Operator’s Handbook
The most widely produced light tank of the 1930s fought in the Spanish Civil War, Sino-Japanese War, the Winter War and on WWII’s Eastern Front
By the dawn of the 1930s, the Soviet Union’s tank force was so out of date that the communists had to look overseas for ideas. The result was an order for 15 British Vickers 6t Model A light tanks. The first deliveries were made in the autumn of 1930, with the rest in 1931-32, by which point the Bolshevik Factory, Leningrad, had its own version ready to roll. The new tank, called the T-26 and identified by the year design improvements were authorised, started with Model 1931 and Model 1932.
These featured twin turrets, just like the British tank, but had an observation slit and a firing port for a 0.3in (7.62mm) DT machine gun in the 1931 version, replaced by a 1.5in (37mm) main gun in 1932. The engine was originally a poor copy of the Armstrong Siddeley engine in the British tank but did improve from 1934.
It was the Model 1933 version that, after an initial production run of twin-turreted tanks, changed to the more modern, single-turret design, armed with the new 1.8in (45mm) tank gun Model 1932.
From there the T-26 saw regular updates to equipment, armour and the engine. It was sent to fight in the Spanish Civil War, destroyed the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol in 1939 and was used to invade Finland in the Winter War. However, when the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa, it was hopelessly outgunned by the Panzer III and IV. The remaining T-26s were relegated to defensive duties around Leningrad and Moscow, but it had a final hurrah in 1945 when comprising 25 percent of the tank force used to crush the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria.
ARMAMENT
The Model 1931 and Model 1932 tanks had the same twin-turrets as the Vickers design, but used a 0.3in (7.62mm) DT machine gun in one turret and an obser vation slit in the other. The T-26TU Model 1931 was a command tank and this used a 1.5in (37mm) gun instead. The first half of 1933 saw 576 twin-turret tanks built before production switched to single turrets and a deadly 1.8in (45mm) tank gun Model 1932. In 1936 an additional 0.3in (7.62mm) DT machine gun was added at the rear of the turret and a P-40 mounting was used to house a machine gun for anti-aircraft use. A TOP-1, vertically stabilised, telescopic gun sight was introduced with Model 1937.
