. They were partially pressed and welded. The first variety was installed on the T-26 mod. 1931 in February 1932 and the second type was used in November 1932 (in the last case, the rear armoured plate of underturret box was made sloping).
It was found that the A-43 turret was very tight for two crewmembers; it had insufficient observation field; there was not any turret ventilation which made continuous gunfire difficult; and it was hard to rotate the turret manually. At the beginning of 1933, a new 76 mm KT tank gun mod. 1927/32 with reduced (from 900 mm to 500 mm) recoil length was installed into the A-43 turret. Nevertheless, it was proved again that the turret was still a very tight place for crew members. In addition, the ammunition stowage for 54 rounds was unsuccessful. As a result, the military refused the A-43 turret.
- T-26-4: artillery tank with enlarged turret armed with the 76.2 mm KT tank gun mod. 1927/32 (some modern sources mention this tank as T-26A, A stands for artilleriysky or "artillery"). The turret was developed by the Bolshevik Factory (since February 1932—by the Design Office of the established Factory No. 174) in 1931–1932; it was installed on the T-26 mod. 1931 in November 1932. Unlike the A-43 turret, the turret by Factory No. 174 was much more convenient for the crew. The turret of the T-26-4 was quite similar to main turret of the T-28T-28The Soviet T-28 was among the world's first medium tanks. The prototype was completed in 1931 and production began in late 1932. It was an infantry-support tank intended to break through fortified defences...
medium tank.
The T-26-4 with the KT tank gun passed tests successfully and five vehicles were built in 1933-1934 as pilot batch. Initially it was planned to arm three of these T-26-4 with the 76.2 mm KT tank gun mod. 1927/32 and the other two tanks with the 76.2 mm PS-3 tank gun. The PS-3 tank gun was developed at the Experimental Engineering-Mechanical Department (OKMO) of the Factory No. 174 by engineer P. Syachentov. The PS-3 had better specifications in comparison with the series-produced KT tank gun and also had several technical innovations (foot firing switch, original training gear, travelling position fixing, binocular optical sight). The T-26-4 armed with the PS-3 tank gun was tested in October 1933 but it was found that the PS-3 was too powerful for the T-26 light tank—turret's race ring and hull roof were deformed during gun fire, and the suspension springs were damaged. It was decided to arm the T-26-4 with the 76.2 mm KT tank gun only. All five experimental T-26-4 artillery tanks were tested during military exercises near Leningrad in September 1934 before scheduled series production of 50 such vehicles in 1935. But on September 19th, 1934 an incident with a T-26-4 took place: a blow-back because of shell case destruction during gun fire. Despite the fact that this defect was unrelated to turret design, the military representatives cancelled the order to produce the T-26-4. Also the work to design turretless AT-1
T-26 variants
Main article: T-26 tankMore than 50 different modifications and experimental vehicles based on the T-26 light infantry tank chassis were developed in the USSR in the 1930s, with 23 modifications going into series production...
artillery tanks armed with the powerful 76.2 mm PS-3 tank gun started at that time. Nevertheless, the T-26-4's turret construction was the design used in the series-produced BT-7A artillery tank.
In 1939, the Armored Directorate of the Red Army (ABTU RKKA) ordered the development of a new conical turret for the T-26 similar to the BT-7's turret and to arm it with the 76.2 mm L-10 tank gun. But engineers of the Factory No. 174 felt it was impossible to implement this project because it would lead to a significant overload of T-26's chassis.
Armoured combat vehicles
A large variety of different armoured combat vehicles were developed on the T-26 chassis in the 1930s. Among them were KhT-26, KhT-130 and KhT-133 flame tanks (552, 401 and 269 vehicles were produced, respectively); T-26T artillery tractors (197 were produced); TT-26 and TU-26 radio-controlled tanks (162 radio-controlled tanks of all models were produced); ST-26 bridge-laying tanks (71 were produced); SU-5 self-propelled guns (33 were produced); experimental armoured cargo/personnel carriers, reconnaissance vehicles, and many others. Various vehicle-mounted equipment was developed for the T-26, including tank mine sweeps, inflatable pontoons and a snorkel for fording water obstacles.Foreign variants
- 7.5 сm Pak 97/38(f) auf Pz.740(r): Ten Pak 97-38 anti-tank guns with shields were experimentally mounted on captured Soviet T-26 light tank chassis, resulting in vehicles designated 7.5 сm Pak 97/38(f) auf Pz.740(r). These self-propelled guns served with the 3rd Company of the 563rd Anti-Tank Battalion before being replaced by Marder III on 1 March 1944.
Survivors
There are about 45 T-26 tanks of various models preserved in different museums and military schools (mainly Russian, Spanish and Finnish). The most notable of them are:- Twin-turreted T-26 mod. 1931 in the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic WarMuseum of the Great Patriotic War, MoscowThe Museum of the Great Patriotic War is a history museum located in Moscow at Poklonnaya Gora. The building was designed by architect Anatoly Polyansky. Work on the museum began on March 3, 1986, and the museum was opened to the public on May 9, 1995...
in MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
(Russia): this tank from the 115th Rifle Division with shell holes was raised from a river bottom on the site of river crossing at Nevsky PyatachokNevsky PyatachokNevsky Pyatachok is the name of the Neva Bridgehead 50 km east south-east of Leningrad and 15 km south of Shlisselburg. It was the site of one of the most critical and costly campaigns during the Siege of Leningrad from September 1941 until May 1943 to reopen land communications with the...
in July 1989 by Katran diving club. The vehicle was restored at the Pärnu Training Tank Regiment of the Leningrad Military DistrictLeningrad Military DistrictThe Leningrad Military District was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet to form the new Western Military District.-History:...
. It was donated to the museum in February 1998. Only two such vehicles are preserved at the present time. - Twin-turreted T-26 mod. 1931 with gun plus machine gun armament and riveted hull in the Kubinka Tank MuseumKubinka Tank MuseumThe Kubinka Tank Museum is a large museum of armoured fighting vehicles in Kubinka, just outside Moscow. It has many famous tanks from World War I, World War II and the Cold War. The museum also houses many unique vehicles, such as the Panzer VIII Maus, Troyanov super-heavy tank and a Karl-Gerät...
in Moscow OblastMoscow OblastMoscow Oblast , or Podmoskovye , is a federal subject of Russia . Its area, at , is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the 2010 population of 7,092,941, is the second most populous federal subject...
(Russia). The single surviving twin-turreted T-26 armed with the 37 mm gun. - T-26 mod. 1933 in the Central Armed Forces MuseumCentral Armed Forces MuseumThe Central Armed Forces Museum also known as the Museum of the Soviet Army, is located in northern Moscow near the Red Army Theater.-History:...
in Moscow (Russia): this late production variant was transferred from Kubinka Tank Museum in 1980s. - T-26 mod. 1933 in the Museum-Diorama "Breaching of the Blockade of the Leningrad" in Mar'ino village near KirovskKirovsk, Leningrad OblastKirovsk is a town and the administrative center of Kirovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Neva River, east of St. Petersburg. Population:...
, Leningrad Oblast (Russia): this tank with a large shell hole on the right side of the hull and without turret was raised from a river bottom at Nevsky PyatachokNevsky PyatachokNevsky Pyatachok is the name of the Neva Bridgehead 50 km east south-east of Leningrad and 15 km south of Shlisselburg. It was the site of one of the most critical and costly campaigns during the Siege of Leningrad from September 1941 until May 1943 to reopen land communications with the...
in May 2003. - T-26 mod. 1933 in the Museum of the Northwestern Front in Staraya RussaStaraya RussaStaraya Russa is a town in Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located south of Veliky Novgorod. It is a wharf on the Polist River in the Lake Ilmen basin. It serves as the administrative center of Starorussky District, although administratively it is not a part of it...
, Novgorod OblastNovgorod OblastNovgorod Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Its administrative center is the city of Veliky Novgorod. Some of the oldest Russian cities, including Veliky Novgorod and Staraya Russa, are located there...
(Russia): this tank was raised from the Lovat RiverLovat RiverThe Lovat River is a river in Belarus and Russia. It flows out of Lovatets Lake in northwestern Belarus, and flows north through Pskov and Novgorod Oblasts of Russia into Lake Ilmen. Its main tributaries are the Kunya, Polist, Redya, and Robya Rivers....
in 1981 and became a monument to Soviet tankers in Korovitchino village (Novgorod Oblast). The vehicle was given to the museum in May 2004. The tank has inauthentic tracks. - T-26 mod. 1933 in the El Goloso Baracks Museum in MadridMadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
(Spain): the tank (Spanish tactical number 135) with Nationalist Spanish markings with pressed gun mask is armed with a Hotchkiss machine gun instead of a DT tank machine gun. Produced in 1936. The anti-aircraft machine gun and the hand-rail radio antenna are late dummies. - T-26 mod. 1933 in the Parola Tank MuseumParola Tank MuseumParola Tank Museum, officially Armoured Vehicle Museum is a military museum located in Parola, near Hämeenlinna, in Finland. It displays various tanks, armoured vehicles and anti-tank guns used by the Finnish Defence Forces throughout its history. A rare exhibit is an armoured train used in...
(Finland): Finnish tactical number Ps 163-33, in drivable condition. - T-26 mod. 1933 in the Parola Tank Museum (Finland): this tank is described in many sources as early version of the T-26 mod. 1933. But in reality this is the Finnish war-time modernization (Finnish tactical number Ps 163-16) of a hull from KhT-26T-26 variantsMain article: T-26 tankMore than 50 different modifications and experimental vehicles based on the T-26 light infantry tank chassis were developed in the USSR in the 1930s, with 23 modifications going into series production...
flame-throwing tank (which can be identified by rivets for mounting of a burning mixture tank, rivets for hinges of a filling hatch on the left side and a welded drain port on the right side behind a front track bogie) with a mounted riveted turret with a small rear niche from the early BT-5 light tank. - T-26 mod. 1933 in the Parola Tank Museum (Finland): the Finnish wartime modernization (Finnish tactical number Ps 163-28) of a hull from KhT-26 flame-throwing tank with a mounted turret from the BT-7 light tank.
- T-26 mod. 1939 in the Kubinka Tank Museum, Moscow Oblast (Russia): this tank with pressed gun mask is in drivable condition (the GAZ-41 engine from the BRDM-2BRDM-2The BRDM-2 is an amphibious armoured patrol car used by Russia and the former Soviet Union. It was also known under designations BTR-40PB, BTR-40P-2 and GAZ 41-08...
was installed in 2005). The tank has combat damage taken during the Great Patriotic War (many marks from armour-piercing bullets and a welded hole on the right side of the turret from a 50 mm shell). - T-26 mod. 1939 in the Parola Tank Museum, (Finland): the Finnish war-time modernization (Finnish tactical number Ps 164-7); a hull from a KhT-133T-26 variantsMain article: T-26 tankMore than 50 different modifications and experimental vehicles based on the T-26 light infantry tank chassis were developed in the USSR in the 1930s, with 23 modifications going into series production...
flame-throwing tank with a mounted turret from the T-26 mod. 1938/1939 and a ball mount for the DT tank machine gun in a hull front armoured plate. - KhT-130 flame-throwing tank in the Kubinka Tank Museum, Moscow Oblast (Russia): in reality this is the TU-26 teletankTeletankTeletanks were a series of wireless remotely controlled unmanned robotic tanks produced in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and early 1940s. They saw their first combat use in the Winter war, at the start of World War II. A teletank is controlled by radio from a control tank at a distance of...
control vehicle with a dummy flame-thrower. - KhT-130 flame-throwing tank in the Military Unit No. 05776 in BorzyaBorzyaBorzya is a town and the administrative center of Borzinsky District of Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia. Population: -Geography:The town is located on the Borzya River, a right-hand tributary of the Onon, southeast of Chita about from the border of Mongolia to the south, and from the border of China...
, Chita OblastChita OblastChita Oblast was a federal subject of Russia in southeast Siberia, Russia. Its administrative center was the city of Chita. It had extensive international borders with China and Mongolia and internal borders with Irkutsk and Amur Oblasts, as well as with the Buryat and the Sakha Republics. Its...
(Russia): monument (since 1995) with an incomplete chassis (one track bogie is missing; tracks and driving wheels were taken from the M3 Stuart American light tank). Before 1990 the vehicle stood in the territory of one of military units of the Soviet 39th Army (located in Mongolia) of the Transbaikal Military DistrictTransbaikal Military DistrictThe Transbaikal Military District was a military district of first the Military of the Soviet Union and then the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formed on May 17, 1935 and included the Buryat Republic, Chita Oblast, and Yakutia. Chita was the headquarters of the district...
. The single preserved KhT-130 at the present time.
Published sources
Subscription index in the Rospechat Catalogue 73474.- Candil, Antonio J. (1999). "Aid Mission to the Republicans Tested Doctrine and Equipment" in Armor, March 1, 1999. Fort Knox, KY: US Army Armor Center. ISSN 0004-2420.
- Daley, Dr. John (1999). "Soviet and German Advisors Put Doctrine to the Test" in Armor, May 1, 1999. Fort Knox, KY: US Army Armor Center. ISSN 0004-2420.
- Franco, Lucas M. (2006). "El Tanque de la Guerra Civil Española" in Historia de la Iberia Vieja , No. 13. ISSN 1699-7913.
- Hughes-Wilson, John (2006). "Snow and Slaughter at Suomussalmi" in Military History, January 1, 2006. ISSN 0889-7328.
- Woodel, Rosemary C. (April 2003). Freezing in hell in Military History, Vol. 20 Issue 1. ISSN 0889-7328
- Zaloga, Steven J.Steven ZalogaSteven J. Zaloga is an American historian, defense consultant, and a well-known author on military technology. He received a bachelors degree cum laude in history from Union College and a masters degree from Columbia University....
, James Grandsen (1981). Soviet Heavy Tanks. London: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0-85045-422-0. - Zaloga, Steven J., James Grandsen (1984). Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 0-85368-606-8.
- Zaloga, Steven J. "Soviet Tank Operations in the Spanish Civil War", in Journal of Slavic Military Studies, vol 12, no 3, September 1999.
External links
- T-26: Development History and combat employment, short info about the T-26
- T-26 mod. 1931, photos of twin-turreted T-26
- T-26 mod. 1933, photos of T-26 mod. 1933
- T-26 mod. 1938/39, photos of T-26 mod. 1938 and mod. 1939
- T-26 with additional armor, photos of T-26 with appliqué armour
- Light tank T-26, combat use of the T-26 (in Russian), many photos of T-26
- Foreign tanks in Finnish service, Axis History Factbook, Axis History
- Russia's T-26 Light Tanks, www.wwiivehicles.com
- Ferris, Dave (2000–2003). "Russian/Soviet Section I (1915 to 1944) Russian/Soviet Section I (1915 to 1944)", in The Book of Tanks: A Wargamer's Portable Guide to Tanks, Self-Propelled Guns, Armoured Cars, and Personnel Carriers from World War I through the 1990s, self-published, URL accessed 2006-11-10
- T-26 tanks, T-26 tanks in museums and monuments
Video
- Tank T-26, T-26 mod. 1939 in drivable condition from the Kubinka Tank Museum, Russia (with short historical background about the armoured forces of the USSR at that time, in Russian)
- Tank T-26, T-26 mod. 1939 in drivable condition from the Kubinka Tank Museum (Russia)
- Tank T-26, replica of T-26 mod. 1933 (with a historical scene, in Russian)
- Tank T-26, T-26 mod. 1939 in drivable condition from the Parola Tank Museum (Finland)
- Tank T-26, T-26 mod. 1939 in drivable condition from the Parola Tank Museum (Finland)