One of the more prominent tanks of the 1930s was the Soviet T-26 light tank. This tank was built according to the needs of the time and at the time it was felt that a lot of tanks would be a good thing. This was championed in the Soviet army by some influential generals who had seen how well the French and British tanks had performed in the later days of WWII when mobile warfare had returned to the battlefield.

Several designs were put forth and what eventually became the T-26 was chosen. The tank was produced in a single turret version and a twin turret tank. The twin turrets could either have two machine guns or one maching gun and one cannon. The canon chosen was a Soviet copy of the French Hotchkiss 37mm version. In fact, the T-26 itself was little more than a Soviet adaptation of the British Vickers tank, a tank that the British army had found to be wanting and never used, but approved for export.

As you would expect from a Soviet tank during this time, it was rife with issues. It was underpowered, hand an engine that required overhaul rather frequently (as in less than 500 miles of use), poor clutch assemblies, a cramped, unergonomic interior and poor ventilation that caused near asphyxiation of the crew after firing several rounds from its cannon. It also had a very poor radio and an easily damaged hoop antenna array. Add to that rather thin armor that anything other than a small calibre rifle bullet could penetrate, and you had a tank that needed some major upgrades.

Some of these situations were taken care of, including some appliqué armor, better interior ventilation, a slightly more powerful engine and later a somewhat better radio. However, the type was never destined to do well and a quite large percentage of the tanks lost by the Soviets during the first year of the war as well as their wars with Finland were T-26s.

The type was developed into other armored vehicles, one of the most successful was the flame thrower tank. This despite its rather short firing distance. It was also developed into a SPG, an ammo carrier and a prime mover for light artillery pieces. Regardless of its poor performance, it was used throughout the war and particularly in Manchuria where it was used against the Japanese when the Russians entered the war in the Pacific after the first atomic bomb had been dropped.

Author Steven Zaloga looks at the origins of the T-26, its development, the different variants of the tank and its deployment in combat. This includes its operations during the Spanish Civil War where it was (typically) mis-used and rather than combined with infantry attacks, was used piece-meal as a morale booster as anything else. This was to set a pattern that was quite typical of Soviet tank tactics, particularly since most of the really knowledgeable leaders had been purged during Stalin's mass paranoia of the late 1930s. Add to all this the excellent period photos and the art work of Henry Morshead, and you have a great little reference book for your shelves.

April 2015

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