Combat history of the T - 26 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 . The T - 26 was the most numerous tank in the Red Army ' s armoured force during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 . The Soviet T - 26 light tanks last saw use in August 1945 , in Manchuria . 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 . Prewar years . The first unit equipped with the T - 26 was the 1st Mechanized Brigade named after K . B . Kalinovsky ( the Moscow Military District ) . Tanks delivered to the Red Army through the end of 1931 were unarmed and intended for training , and the T - 26 entered active service in 1932 only . The first series - produced T - 26 tanks were showed to the public during the military parade on Red Square in Moscow on November 7 , 1931 . New mechanized brigades , each equipped with 178 T - 26 tanks , were also organized at that time . The RKKA Staff decided to form larger tank units based on experience gained in military exercises of 1931 - 1932 : so mechanized corps were created in the Moscow Military District , the Ukrainian Military District and the Leningrad Military District in autumn 1932 . Each mechanized corps consisted of two mechanized brigades ( one equipped with the T - 26 and another - with the BT ) . From 1935 , mechanized corps were only equipped with BT tanks . When series production of the T - 26 mod . 1933 started , each tank platoon consisted of three vehicles ( one single - turreted mod . 1933 and two twin - turreted mod . 1931 tanks ) . Later , the majority of twin - turreted T - 26 tanks were given to combat training depots and to tank battalions of rifle divisions ( in the beginning of 1935 tank battalion of rifle division consisted of 3 companies , 15 T - 26 tanks in each ) . In August 1938 mechanized corps , brigades and regiments were reorganized into corresponding tank units . In the end of 1938 the Red Army had 17 light tank brigades ( 267 T - 26 tanks in each ) and 3 chemical tank brigades ( equipped with flame - throwing tanks based on the T - 26 chassis ) . Spanish Civil War . The Spanish Civil War was the first conflict in which the T - 26 participated . At the request of the Spanish Republican government , the Soviet government sold weapons and military equipment to Spain and provided military advisers ( including tankers ) within the framework of Operation " X " . The first shipment of tanks to Spanish republicans was delivered on 13 October 1936 , at the Spanish port city of Cartagena ; fifty T - 26s with spare parts , ammunition , fuel , and around 80 volunteers under the command of colonel S . Krivoshein , the commander of the 8th Separate Mechanized Brigade . The first German delivery of armoured vehicles to Franco ' s insurgent Nationalist forces was of ( Panzer I light tanks for the Condor Legion ) , which arrived only a week later . The Italians had begun to provide Nationalists with CV - 33 tankettes even earlier , in August 1936 . Republican and Nationalist tanks saw their first combat during the advance of Franco ' s forces towards Madrid , and during the Siege of Madrid , where the Nationalist Panzer I and CV - 33 tankettes suffered heavy losses from Republican tanks armed with 45 mm gun . The first Soviet T - 26 tanks delivered to Cartagena were intended for Republican tankers training in the Archena training center ( 90 km from Cartagena ) , but the situation around Madrid became complicated and fifteen tanks formed a tank company under the command of Soviet captain Paul Arman . Arman ' s company engaged in battle on 29 October 1936 near Seseña , 30 km south - west of Madrid . Twelve T - 26s advanced 35 km during the ten - hour raid and inflicted significant losses to Francoists ( around two squadrons of Moroccan cavalry and two infantry battalions were defeated ; twelve 75 mm field guns , four CV - 33 tankettes and twenty to thirty trucks with cargo were destroyed or damaged ) with the loss of 3 T - 26 tanks to gasoline bombs and artillery fire . The first known instance of ramming in tank warfare was made that day when the T - 26 tank of platoon commander Lt . Semyon Osadchy encountered two Italian CV - 33 tankettes from the Nationalist 1st Tank Company near Esquivias village and overturned one of them into a small gorge . Crewmembers of another tankette were killed by tank machine - gun fire after they abandoned their vehicle . The T - 26 of captain Arman was burned by a gasoline bomb ; although wounded , Arman continued to lead the tank company . Arman ' s T - 26 destroyed one , and damaged two CV - 33 tankettes by tank gun fire . On December 31 , 1936 captain P . Arman was awarded with the Hero of the Soviet Union for that tank raid and active participation in the defense of Madrid . On November 17 , 1936 , Arman ' s company had five T - 26 tanks in operable condition . The day before ( 28 October 1936 ) Francoist cavalry and Panzer I A tanks from the 88th Tank Battalion met with Republican T - 26 tanks . The Pz . IA proved to have insufficient armament when pitted against the T - 26 . The Krivoshein ' s tank group , consisting of 23 T - 26 tanks and 9 armoured cars , attacked Francoists on 1 November 1936 , supporting the main Republican column retreating to Madrid . The Krivoshein ' s tank group took part in the fighting for Torrejón de Velasco and Valdemoro on 4 – 5 November 1936 , a counter - attack in the suburb of Cerro de los Ángeles on 13 November 1936 , and in continuous fighting inside Madrid itself through the middle of December 1936 . Soviet military personnel of Krivoshein ' s group returned to the USSR in the end of November 1936 , except for some tankers from Pogodin ' s company , mechanics from Alcalá de Henares tank repair base and military instructors from the Archena training center . The 1st Republican Tank Brigade initially consisted of a tank battalion , a Spanish motorcycle company and a transport battalion . It was created in December 1936 on the delivery of about 100 Soviet tanks and military personnel under the command of Soviet brigade commander D . Pavlov at the Archena training center . The Soviet volunteer tank commanders and drivers sent to Spain were from the best tank units of the Red Army : the Mechanized Brigade named after V . Volodarsky from Peterhof , the 4th Separate Mechanized Brigade from Babruysk ( commander - D . Pavlov ) , and the 1st Mechanized Corps named after K . B . Kalinovsky from Naro - Fominsk . The tank gunners were usually Spanish . The 1st Republican Tank Brigade ( " 1 . Brigada Blindada " ) first saw action near Las Rosas and Majadahonda ( north - west of Madrid ) in the beginning of January 1937 , supporting the 12th and 14th International Brigades . This action broke up the second Nationalist assault on Madrid . There were around 70 T - 26s in the Republican Army in the beginning of 1937 . In February 1937 , company - sized detachments of the Tank Brigade participated in the Battle of Jarama . On 14 February 1937 the Tank Brigade , together with the 24th Infantry Brigade , took part in a counterattack and overcame a major Nationalist force , causing about 1000 Nationalist casualties . On 27 February 1937 , the Tank Brigade launched five attacks on Nationalist positions without infantry support , but took heavy losses from anti - tank guns ( 35 to 40 percent of its tanks in some attacks ) . Nevertheless , the T - 26 was used with great success during the Battle of Guadalajara in March 1937 after the 1st Tank Brigade was finally formed ( its HQ was in Alcalá de Henares ) . For example , a platoon of two T - 26 tanks under the command of Spaniard , E . Ferrera destroyed or damaged twenty - five Italian tankettes on 10 March 1937 . In September / October 1937 the Republican 1st Tank Brigade was disbanded . Some volunteers returned to the USSR , while others joined with the International Tank Regiment under the command of Soviet major S . A . Kondratiev . From autumn 1937 , all T - 26 tank crews were Spanish . In summer 1938 , the Republican Army had two armoured divisions , formed with Soviet help . Turrets from irreparable T - 26 and BT - 5 tanks and from BA - 6 armoured cars were mounted on Chevrolet 1937s and other armoured cars developed and produced by the Republicans . It should be noted that Republican armour and infantry often suffered from cooperation problems throughout the war . T - 26 tanks often attacked enemy trenches or defense positions in the narrow streets of Spanish towns without support , where they met strong resistance . Nationalist infantry , the Moroccans especially , defended courageously despite heavy casualties , throwing hand grenades and gasoline bombs , which are dangerous to tank engines . Ultimately , the Soviet Union provided a total of 281 T - 26 mod . 1933 tanks , which were used by the Republicans in almost all the battles of the Spanish Civil War . Many sources state that a total of 297 T - 26s were delivered to Spain but this probably includes the first planned delivery of 15 T - 26s on 26 September 1936 . Approximately 40 percent of T - 26s fell into Nationalist hands by the end of the war , mostly after the defeat of the Republicans . In March 1937 , a tank company of captured T - 26 tanks was included into Panzergruppe " Drohne " , a tank unit of the German Condor Legion in Spain . The Nationalists prized the Soviet tanks , even offering a bounty of 500 pesetas for each tank captured intact . In August 1937 , a reorganization of the " Drohne " Group into Spanish control started , which resulted in the formation of " Bandera de Carros de Combate de la Legion " , a part of the Spanish Foreign Legion , in March 1938 . The " Bandera " consisted of two battalions ( " 1 . " and " 2 . Agrupacione de Carros " ) . One was equipped with Panzer I tanks and the second with captured T - 26 tanks . Approaching 1939 , both battalions had similar organization , their third companies equipped with T - 26 tanks . The Nationalists used captured T - 26 tanks in the Battle of Teruel , Battle of Brunete , Battle of Bilbao , Battle of the Ebro and the Catalonia Offensive . The Nationalists developed their own light tank prototype ( Verdeja ) during the war , with the wide use of elements from Panzer I , and especially the T - 26 . Later , T - 26s formed the base of the Spanish " Brunete " Armoured Division , serving until 1953 . The T - 26 was the most widely used tank of the Spanish Civil War in both armies . It was referred to as " the tank of the Spanish Civil War " in the title of one of Lucas Molina Franco ' s articles . " Out - gunned , out - manoeuvred , and hard - pressed , the Spanish had no effective answer to the tank " , sparking several interesting developments within the context of tank design and anti - tank tactics . This was especially true regarding the T - 26 , given that there was no other tank in the field able to knock it out . Despite the T - 26 ' s superiority over the German Panzer I light tanks and Italian CV - 33 tankettes ( armed only with machine guns ) , the Spanish Civil War uncovered a vulnerability of the T - 26 : weak armour . Even the frontal armour of the T - 26 was easily penetrated by German and Italian anti - tank guns . Not all Soviet military commanders recognized the T - 26 light infantry tank ' s obsolescence in the mid - 1930s . Work to design tanks with antiprojectile armour was slow in the USSR at that time . Soviet - Japanese border wars 1938 - 1939 . 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 Soviet tank force consisted of the 2nd Mechanized Brigade and two separate tank battalions ( the 32nd and the 40th ) . These included 257 T - 26 tanks ( with 10 KhT - 26 flame - throwing tanks ) , 3 ST - 26 bridge - laying tanks , 81 BT - 7 light tanks , and 13 SU - 5 - 2 self - propelled guns . The 2nd Mechanized Brigade had new command staff as 99 % of its previous command staff ( including brigade commander A . P . Panfilov ) were arrested as " enemies of the nation " three days before marching off . That had an adverse effect on brigade actions during the conflict ( for example , its tanks spent 11 hours to finish 45 - km march because of ignorance of the route ) . During the assault of the Japanese - held Bezymyannaya and Zaozernaya bald mountains , Soviet tanks met with a well organized antitank defense . As a result , 76 T - 26 tanks were damaged and 9 burnt . After the end of combat operations , 39 of these tanks were restored in tank units and others were repaired in workshop conditions . There were only 33 T - 26s , 18 KhT - 26 flame - throwing tanks and 6 T - 26T artillery tractors in tank units of the 57th Special Corps on 1 February 1939 . For comparison , the corps had 219 BT tanks . The situation with the T - 26 remained as before in July 1939 : the 1st Army Group , which participated in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in Mongolia , had only 14 T - 26s ( in the 82nd Rifle Division ) and 10 KhT - 26 flame - throwing tanks ( in the 11th Tank Brigade ) . The amount of T - 26 tanks ( flame - throwing variants mainly ) increased somewhat in time for combat actions in August , but they always remained a small fraction of all tanks that participated in the conflict . Nevertheless , the T - 26s were used extensively in action . The T - 26 proved to be a very good tank during the Battle of Khalkhin Gol according to army reports : its cross - country capability in desert conditions was excellent and , despite thin armour ( which was easily penetrated by Japanese 37 mm guns ) , the T - 26 exhibited high survivability . Some T - 26 tanks continued to fight after several 37 mm hits and did not catch fire , as happened more frequently with BT tanks . Second World War . Soviet invasion of Poland . On the eve of World War II , the Red Army had around 8 , 500 T - 26s of all variants . These served mainly in 17 separate light tank brigades ( each brigade had 256 – 267 T - 26s in four battalions , including 10 – 11 flame - throwing tanks ) and in 80 separate tank battalions of some rifle divisions ( each battalion had 10 - 15 T - 26 light tanks in the first company and 22 T - 37 / T - 38 amphibious tanks in the second one ) . Such types of tank units participated in the Soviet invasion of Poland ( or , as it is called in Russian historiography , " the liberation march " to West Ukraine and West Belarus ) , sixteen days after the beginning of the German Invasion of Poland ( 1939 ) . On 17 September 1939 , 878 T - 26 tanks of the Belorussian Front ( the 22nd , the 25th , the 29th and the 32nd Tank Brigades ) and 797 T - 26 tanks of the Ukrainian Front ( the 26th , the 36th and the 38th Tank Brigades ) crossed the Polish border . Combat losses in Poland amounted to 15 T - 26 tanks only . However , 302 T - 26s suffered technical failures on the march . The Winter War . The following tank units , equipped mainly with the T - 26 , participated in the war with Finland : the 35th , the 39th and the 40th Light Tank Brigades , eight separate tank battalions ( OTBs ) of rifle divisions of the 8th and the 14th Armies . In the course of the war , the 29th Light Tank Brigade , tank units of the 28th Rifle Corps ( four tank regiments , a dozen OTBs of rifle divisions , six separate tank companies of rifle regiments ) , and five OTBs included into the 9th Army arrived to the front . Light tank brigades in the Winter War were equipped a variety of T - 26 tanks , including both twin - and single - turreted tanks produced from 1931 to 1939 . Separate tank battalions of rifle divisions had old tanks mainly , produced in 1931 - 1936 . But some tank units were equipped with new T - 26 mod . 1939 tanks . A total of 848 T - 26s were in tank units of the Leningrad Military District by the beginning of the war . Together with the BT and T - 28 , the T - 26 was part of the main strike force during the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line , in which tanks shelled antitank teeth , Finnish pillboxes , machine - gun nests , and other fortifications . The war experience forced change in the structure of Soviet tank units . T - 37 and T - 38 amphibious tanks proved to be useless under the conditions found in the northern theatre of operations . In accordance to the letter order of the General Military Council of the RKKA from 1 January 1940 , each rifle division should have a tank battalion consisting of 54 T - 26 tanks ( including 15 flame - throwing tanks ) and a rifle regiment should have a tank company of 17 T - 26s . The organization of seven tank regiments ( 164 T - 26s in each ) for motor rifle and light motorized divisions began at that time also , but only two light motorized ( motor cavalry ) divisions were formed - the 24th and the 25th . Old , twin - turreted T - 26 tanks were also used during the Winter War , mainly in OTBs of rifle divisions . These tanks did not participate in active combat operations but were suitable for protecting communication lines and used in signal service . Nevertheless , some T - 26 mod . 1931 tanks were used in combat on the Karelian Isthmus . For instance , the 377th OTB of the 97th Rifle Division arrived at the front on 28 January 1940 with 31 T - 26s ( including 11 twin - turreted ) and 6 KhT - 26 flame - throwing tanks . Among tank units , equipped with the T - 26 , the actions of the 35th Light Tank Brigade ( commander - colonel V . N . Kashuba , from January 1940 - colonel F . G . Anikushkin ) were the most noteworthy . The brigade had 136 T - 26 tanks of different models , 10 KhT - 26 flame - throwing tanks and 3 ST - 26 engineer tanks on 30 November 1939 . In the beginning , the brigade was involved into combat for Kiviniemi and later it was redeployed to Hottinen area where its tanks , suffering high losses and shortage of repair facilities , supported the attacks of the 123rd and the 138th Rifle Divisions till the end of December . On 17 December 1939 , colonel V . N . Kashuba was heavily wounded while raised infantrymen hitting the dirt during the attack of Finnish defense line . In January tankers of the 35th Brigade evacuated and repaired their T - 26s , practised in cooperation with artillery , engineer and rifle units ( the last ones often retreated under enemy fire and left tanks alone ) , manufactured wooden fascine s for trench crossing which were placed in special towed sleds . By the breakthrough of the main defensive positions of the Mannerheim Line , battalions of the brigade were attached to the 100th , the 113rd and the 123rd Rifle Divisions . On 26 February 1940 , six Finnish Vickers 6 - Ton tanks ( armed with 37 mm 37 psvk 36 gun ) from the 4th Tank Company ( 4 . / Pans . P ) suddenly met with three T - 26 mod . 1933 tanks from the 35th Light Tank Brigade ( these were tanks of the 112th Battalion ' s company commanders going on the reconnaissance ) and vanguard of Soviet rifle battalion near Honkaniemi . As the result of the combat , one Finnish tank was damaged by hand grenades and evacuated by the Finns soon whereas five others were knocked out by T - 26s , which suffered no losses in actual fact ( the Finns claimed that three from dozens of Soviet tanks were hit in combat ) . The T - 26 of captain V . S . Arkhipov knocked out three Vickers tanks from these five , and was lightly damaged in combat ( Finnish shell from Vickers No . 667 hit the main fuel tank but Soviet tank driver switched to the small fuel tank ) The 8th Army , which fought north of Lake Ladoga , had 125 T - 26s in separate tank battalions ( OTBs ) of rifle divisions on 30 November 1939 . Tank platoons suffered significant losses because of poor infantry reconnaissance of Finnish positions and ambushes , and absence of engineer support . For instance , on December 19 , 1939 six T - 26s with 50 infantrymen from the 75th Rifle Division were sent to attack the Finns , the tanks fell into a Finnish ambush on the road and were destroyed . The situation with arms cooperation became somewhat better toward the end of the war , nevertheless . But if the actions were planned well , tank attacks were often successful - for instance , the platoon of the 111th OTB broke through enemy defense and rescued the encircled infantry battalion without losses on 9 December 1939 . The combat losses of the 8th Army included 65 T - 26s during the war ( 56 tanks were lost to artillery fire and 9 - to landmines ) . The 9th Army ( Repola , Kandalaksha and Suomussalmi area ) received tank units , equipped with T - 26s , in the course of the war only - for example , the 100th and the 97th OTBs had 47 T - 26s each ( including twin - turreted T - 26 mod . 1931 armed with the 37 mm Hotchkiss gun for which there were no ammunition ) , the 302nd OTB was equipped with 7 twin - turreted T - 26s . Despite of unexperienced personnel and worn T - 26s of old models tank battalions of the 9th Army fought very well . Thus , two tanks from the 100th OTB broke into Mjärkjärvi , pursuing retreating Finns , on 11 December 1939 . The tank company from the 100th OTB together with infantry group crushed the Finnish ambush near Kuokojärvi on 8 December 1939 , encircled and captured the town next day . The platoon from the 97th OTB destroyed Finnish firing - points between Alasenjärvi and Saunojärvi lakes , which helped Soviet rifle regiment to enter the last one . The favourable experience of the 100th OTB which successfully performed independent missions cross - country was not taken into consideration , and many Soviet commanders believed till the end of the war that tanks could be used along the roads only . Poor reconnaissance and absence of artillery preparation often resulted in tragic circumstances - in such a way , the platoon of the 100th OTB lost five tanks to single Finnish anti - tank gun near Kursu ( Lapland ) on 14 December 1939 , battalion executive officer was among 9 men killed in action . The combat losses of the 9th Army were 30 T - 26s during the war . In the polar Murmansk region , the 14th Army had the 411th OTB , equipped with 15 T - 26 and 15 T - 38 tanks from the Belorussian Military District , and the 349th OTB , equipped with 12 T - 26 and 19 T - 37 / T - 38 tanks from the Training Regiment of the Leningrad Armour Technical School . The narrow terrain only allowed the use of two or three T - 26 tanks in co - operation with a rifle company or battalion . Tanks of 411th OTB attached to the 52nd Rifle Division were used the most actively . The 349th OTB concentrated in Petsamo on 13 December 1940 where it joined the 104th Rifle Division . The 14th Army lost three tanks to artillery fire , two to landmines , and two drowned . At the Battle of Tolvajärvi and afterwards , the Finnish managed to capture or destroy nearly 12 T - 26 tanks during the defeat of the 75th Rifle division . At the battles of Suomussalmi and Raate , the Soviet 44th Rifle Division was encircled and lost all armour of its 312th OTB , including 14 T - 26s . Altogether , the Finns would capture almost 70 T - 26 tanks of different models , including KhT - 26 and KhT - 130 flame - throwing tanks , during the Winter War , a number equal to the entire pre - war Finnish armoured force . The combat and technical losses of the 7th Army in action on the Karelian Isthmus from 30 November 1939 to 13 March 1940 were 930 T - 26 tanks of all variants , with 463 of these repaired during the war . All told , losses of T - 26 tanks exceeded the number in inventory at the beginning of the war , but the number of T - 26s at the front did not decrease due to reinforcements received from factory and tank workshops and new tank units arriving at the front . There were 1 , 331 T - 26 , BT and T - 28 tanks at the Northwest Front in the beginning of February 1940 , which increased to 1 , 740 tanks on 28 February 1940 when the breakthrough of the second Finnish line of defense began . For example , the 29th Light Tank Brigade ( commander - brigade commander S . Krivoshein ) with 256 T - 26s was redeployed from Brest to the Karelian Isthmus in February 1940 . The brigade played a key role in the assault of Vyborg on 12 – 13 March 1940 . In the end , the Winter War proved that the T - 26 was obsolete and its design reserve was totally depleted . Finnish anti - tank guns easily penetrated T - 26 ' s thin antibullet armour , and its cross - country ability in the rough terrain , covered with deep snow , was mediocre because of low - powered engine . It was decided to withdraw the outdated T - 26 from production in 1940 and replace it with a completely new model , the T - 50 light tank . The German - Soviet War . The T - 26 formed the backbone of the Red Army ' s armoured forces during the first months of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 . On June 1 , the Red Army had 10 , 268 T - 26 tanks of all models , including armoured combat vehicles based on the T - 26 chassis . The T - 26 made up 39 . 5 percent of the tank strength , by number . T - 26s composed a majority of fighting vehicles in Soviet mechanized corps of border military districts . For example , the Western Special Military District had 1 , 136 T - 26 tanks on June 22 , 1941 ( 52 % of all tanks in the district ) . Mechanized corps of the Southwestern Front ( formed from units of Odessa Special Military District and some units of Kiev Special Military District after the beginning of the war ) were equipped with 1 , 316 T - 26 tanks , making up 35 % of all tanks on the front . All in all there were 4 , 875 T - 26 tanks in western military districts on June 1 , 1941 . However , some T - 26 tanks were not operationally ready because of shortages of parts like batteries , tracks , and road wheels . Such shortages left around 30 % of available T - 26 tanks disabled . Additionally , about 30 % of the available T - 26 tanks had been produced in 1931 - 1934 and had limited service life . Thus five Soviet western military districts had about 3 , 100 – 3 , 200 T - 26s of all models in good order ( approximately 40 % of all tanks in the districts in question ) , which was only slightly less than the number of German tanks intended for invasion of the USSR . The planned replacement for the T - 26 was the T - 50 light tank , adopted for the Red Army in February 1941 . The sophisticated T - 50 was developed keeping in mind the experience gained in the Winter War and Soviet tests of the German Panzer III tank . However , the new and complicated T - 50 and its diesel engine encountered production problems and the new tank had not entered series production before the German - Soviet War . The majority of the Red Army ' s T - 26 tanks in European military districts were lost in the first months of the German - Soviet War , mainly to enemy artillery and air strikes . In addition , the limited availability of recovery vehicles and spare parts meant that broken down tanks and other non - combat losses often could not be repaired . Tanks with even insignificant technical failures had to be blown up or burned by their crews upon retreat . The 12th Mechanized Corps , deployed in Baltic Special Military District , had 449 T - 26 tanks , 2 flame - throwing tanks and 4 T - 26T artillery tractors on June 22 , 1941 . The corps lost 201 T - 26 tanks and all flame - throwing tanks and artillery tractors by July 7 , 1941 . A further 186 T - 26 tanks were lost to technical failures . However , many T - 26 crews did their best to combat the enemy ' s advance . For example , a composite battalion of the 55th Tank Division ( made up of 18 single - turreted T - 26 tanks and 18 twin - turreted T - 26 tanks ) supported the retreating 117th Infantry Division near Zhlobin . Single - turreted T - 26 tanks destroyed 17 German tanks . Nine tanks of the battalion crossed the Dnieper River but eleven remained in enemy territory after the bridge was destroyed , with the remainder having been lost in combat . The T - 26 light tank was inferior to the German Panzer III and Panzer IV medium tanks in gun calibre , speed , manoeuvrability , armour but the T - 26 ' s armament was superior in comparison with the Panzer I , Panzer II , Panzer 35 ( t ) and Panzer 38 ( t ) , which formed about 50 % of the German panzer forces in June 1941 . The Soviet 45 mm 20K tank gun could also penetrate the armour of Panzer III and Panzer IV at combat distances . The main reasons for the high loss rate of Soviet light tanks in June – July 1941 were the low production quality of 45 mm armour - piercing shells ( which were themselves in short supply in tank units ) , the insufficient power of 45 mm 20K tank guns produced in 1932 - 1934 , and poor coordination between different units of the Red Army . German air superiority and frequent technical problems with older tanks also plagued Soviet forces . Despite high losses , T - 26 tanks still formed a significant part of the Red Army ' s armoured forces in autumn 1941 ( many tanks arrived from inner military districts - Central Asia , Ural , Siberia , partially from the Far East ) . Tank units of the Western Front were equipped with 298 T - 26 tanks on October 1 , 1941 , equivalent to 62 % of total tank forces . However , many old T - 26 tanks received by tank brigades from repair workshops were in poor technical condition and as the result there were only 50 T - 26 tanks ( 14 of them under repair ) available during the German advance in the Battle of Moscow . T - 26 tanks participated in the Liberation of Rostov in December 1941 also . T - 26 tanks participated in combat at the Leningrad Front in 1941 . For example , the 86th Separate Tank Battalion , equipped with the T - 26 , supported attacks of Soviet infantry from Kolpino towards Krasny Bor and Tosno on December 20 – 26 , 1941 . One case of T - 26 ' s use there is well - documented : during six days of continuous attacks and counterattacks , platoon commander junior lieutenant M . I . Yakovlev ' s T - 26 destroyed two pillboxes , three anti - tank guns , four machine - gun nests , three mortars and an ammunition depot in Krasny Bor , in addition to killing about 200 enemy soldiers . Yakovlev ’ s T - 26 was penetrated by nine shells , but was never taken out of action . Lt . Yakovlev received Hero of the Soviet Union award . T - 26 tanks continued to be used in combat throughout the Soviet - German front from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea ( Battle of the Crimea ) in 1942 , but in lesser numbers than in 1941 . During the Second Battle of Kharkov some tank units of the 22nd Tank Corps of the Southwestern Front were equipped with the T - 26 ( for example , the 13th Tank Brigade had six T - 26 tanks on May 9 , 1942 ) . On May 13 , 1942 , German forces counterattacked the flank of the Soviet 38th Army , then on the offensive . Every available tank unit engaged the German battle group consisted from about 130 tanks of the 3rd and the 23rd Panzer Divisions . Three Soviet tank brigades lost all of their tanks , but inflicted heavy losses on the enemy . The last major operations of the German - Soviet War which involved substantial numbers of T - 26 tanks were the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of the Caucasus in 1942 . Though the T - 26 saw no active action on the Soviet - German front in 1943 , the T - 26 still equipped some rearward units . Thus T - 26 tanks of the 151st Tank Brigade ( the 45th Army , Transcaucasian Front ) , equipped with 24 T - 26s and 19 British Mk VII Tetrarch light tanks , guarded the Soviet - Iranian border . This tank brigade was redeployed to Tuapse ( 47th Army ) in January 1943 . Some tank units of the Leningrad Front used their T - 26 tanks till the beginning of 1944 when the breaking of Leningrade Blockade began ( for example , the 1st and the 220th Tank Brigades each had 32 T - 26 tanks on January 1 , 1944 ) . T - 26s with applique armour were used there till summer 1944 . In Karelia and Murmansk area ( another stabilized part of the Soviet - German front ) T - 26s served even longer , until the summer of 1944 , too Anglo - Soviet invasion of Iran . T - 26 tanks from the 6th and the 54th Tank Divisions of the 28th Mechanized Corps ( which had 717 T - 26 and BT light tanks on May 1 , 1941 ) participated in Anglo - Soviet invasion of Iran in August – September 1941 . Soviet - Japanese War 1945 . The Soviet invasion of Manchuria ( 1945 ) was the last military operation in which Soviet T - 26 was used . The Red Army had 1 , 461 T - 26s in the far east on 5 August 1945 ( 1 , 272 of these were in operable condition ) . There were many old tanks ( mainly T - 26 and BT - 7 tanks ) in far eastern separate tank brigades ; these had remained on the Manchurian border during the entire German - Soviet War . To increase the combat effectiveness of these tank units , 670 new T - 34 - 85 tanks were issued to one battalion of each brigade in summer 1945 , leaving the other two battalions with their T - 26 or BT - 7 light tanks as before . For example , the 1st Far Eastern Front had 11 separate tank brigades ( 80 - 85 tanks in each , half T - 26 or BT ) at that time . There were some number of T - 26s in 2 tank divisions and 5 tank brigades of the Transbaikal Front . Such tank units participated in the defeat of the Japanese Kwantung Army in August 1945 . T - 26s often demonstrated better cross - country ability in the far eastern theater of operation than much heavier T - 34 - 85 and Lend - Lease M4 Sherman medium tanks . Also , the T - 26 ' s performance was still sufficient to fight against Japanese armoured vehicles . T - 26 tanks participated in the victory over Japan parade in Harbin in September 1945 . Outside the Red Army . After the end of the Spanish Civil War and the capture of Spanish Republican military equipment including T - 26s , Franco ' s Spain received some additional T - 26s from France which had been taken from retreating Republican forces and interned in French warehouses . In 1942 , the Spanish Army had 139 T - 26 mod . 1933 light tanks in service . After the end of World War II , Spain had at least 116 T - 26s , mainly in the " Brunete " Armoured Division . The T - 26 tanks would not be replaced until 1953 , when Spain and the United States signed an agreement for open shipments of new military materiel to Spain . The first twelve M47 Patton tanks , dedicated to replace the old T - 26 tanks , arrived at Cartagena in February 1954 . The Finns captured and evacuated nearly 70 T - 26 tanks of different models ( including KhT - 26 and KhT - 130 flame - throwing tanks ) during the Winter War . Of these , 10 T - 26 mod . 1931 , 20 T - 26 mod . 1933 , 2 T - 26 mod . 1938 / 1939 , 2 KhT - 26 and 4 KhT - 130 were repaired at the Varkaus Tank Workshop and put into service until June 1941 . The Finns also rearmed their Vickers 6 - Ton tanks with the Soviet 45 mm 20K gun and the coaxial DT tank machine gun for ammunition standartization with captured T - 26s . These modified Vickers tanks under designator T - 26E were used by the Finnish Army during the Continuation War for infantry support . During the offensive phase of the Continuation War in summer and autumn of 1941 , the Finns captured more than 100 T - 26s of different models ( including several tanks with applique armour ) . Of these , 35 were fully repaired and sent to the Armoured Battalion , 21 were stored for later refurbishment , and the remainder were scrapped . There were 102 T - 26s in the Finnish Army on 1 January 1942 ( twin - turreted and flame - throwing tanks were used as training vehicles ) . The Armoured Battalion was reorganized into the Armoured Brigade ( consisting of two battalions ) on 10 February 1942 . The Finns modernized their T - 26s in 1942 - 1943 . Eight T - 26 mod . 1931 tanks received turrets from the single - turreted T - 26 or BT tanks . Additionally , turrets from irreparable T - 26s or BTs of different models were mounted on KhT - 26s , KhT - 130s and KhT - 133s , which had flame - throwing equipment removed . A ball mount for the DT tank machine gun was installed on some of these tanks in the front armoured plate of the underturret box . In addition , some Finnish T - 26s had a modified driver ' s hatch opened to the left as well as a different kit of spare parts tools , and many tanks were equipped with a special rear beam for towing guns and damaged vehicles . The T - 26 remained the main tank of the Finnish Armoured Division throughout the war , although the German StuG III began to replace it in 1943 . Peak numbers in Finnish service occurred during the summer of 1944 , when the Finns kept up to 126 various T - 26 tanks , including 22 rebuilt Vickers 6 - Ton ( T - 26E ) , 2 T - 26 mod . 1931 , 1 KhT - 26 , 63 T - 26 mod . 1933 , 36 T - 26 mod . 1938 / 1939 , and 2 T - 26T artillery tractors . About 75 T - 26s and 19 T - 26Es continued in service after the end of the World War II . Some of these tanks were kept as training vehicles until 1960 , when they were finally phased out and replaced by newer British and Soviet tanks . In January 1960 , the Finnish Army still had 21 T - 26 tanks of various types in service , and the last Finnish T - 26 was officially retired in 1961 ( ! ) . In August 1937 , the Chiang Kai - shek ' s government negotiated with the Soviet government for military aid for the War of China ' s Resistance Against Japan ( 1937 - 1945 ) during a signing of a Treaty of Non - Aggression between the Republic of China and the Soviet Union . The USSR sold 82 T - 26 mod . 1933 tanks to China . These tanks were shipped to Guangzhou harbour in the spring of 1938 , and used to set up the 200th Infantry Division of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army . The 200th Infantry Division was actually a mechanized division consisting of four regiments , including a tank regiment equipped with 70 or 80 T - 26s , an armoured car regiment , a mechanized infantry regiment , and an artillery regiment . Chinese tank crews were trained under the supervision of Soviet specialists . T - 26 tanks of the 200th Infantry Division were used in the Battle of Lanfeng in 1938 , the Battle of Kunlun Pass in 1939 , the Battle of Yunnan - Burma Road in the Burma campaign in 1942 and some other combat against the Japanese until 1944 . After World War II , the remaining Chinese T - 26 tanks equipped the First Armoured Regiment of the Army of the Chinese Kuomingtang government , which saw service in East China during the Chinese Civil War ( 1946 – 1950 ) . Finally , several T - 26 tanks were destroyed or captured by the People ' s Liberation Army during the Huaihai Campaign in 1949 . In 1935 , Turkey purchased 60 T - 26 mod . 1933 light tanks from the USSR ( also , two twin - turreted T - 26 mod . 1931 were presented to Turkish government in 1933 - 1934 ) , along with about 60 BA - 6 armoured cars to form the 1st Tank Battalion of the 2nd Cavalry Division at Lüleburgaz . The Armoured Brigade of the Turkish Army consisted of the 102nd and the 103rd Companies armed with the T - 26 mod . 1933 tanks ( four platoons in a company , five tanks in platoon ) in the end of 1937 . The reserve group of the brigade had 21 T - 26 tanks also . In the beginning of 1940 , the Turkish Army had the Armoured Brigade in Istanbul , which belonged to the 1st Army , and the 1st Tank Battalion , which belonged to the 3rd Army . Turkish T - 26 tanks were taken out of service in 1942 . The German Wehrmacht used around 40 captured T - 26 tanks of different models under the designation Panzerkampfwagen 737 ( r ) , 738 ( r ) , or 740 ( r ) , depending of the model . KhT - 130 flame - throwing tanks had the German designation Flammenwerfer Panzerkampfwagen 739 ( r ) . Only a very small number of captured T - 26 tanks were repaired by German army workshops by the end of 1941 ; hundreds of Soviet tanks abandoned in summer - autumn 1941 during the Soviet retreat were badly damaged in combat or had technical failures which were impossible to repair because of the absence of spare parts , and Germany ' s own tanks were a higher maintenance priority . A small number of German T - 26 tanks participated in the Battle of Smolensk ( 1941 ) , the Battle of Moscow , Battles of Rzhev , combat near Leningrad and Bryansk , in the Minsk Offensive and even the Warsaw uprising in 1944 . They were used by several rifle and tank units including the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf . Also German police tank companies ( Polizei - Panzer - Kompanien ) used a few captured T - 26s , including obsolete twin - turreted tanks , in Soviet and Polish occupied territories . In autumn 1943 , ten German T - 26 tanks were rearmed as self - propelled guns ( the turrets were removed and ex - French 7 . 5 cm guns Pak 97 / 38 ( f ) with shields were installed instead ) . Those 7 , 5 cm Pak 97 / 98 ( f ) auf Pz . 740 ( r ) self - propelled guns served in the 3rd Company of the 563rd Anti - tank Battalion ( 3 Kp . Pz . Jg . Abt . 563 ) but all of them were replaced soon with the Marder III on March 1 , 1944 . The Royal Romanian Army had 33 captured T - 26s of different models as of 1 November 1942 , mainly donated by Germany . However , the Romanians could not repair most of the captured vehicles and so not all were used in combat . For example , the 1st Tank Division had only 2 T - 26 tanks in September 1942 . The Hungarian Army also used a few captured T - 26 mod . 1933 tanks . It is probable that 2 twin - turreted T - 26 mod . 1931 light tanks were sold to Afghanistan in 1935 , but this information is unconfirmed .