T-26

The T-26 tank was a Soviet light infantry tank used during many wars of the 1930s as well as during World War II. It was an improved version of the British Vickers 6-Ton tank. It was one of the best and last tank designs of the 1920s. The tank started to have problems when new anti-tank guns were invented. The tank had thin armor which the new guns could fire holes in.^[3]

T-26
T-26 mod. 1933 at Kirovsk, Leningrad Oblast
Type	Light infantry tank
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1931–1945 in USSR 1936–1953 in Spain 1940–1961 in Finland
Wars	Spanish Civil War Second Sino-Japanese War Soviet–Japanese Border Wars World War II Soviet invasion of Poland Winter War Eastern Front (World War II) Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran Soviet invasion of Manchuria Chinese Civil War
Production history
Designer	Vickers-Armstrongs, OKMO of Bolshevik Plant in Leningrad
Designed	1928–1931
Manufacturer	Factory No. 174 named after K.E. Voroshilov in Leningrad, Stalingrad Tractor Factory
Produced	1931–41
No. built	10,300 tanks and 1,701 other vehicles[1]
Specifications (T-26 mod. 1933[2])
Mass	9.6 tonnes (10.6 short tons)
Length	4.65 m (15 ft 3 in)
Width	2.44 m (8 ft)
Height	2.24 m (7 ft 4 in)
Crew	3 (commander, gunner, driver)
Armour	Bottom: 6 mm (0.24 in) Roof: 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in) Hull and Turret: 15 mm (0.59 in) (front, rear, sides)
Main armament	45 mm 20K mod. 1932/34 tank gun (122 rds.)
Secondary armament	7.62 mm DT tank machine gun (2,961 rds.)
Engine	4-cylinder gasoline flat air-cooled T-26 (Armstrong Siddeley type); engine volume 6,600 cc 90 hp (67 kW) at 2,100 rpm
Power/weight	9.38 hp/t
Transmission	single-disk main dry clutch, drive shaft, gearbox with five gears, steering clutches, final drives
Suspension	leaf quarter-elliptic springs
Ground clearance	380 mm (1 ft 3 in)
Fuel capacity	290 L (64 imp gal; 77 U.S. gal) [with additional 110-L fuel tank]
Operational range	Road: 220–240 km (140–150 mi) Off-road: 130–140 km (81–87 mi)
Maximum speed	Paved: 31.1 km/h (19.3 mph) Gravel: 22 km/h (14 mph) Off-road: 16 km/h (9.9 mph)

More T-26s were produced than any other tank of the period. More than 11,000 were manufactured.^[4] During the 1930s, the USSR made 53 different types of T-26.^[5]

The T-26 together with the BT was the main tank of the Red Army in the 1930s. Even though it was no longer good enough to be used in battles at the beginning of World War II, the T-26 was the most important tank of the Spanish Civil War. It was also used during the Battle of Lake Khasan in 1938 and in the Winter War in 1939–40. The Red Army mostly had T-26s during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.^[6] The T-26 was used against the Germans in the Battle of Moscow in winter 1941/1942, the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of the Caucasus in 1942–1943. Some tank units of the Leningrad Front used their T-26s until 1944. The Soviet T-26 light tanks were last used in August 1945, during the defeat of the Japanese in Manchuria.^[7]

The T-26 was sold to Spain, China and Turkey. In addition, captured T-26 light tanks were used by the Finnish, German, Romanian and Hungarian armies.^[8]

The T-26 was reliable and simple to maintain Its design was improved between 1931 and 1941. However, no new models of the T-26 were made after 1940.