The T-26Part III Combat History.
The T-26 has a rich and colorful combat history, and was in major operations up until 1943 in the Western front and 1945 in the Far East. The combat history also proves that even though this small tank was out gunned and out classed and made nearly extinct, it still chugged on and has a special place in my heart.
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War was the first conflict which the T-26 participated. The Spanish Civil War started July 17th 1936 when a military rebellion led by Francisco Franco to stop the establishment of a second Spanish republic under President Manuel Azana. The USSR came to the aid of the Socialist Republicans to help create a socialist state in Western Europe friendly to the USSR.
The first shipment of 50 T-26’s to the Spanish Republicans was delivered on October 13 1936 in the city of Caragena with 80 volunteer tank men under Krivoshein. On October 28th Republican T-26’s met German Pz.1A (The main tank of the German military and was involved in the invasions of Poland and France.) The Pz.1 however did not have sufficient firepower when taking on the T-26 and were destroyed. On the 29th 12 T-26s advanced 35km and inflicted significant losses to The Nationalist (The destruction of two cavalry squads, two infantry battalions, several 75mm field guns and four Italian CV-33 Tankettes at the loss of three T-26s.)
Though small victories these skirmishes showed that the T-26 was superior to anything the later to be Axis forces fielded. The USSR sent 297 1933yr T-26s to Spain of those 40% were captured by the Nationalist forces when the war ended. The tanks were so prized by the Nationalist because of their fighting prowess that a bounty of 500 Pesetas was given for a captured intact tank and were used in the Spanish military up until 1953. The Tank could only be destroyed two ways during the war, at very close range by German anti tank guns or destruction of the motor by a lucky placed gasoline bomb. The tank is still referred to as “The tank of the Spanish Civil War.”
Soviet-Japanese Border war
On July 15th 1938 The Japanese attaché in Moscow demanded the removal of Soviet troops from the Bezymyannaya and Zaozernaya hills to the west of Lake Khasan not far from Vladivostok. The Demand was rejected. The Japanese attacked on July 29th and were repelled however on July 31 the Soviet (infantry) forces were forced to make a retreat. The soviet (tank and artillery) forces then engaged the same area days later scoring major victories and forced the Japanese forces out of the Bezymyannaya and Zaozernaya hills area and eventually off all Soviet (claimed) territory.
In 1939 due to reports of Soviet and Mongolian activity in Japanese held Mongolia Lt. Gen. Michitaro Komatsubara was give permission to expel any Soviet and Mongolian forces in that area and a two pronged assault of the area in question was planned. The small border skirmish soon escalated into a full scale war with the Japanese hosting 80,000 troops, 180 tanks (19% [the largest number of any other type of tank] were Type 95 light tanks.), and 450 aircraft. The soviets with 57,000 troops, 500 tanks (60% of whom were T-26s) and 250 aircraft seemed to be outnumbered. On August 20th Georgy Zhukov (soon to be marshal of the USSR and major architect of the soviet victory in WWII had been planning a major offensive with the intention of clearing the Japanese for the Khalkhin Gol once and for all. At 5:45am Zhukov ordered what seemed at first to be a conventional frontal attack, however, he had held back two tank brigades, which in a daring and successful maneuver he ordered to advance around both flanks of the battle. Supported by motorized artillery, infantry, and tanks, the two mobile battle groups encircled the 6th Japanese Army and captured their vulnerable supply areas.
The T-26 obliterated most Japanese tanks, its firepower was sufficient enough to rip through even the larger Type 89 and Type 97 medium tanks. The 57mm gun of the Type 97 in theory should have been able to penetrate the T-26’s armor however the 45mm soviet gun typically outranged the 57mm and the tank was destroyed before it could fire a single shot. It is also interesting to note that the Type 97 was the most widely used medium tank in the Japanese arsenal up until 1945. Though the T-26 had superiority over its Japanese counterparts, it was becoming obvious that the T-26 was becoming obsolete.
Winter War
November 30th 1939 The Soviet Union began an offensive against Finland breaking the 1932 Non-aggression pact with Finland to create a more favorable government that would be able to assist in the projected war against the West in the years to come. The Soviet Military invaded Finland with about 450,000 men or 21 Divisions and the bombing of Helsinki shortly thereafter.
On December 1st 1939 The USSR formed the Finnish Democratic Republic in a portion of Finland which was taken a day before (Terijoki) under O.W. Kuusinen.
Light tank brigades were equipped with a wide variety of T-26 tanks from all years and models of and before 1939 design including the twin turreted tank that had little more firepower than a machinegun.
The first Finnish main defensive line, known as the Mannerheim Line was located across the Karlian Isthmus 19 to 47 miles from the former Finnish border. The T-26 was part of the main strike force during the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line on December 6th. The Finns had few anti-tank weapons and the biggest losses of Finnish military was due to Tanks; however Finns learned that at close range they could often immobilize the tank if it were abashed in a densely forested or urban environment where the tank had little mobility and capability of avoiding abashes this suited the Finns very well since a majority of Finland was heavily forested or swampland where tanks had little mobility.
Like all wars victory was expected within a few weeks, with little casualties and like ever so often the opposite was true. The official Soviet figure, issued just after the war, listed 48,745 dead and 150,863 wounded while 1,000 aircraft, 2,300 tanks and armored cars and an enormous amount of other war materials were lost.
The Supreme Military Soviet met in April 1940, sifted through the lessons of the Finnish campaign, and recommended reforms. The role of frontline political commissars was reduced and old-fashioned ranks and forms of discipline were reintroduced. Clothing, equipment and tactics for winter operations were improved. However, not all of these reforms had been completed when the Germans started Operation Barbarossa fifteen months later. In the end, the Winter War proved that the T-26 was obsolete and its design reserve was totally depleted. The T-26's thin anti-bullet armor was easily penetrated, 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 replaced entirely in the years to come but by the time of the German Invasion the Red Army had 10,268 T-26s still in operation.
Barbarossa
At the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 1st 1941 the T-26 still was the backbone of the Soviet Tank force with no other available replacement tank being produced in sufficient numbers at that time. The T-26 was planned to be replaced by the T-50(miniature T-34) by August however due to production problems by the time of the onset of the war none had yet even been produced. Though the T-26 by this time was inferior to the Panzer III and IV it was by no means useless. The T-26 still could destroy at ease the Panzer I & II which made up about 50% of the German Tank Forces at that time. In many cases when it came to tank on tank skirmishes the T-26 would win. The downfall of so many of the T-26’s was Aircraft, being out flanked by the German Blitz, and replacement part shortages. Still despite very high losses the T-26 still formed a significant part of the Armed forces in autumn 1941 when the T-34 was starting mass production and was beginning to make an impact on the war. The final time the T-26 was seen in very large numbers on the Western Front was the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942, the turning point of the Great Patriotic War. By the time of 1943 The T-26 was not only obsolete but also nearly extinct.
Soviet-Japanese War 1945
The Soviet-Japanese war was the last hurrah of the T-26 or the last military operation in which the T-26 was used. The T-26 because of its weight tended to work better in the far east than most modern tanks and since Japan had not updated its tanks since the time of the last soviet conflict in the far east, the T-26 smashed through the Japanese lines and helped bring about a quick end to the war with Japan in Manchuria.
