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The Soviet Purchasing Commission, headed by I.A. Khalepsky, the head of the newly created Directorate of Mechanization and Motorization of the Red Army, on May 28, 1930, signed a contract with the British company Vickers for the production of 15 Vickers double-turret tanks for the USSR 6-ton. The first tank was shipped to the customer on October 22, 1930, and the last on July 4, 1931. Soviet specialists also took part in the assembly of these tanks. In particular, in July 1930, engineer N. Shitikov worked at the Vickers plant. Each combat vehicle made in England cost the Soviet Union 42,000 rubles. (in 1931 prices). For comparison, let's say that the "main escort tank" T-19, made in August of the same year, cost over 96 thousand rubles. In addition, the B-26 tank (this designation was given to British vehicles in the USSR) was easier to manufacture and operate, and also had better mobility. All these circumstances predetermined the choice of the UMM RKKA. Work on the T-19 was curtailed, and all forces were thrown into mastering the mass production of the B-26.

Appendix to the magazine "MODEL CONSTRUCTION"

In March 1932, the 45-mm anti-tank gun 19K, developed at the plant number 8, was adopted by the Red Army. and factory index 20K. Compared to the PS-2, the 20K tank gun had a number of advantages. The armor penetration of armor-piercing projectiles increased slightly, the mass of a fragmentation projectile increased sharply (from 0.645 kg to 2.15 kg), and the mass of explosive in the projectile - from 22 g to 118 g. Finally, the rate of fire was increased due to the introduction of a vertical wedge semi-automatic shutter. True, the debugging of semi-automatic took about four years, and the first series of 20K guns were produced with 1/4 automatics, then with semi-automatics for armor-piercing and 1/4 automatics for high-explosive fragmentation shells, and only in 1935 guns with debugged semi-automatics for all types of ammunition.

In December 1932, the Defense Committee ordered the NKTP to produce T-26 tanks (starting with a vehicle with serial number 1601) with a 45-mm gun. Under this cannon, paired with a DT machine gun, a new turret was designed for the T-26 and BT-2 tanks. Shooting tests showed its complete reliability. The production of turrets for the 45-mm gun began at the end of 1932 at two factories - Izhora and Mariupol. The first produced towers of an improved type (welded with a large niche), and Mariupol made the first 230 towers according to the first version (riveted with a small niche). Most of the riveted turrets were installed on the BT-5 tanks and only a very small number on the T-26.

1 - barrel: 2 - recoil brake cylinder: 3 - lifting mechanism rods: 4 - telescopic sight: 5 - cushion: 6 - sleeve catcher shield; 7 - tarpaulin bag of the gill-lailer: 8 - lifting mechanism sector: 9 - lifting mechanism bracket: 10 - trigger pedal: 11 - footboard: 12 - bolt wedge: 13 - telescopic sight bracket: 14 - coaxial machine gun ball mount: 15 - lifting flywheel mechanism

The hull of the welded tower had the shape of a cylinder with an outer diameter of 1320 mm with a developed aft niche. The niche had an oval shape and served as a counterweight to the gun and at the same time a place for laying ammunition or placing a radio station. In the aft sheet of the niche there was a hatch with a door for dismantling the gun. In the niches of the riveted towers, the back wall was blank, without a door. In the roof of the tower there was a rectangular hatch for the landing of the crew, which was closed with two covers.

The armament of a single-turret tank consisted of a 45-mm tank gun of the 1932 model and a DT machine gun coaxial with it. The vertical guidance angles were in the range from - 8 ° to + 25 °.

The gun had a semi-automatic shutter of a mechanical type with electromagnetic and manual descents, a trough-shaped cradle, a hydraulic recoil brake, a spring knurler and a sector lifting mechanism. Shooting from a cannon and a machine gun was carried out by foot descents, the pedals of which were located on the footboard under the gunner's right foot.

The sights of the twin installation consisted of two optical sights, a tank telescopic sight TOP arr. 1930 and tank periscopic panoramic sight PT-1 arr. 1932

In addition, the machine gun had its own open sight and could fire independently of the gun. With independent firing from a machine gun, the vertical firing sector was ± 4.5 °.

Ammunition consisted of 136 cannon shots (for tanks with a radio station - 96 shots) and 2898 rounds (46 magazines).

The shots were packed in special boxes located on the floor, on the left side of the fighting compartment. In these boxes, 54 shots were arranged vertically in six rows of 9 shots in individual nests. The top of the boxes were closed with hinged lids. which at the same time were the flooring of the fighting compartment.

Another 30 shots were laid horizontally in the niche of the fighting compartment.

Twelve shots were placed in the tower. The shells were held by special grippers, six pieces to the right and left of the twin installation.

An additional 40 shots for tanks without a radio station were placed in the turret niche.

Machine-gun magazines (disks) were placed in special iron boxes on the floor of the tank hull. From above, the boxes were closed with hinged lids, which, together with the lids of the shell boxes, were the common flooring of the fighting compartment floor. 40 disks were placed in the boxes, 6 more disks were located in a special rack on the wall of the tower on the right side.

In addition to the main machine gun, a spare machine gun was carried in the tank. It was placed on special brackets under the flooring of the fighting compartment near the left side of the tank.

The design of the hull of single-turret tanks of early production remained practically unchanged compared to double-turret ones. The only exception was the turret sheet, on which the turret was installed closer to the port side, and in the rear part on the right there was a vent closed by a lid.

This machine has the features of both early models: a transmission hatch that leans to the right, a headlight without an armor casing, and later ones - a stamped turret frontal shield and removable road wheel bandages. NIBTPolygon, 1940

1 - engine; 2 - main clutch; 3 - cardan shaft; 4 - gearbox; 5 - side clutch; 6 - control lever; 7 - gear lever; 8- driving wheel; 9 - guide wheel; 10-wheel roller; 11 caterpillar; 12 - 45 mm gun; /3 - flywheel of the lifting mechanism of the gun; 14 - gunner's seat; 15 - periscope sight; 16 - ventilation cap; 17 - radio station; 18 - antenna; 19- VKU; 20 - hole with shutters for the inlet of cooling air; 21 - oil cooler: 22 - air outlet; 23 - silencer; 24 front cross tube; 25 - rear transverse pipe; 26 - driver's seat; 27 - telescopic sight

In the autumn of 1933, a transmission access hatch appeared in the upper inclined frontal hull plate. Initially, its lid opened towards the port side, and later - upwards against the course of the tank. At the same time, the dimensions of the hatch increased.

Already in 1933, radio stations 71-TK-1, which had handrail antennas, began to be installed on part of the tanks. And if in the first year of production of single-turret T-26s, the percentage of radio tanks was small (apparently due to the lack of the required number of radio stations). then later it amounted to half, and then exceeded the number of tanks without radios.

In 1934, the suspension was strengthened: the thickness of the spring was increased from 5.5 mm to 6 mm.

The headlight, which was fixedly attached to the vertical frontal sheet of the turret box, was transferred to the upper inclined sheet, made folding and in the stowed position closed with an armor cap. The signal was transferred from the left side of the turret box to its front plate.

Since 1935, the tanks were equipped with a 45-mm cannon mod. 1934. On this gun, the semi-automatic mechanical type was replaced by semi-automatic inertial type. The latter worked fully only when firing armor-piercing shells; when firing fragmentation - like a quarter of automation. those. the opening of the shutter and the extraction of the sleeves were carried out manually, and when the next cartridge was inserted into the chamber, the shutter closed automatically. This is due to the different initial speeds of armor-piercing and fragmentation shells.

In addition, the gun mod. 1934 differed from the previous design of the recoil device and lifting mechanism, the wedge of the shutter was reinforced. the wire of the foot descent was replaced with a cable, the attachment of the cradle with the mask was strengthened, and a number of small improvements were made.

1 - armor cap: 2 - bracket: 3 - fastening bolt in the stowed position: 4 - fastening bolt in the combat position: 5 - slotted bar: 6 - rubber gasket

Since 1935, tank hulls and turrets have been manufactured using electric welding. The ammunition load of the gun was reduced to 122 shots (for vehicles with a radio station - 82). the capacity of the fuel tank has been increased. The mass of the tank increased to 9.6 tons.

In 1936, a removable rubber bandage was introduced on the road wheels, the tensioning mechanism was changed, and a second DT machine gun was installed in the turret niche. At the same time, the ammunition load of the gun was reduced from 136 to 102 shots (on tanks without a radio station), and the mass of the tank increased to 9.65 tons. 56-U322B. Two searchlights of the so-called "combat light" were placed on the cannon, a new VKU-3 and a TPU-3 intercom were introduced. The engine was boosted, and its maximum power increased from 90 to 95 hp. In 1937, only radio tanks were produced, and with radio stations 71-TK-Z.

The ammunition load of tanks with a radio station reached 147 shots (107 for tanks without a walkie-talkie) and 3087 rounds.

The mass of the tank was 9.75 tons.

Already in 1929, the command of the Red Army came to the conclusion that the tank armament of the Red Army did not meet modern requirements. It was not possible to solve this problem on our own, because the Soviet designers did not have enough experience, and the production base of the Soviet Union was still in an undeveloped state. It was possible to get out of the situation only by turning to foreign experience.

In 1930, a delegation of the Red Army Mechanization and Motorization Directorate, led by Innokenty Khalepsky, purchased a number of equipment samples abroad, including tanks. Among the cars purchased were british tanks Vickers Mk. E, better known as "Six Ton Vickers".

This tank model is interesting in that none of its modifications interested the British army. And not because the car was bad. It’s just that the military of Foggy Albion, correctly speaking, differed unnecessarily creativity to the formation of armored forces. And they considered that the Vickers six-ton ​​tank did not fit into the concept. So the developers had to focus on external consumers.

For the USSR, two-tower modifications of the tank, armed with machine guns, were purchased. They were assigned the conditional index B-26. At first, the tanks received rather restrained reviews from specialists. However, on January 8, 1931, the Vickers were shown to the command of the Red Army and the Moscow Military District. Seeing how famously the tanks rushed around the range, jumped over the trenches and almost turned in place, the distinguished guests were delighted. Literally the next day, K. E. Voroshilov gave the order to immediately resolve the issue of the advisability of organizing mass production of the B-26 in the USSR. The conclusions of the commission led by S. Ginzburg stated that it would be optimal to produce the car not in its original, but in a “hybrid” form - using structural elements of the T-19 tank being developed at that time in the USSR. However, in the end, it was decided to start production without changes, because, according to intelligence, Poland was already going to mass-produce and put into service six-ton ​​Vickers. These data did not correspond too much to the truth, but the verdict of the command had to be executed. "Vickers" went into the series, having received an index.

The task for the production of the T-26 was received by the Leningrad plant "Bolshevik". He was heavily loaded with other orders, but there was still no alternative: Stalingrad and Chelyabinsk plants were just under construction. All work on production, and later on modernization, was led by S. A. Ginzburg.

In the best traditions of the command-administrative system, the plant was given a completely unrealistic order to produce 500 T-26 tanks by the end of 1931. Almost immediately, the plan had to be reduced to 300 pieces, which was also pure utopia. The entire first half of 1931 was spent only on converting the tank drawings into metric units, preparing the production base and making reference samples. At the first stage of work, any attempts to make changes to the design were severely suppressed, even if they were aimed at simplifying production and improving technology.

Soviet manufacturers managed to copy the elements of the machine. It was not possible to make them work when assembled. Therefore, those 10 tanks that left the assembly lines before the end of the summer could be called working models at most. Their motors broke constantly and in a variety of ways. It was considered the norm that the motor defect did not exceed 65%. In the engines, the cylinders and pistons did not fit together, the valves broke, it was not possible to make a normal hardening of the crankshaft. The armored hulls produced by the Izhora plant had through cracks in the armor plates. And the quality of the steel was so low that 10-mm armor was pierced by an armor-piercing rifle bullet from 100-150 meters, although this was considered fundamentally impossible. Only by 1934 was it possible to ensure the acceptable quality of the machines produced.

The first T-26 models were produced with two machine-gun turrets, which were located on the hull next to each other. This design made it possible to fire in different directions at the same time. This was considered a very good option for an infantry support tank. As an alternative to the machine gun, an option was considered with the installation of a 37-mm gun in one of the towers.

In 1933 there was a very important change in the design of the T-26. Instead of two towers, the tank received one - circular rotation. It was planned to install a 45-mm gun in it due to its unambiguous superiority in striking ability over the 37-mm one. All new tanks wanted to be rearmed, but due to a shortage in the supply of new guns, both single-turret and double-turret tanks were produced until the end of 1933. The new turret and gun made the vehicle heavier, so a new engine had to be developed and the suspension strengthened. Here, the designers did not achieve much success. The T-26 has become much more clumsy and less passable.

By the beginning of 1936, tank builders finally put an end to the concept of wheeled-tracked vehicles. And the tank that had appeared by that time turned out to be too expensive and complicated. Work on the improvement of the T-26, which had already been curtailed, had to be resumed. The former riveted hulls were replaced with welded ones, which increased their strength. We changed the design of the gun mantlet, improved the fuel supply scheme. The design of the undercarriage was changed, and thanks to the new technology of hardening with high-frequency currents, it was possible to achieve exceptional strength of the track pins.

But all these improvements could not affect the fact that by the end of the 30s, the T-26 was no longer even the slightest outstanding combat vehicle among its counterparts in terms of mass. Different countries already had tanks in service that were comparable, if not superior. An attempt was made to arm the tank with a 76-mm cannon, but due to a defect in the gun, powder gases burst into the fighting compartment, so the work was curtailed.

T-26s were first used in combat during the Spanish Civil War. The tanks supplied to the Republicans by the Soviet Union took part in almost all operations and proved themselves very well. Although a significant role in the fact that the T-26 was a formidable opponent was played by the fact that it was opposed by German and italian tanks armed with machine guns. At the same time, due to weak armor, Soviet tanks were easily destroyed by enemy guns. After evaluating the results of the use of the T-26 by the Spaniards, Soviet designers installed additional armor screens on it.

Soviet tankers tested the T-26 during the battles near Lake Khasan. As a result of inept command, the tanks suffered heavy losses. So, during the assault on the Zaozernaya hill, the vehicles collided with well-prepared anti-tank defenses. Taking into account the weak armor of the Soviet tank, a frontal assault simply could not but end in heavy losses. And so it happened: 85 cars were hit, 9 of them were burned. As a result of this forced test by shelling, the commanders of the Red Army noted in the reports the high survivability of the tank. The T-26 could withstand five or six hits from Japanese shells. One can only regret that this quality was determined not in training ground conditions, but in a real battle.

In all conflicts where the T-26 was used, the traditional problem of Soviet tanks manifested itself in all its glory - low reliability. A large number of vehicles failed without taking part in the battle. During the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, the Red Army lost 3178 tanks on the Karelian Isthmus, 1275 of them due to technical reasons. In general, this war was very difficult for tanks, since fighting were conducted in areas not suitable for heavy armored vehicles.

By June 22, 1941, there were about 10 thousand tanks of this type in the troops. Their use in the initial period of the war can be safely called a failure. The first reason for the huge losses and extremely low efficiency of the T-26 is the technical weakness and backwardness of the machine. Even in the thirties, this tank was ordinary and did not stand out in any way. By 1941, he had become frankly weak. His armor provided only bulletproof protection. Due to the low-powered engine, the tank was characterized by very low mobility. In addition, he was unreliable. A large percentage of T-26 losses are accounted for by vehicles abandoned by crews due to breakdowns, for the elimination of which there were no material resources or time.

The second reason is the human factor. Objectively speaking, the level of the commanders of the Red Army at that time was very low. Often they simply did not know how to use armored vehicles. Frontal attacks on the enemy were used, which were suicidal for the "cardboard" T-26. Instead of using tanks in large masses, the units were split up down to individual vehicles. There was practically no coordination between the units, because the troops had very few walkie-talkies, and even those that were available were often not able to use. With the commander's cards, the situation was also catastrophic. Often I had to navigate according to a diagram drawn somehow by hand. But even if the commander had a map, this did not mean that he knew how to handle it (many such cases were recorded in memoirs and reports).

This weight led to the fact that most of the T-26 tanks were lost in the first six months of World War II.

The last battle in which these machines took part was the defeat of the Kwantung Army in the Far East in 1945.

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The T-26 is a Soviet light tank based on the English Vickers Mk.E tank purchased by the USSR in 1930.

The history of the creation of the T-26

In the early 1930s, the USSR was armed mainly with the massive light tank T-18 (aka MS-1) and different types of British vehicles of the times. But already in 1929, the characteristics of the T-18 were very unsatisfactory, and when getting acquainted with the tanks of other countries, it was concluded that Soviet tanks were seriously lagging behind.

In 1929, it was decided to start production of a new tank, which was supposed to be light, easy to maintain and fairly cheap to manufacture. The basis for this new Soviet tank was the Vickers Mk E, which was purchased along with a production license. The British did not sell the production technology itself, so they had to develop it themselves. This was done in a year, and in February 1931 the T-26 was put into service, even before the production of the first prototype.

Tank modifications

The T-26 was created on the basis of another tank, and changed and modified many times in accordance with increasing requirements and according to the results of field tests. As a result, several variants of the T-26 tank were created:

• Sample 1931 - a linear two-tower tank with machine guns;
• Model 1932 - linear double-turret tank, one of the towers has a 37-mm gun;
• Model 1933 - linear single-turret tank with a 45-mm cannon and a cylindrical mass. This modification of the T-26 produced the most copies;
• Model 1938, linear single-turret tank with a welded hull and a conical turret;
• Model 1939 - Model 1938 tank with additionally reinforced armor and an improved conical turret.

Also, on the basis of the T-26, many tanks were created with various features:

• T-26RT - single-turret T-26 with radio station 71-TK-1;
• T-26 TT - teletank (a tank controlled by radio) as part of a telemechanical group;
• T-26 TU - control tank in the same group;
• The T-26A is an artillery support tank with a spacious turret and a 76mm short-barreled gun. Released 5 prototypes;
• XT-26 - a tank with flamethrower weapons in a small turret. Independently produced 552, another 52 converted from two-tower serial T-26s;
• KhT-130 - a single-turret fire tank, a flamethrower was placed instead of a gun in the T-26 of the 1933 model;
• KhT-133 - flamethrower tank model 1938;
• KhT-134 - flamethrower tank of the 1939 model;
• ST - chemical tank for the supply of smoke screens, flame throwing, degassing of the area and the use of toxic substances. The project remained unrealized;
• OU-T-26 - implemented chemical tank with an installed flamethrower.

Also, on the basis of the T-26, the T-26T was released - an artillery tractor with an armored or canvas top. In addition, the T-26 served as the basis for many examples of Soviet vehicles, such as the SU-1, SU-5, SU-6 and many armored personnel carriers.

TTX T-26 model 1933

basic information

• Classification - light infantry tank;
• Combat weight - 8 tons;
• Crew - 3 people;
• Years of production - 1931-1941;
• Years of operation - 1931-1960;
• The number of issued - 11 218 pieces.

Dimensions

• Case length - 4620 mm;
• Hull width - 2440 mm;
• Height - 2190 mm;
• Clearance - 380 mm.

Booking

• Type of armor - steel rolled homogeneous;
• Forehead of the hull - 15 mm;
• Hull board - 15 mm;
• Hull feed - 15 mm;
• Bottom - 6 mm;
• Hull roof - 10 mm;
• Tower forehead - 15 mm;
• Gun mask - 15 mm;
• The side of the tower - 15 mm;
• Tower feed - 15 mm;
• Tower roof - 6 mm.

Armament

• Caliber and brand of gun - 45 mm 20K;
• Barrel length - 46 calibers;
• Ammunition - 203 shells;
• Machine guns - 2 × 7.62 mm DT.

Mobility

• Engine type - in-line 4-cylinder air-cooled carburetor;
• Engine power - 90-91 hp;
• Highway speed - 30 km / h;
• Power reserve on the highway - 120 km;
• Suspension type - interlocked by four, on leaf springs;
• Climbability — 40°;
• Overcoming wall - 0.75 m;
• Crossable moat - 2.0 m;
• Crossable ford - 0.8 m.

Application

T-26, along with various modifications of the BT, were the main Soviet tanks before the start of World War II. At one time, the T-26 was very popular, although due to its low speed and the lack of a walkie-talkie, it was fairly easy prey for the enemy. However, there were a number of tricks that made the T-26 really effective on the front lines.

When the T-26 was still double-turret, gunners from the left and right turrets often prevented each other from firing, which is why single-turret modifications appeared in the future. Also, when anti-tank guns appeared, the thin armor of the T-26 turned out to be very vulnerable to them. This eventually led to a gradual improvement in booking. But even despite the rather thin armor, the T-26 was quite tenacious due to the fact that the tanks and the tank engine were located in its stern behind a partition. Also, the T-26 had a very large ammunition by those standards. All this eventually made the T-26 a very good light infantry support tank for that time.

In the period from 1936 to 1938, 281 T-26 tanks were sent to Spain for the civil war, where he took an active part in the battles. He participated in the battles near Lake Khasan and Khalkhin Gol.

However, the most intensive use of the T-26 was in the Winter War, as well as at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, when the T-26 was the most numerous Soviet tank.

Already in the first months of the war, a lot of tanks were lost - by October 28, 1941, only 50 T-26s remained. Gradually, it became clear that the T-26 was not effective enough against modern vehicles, and its use almost disappeared. The last time this tank was used was in 1945, in Manchuria, against the Kwantung Army.

Tank in culture

The T-26 tank is widely represented in various computer games, such as:

• "Blitzkrieg";
• Sudden Strike;
• "Steel Panthers";
• "Flashpoint: Resistance", in the modification "Liberation 1941-45";
• "The Second World War";
• "Behind Enemy Lines"
• Multiplayer games "World of Tanks" and "".

Often the performance characteristics of a tank in games do not correspond to real ones.

To the cinema

Genuine T-26s can be seen in the film Tankers (1939, USSR).

tank memory

The T-26 tank is widely represented in various museums around the world, for example, in:

• Bovington Tank Museum;
• Museum of the breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad (sample 1933);
• Finland in the barracks in the Karkialampi area;
• Military Historical Museum of Lenino-Snegiri (sample 1933);
• Moscow Museum of the Great Patriotic War (sample 1931);
• Tank Museum of Parola;
• Kubinka Museum;

There are also several T-26 monuments. One of them is installed in Pitkyaranta as a monument to the "Glory to the Heroes". Local historians claim that this T-26 participated in the Soviet-Finnish war and was raised from the bottom of Lake Ladoga in 1998.

T-26 what is it - a Soviet light tank. Created on the basis of the English tank "Vickers Mk.E" (also known as "Vickers 6-ton"), purchased in 1930. Adopted by the USSR in 1931.

Tank T-26 - video

By the early 1930s, the USSR's tank fleet consisted primarily of the T-18 mass-produced light infantry support tank, as well as various types of British vehicles from the First World War. T-18 completed the task of saturating the Red Army with combat-ready and relatively modern machines, as well as their development by industry. However, the characteristics of the T-18, which was a deep modernization of the French FT-17, by 1929 did not meet the requirements of the General Staff of the Red Army. At the end of 1929, at a meeting of the GUVP board, it was concluded that due to the lack of proper experience among Soviet tank designers and the underdevelopment of the industrial base, the development deadlines for Soviet tanks and their specified performance characteristics were not met, and the created projects were not suitable for serial production. In this regard, on December 5, 1929, a commission chaired by the People's Commissariat for Heavy Industry G. Ordzhonikidze decided to turn to foreign experience.

After getting acquainted with experienced German tanks in the course of Soviet-German cooperation, as well as with tanks from other countries during a study trip by the head of the UMM I. Khalepsky to the USA and European countries, which began on December 30, 1929, it was concluded that the level of Soviet tanks was lagging behind.

In 1930, a procurement commission was established under the leadership of I. Khalepsky and the head of the engineering design bureau for tanks S. Ginzburg, whose task was to select and purchase samples of tanks, tractors and vehicles suitable for adoption by the Red Army. First of all, the commission in the spring of 1930 went to Great Britain, which in those years was considered the world leader in the production of armored vehicles. The attention of the commission was attracted by the light tank Mk.E or "6-ton" (eng. 6-ton), created by Vickers-Armstrong in 1928-1929 and actively offered for export. The commission planned to purchase only one copy of the necessary equipment, but the company refused to sell single samples, and even more so with documentation, as a result, an agreement was reached on the purchase of small batches of tanks, including 15 Mk.E units at a price of 42 thousand rubles in 1931 prices, with a full set of technical documentation and a license for production in the USSR. Tank deliveries were to be made from September 1930 to January 1931. Vickers-Armstrong offered several versions of the tank, in particular the "Model A" with two single turrets with 7.7 mm Vickers machine guns and the "Model B" with a two-man turret with a 37 mm short-barreled gun and a 7.7 mm machine gun, but the Soviet side bought only two-tower vehicles. In the USSR, the Mk.E received the designation B-26.

The assembly of tanks was carried out at the Vickers-Armstrong factories, Soviet specialists also took part in it to familiarize themselves with the technology. The first V-26 was sent to the USSR on October 22, 1930, and three more tanks arrived in the USSR before the end of the year.

In the USSR, the first tanks that arrived were placed at the disposal of the "special commission for new tanks of the Red Army" under the leadership of S. Ginzburg, whose task was to select a tank for adoption by the army. From December 24, 1930 to January 5, 1931, three B-26s were tested in the Poklonnaya Gora area, on the basis of which the commission made "rather restrained" conclusions. But on January 8-11, a demonstration of two tanks in front of representatives of the high command of the Red Army and the Moscow Military District, the B-26 aroused their stormy approval, and already on January 9, K. Voroshilov’s order followed: “... to finally decide the question of the feasibility of organizing the production of the B-26 in the USSR", and Ginzburg was ordered to submit to the People's Commissariat of Defense a list of the advantages and disadvantages of the B-26 compared to the T-19 noted during the tests.

The report, presented on January 11, 1931, concluded that the B-26 transmission and chassis were reliable and simple and that these systems met the requirements of the Red Army, but it was also said that the engine was not suitable for installation on a tank, and its design did not allow power increase by traditional forcing methods. Among the advantages of the tank, there were also good optical sights for machine guns and an easy-to-manufacture hull shape, among the shortcomings were difficult access to the engine and transmission and the impossibility of carrying out routine repairs of the engine in battle from inside the tank. In general, it was noted that “... B-26, despite the shortcomings considered, is able to develop high speed and maneuverability and is without a doubt the best example of all currently known samples of foreign tanks. In comparison with the T-19, it was noted that in terms of completion time and cost, the development of the T-19 in production is the most profitable, less - a combined tank that combined the T-19 and B-26 units, and the least - the organization of the production of the B-26 unchanged. The general conclusion of the report was that it was necessary to start designing a new tank based on the T-19 and V-26 designs, with the engine, hull and armament from the former and the transmission and running gear of the latter, as well as organizing joint tests of the T-19 and V-26 for get more complete results.

VAMM also proposed its own project, which, after reviewing the documentation for the B-26, proposed to start designing a tank using the hull design of a British vehicle, but with reinforced armor and a 100 hp Hercules or Franklin engine. with., as more suitable for the conditions of production in the USSR. According to the results of the commission meetings on January 16-17, 1931, two technical assignments were issued: to the design group of S. Ginzburg to create a hybrid tank, called the "Improved T-19" and VAMM to create a "Low Power Tank" (TMM). Work on both projects was progressing, in particular, the preliminary design of the "Improved T-19" was already adopted on January 26 of the same year, but the international situation made adjustments to the plans. So, on January 26, I. Khalepsky sent a letter to Ginzburg stating that, according to intelligence data, Poland was also purchasing samples of the Vickers Mk.E and, according to the estimates of the leadership of the Red Army, by the end current year with Anglo-French help to produce more than 300 tanks of this type, which would give the Polish tank forces an advantage. In this regard, the RVS of the Red Army considered it appropriate to consider the issue of the immediate adoption of the B-26 in its current form. As a result, on February 13, 1931, the RVS, after hearing Khalepsky's report on the progress of work on new tanks, decided to accept the B-26 into service with the Red Army as "the main tank for escorting combined arms units and formations, as well as tank and mechanized units of the RGK" with the assignment of the index T -26.

Mass production

For the production of the T-26, due to the lack of alternatives, the Leningrad plant "Bolshevik" was chosen, which had previously been engaged in the production of the T-18. Later, it was supposed to connect the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, which was being completed, to production. The Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, which was also under construction, was also considered. Design work in preparation for production, and subsequently the modernization of the tank, led by S. Ginzburg. Initially, the Bolshevik plant was issued a plan for the production of 500 T-26s in 1931, later this number was reduced to 300 with the release of the first tank no later than May 1, but this figure could not be reached either. Although the plant had previously produced the T-18 at a similar pace, the new tank proved to be much more difficult to manufacture. In the spring of 1931, the factory department, which consisted of only 5 people, prepared for production and produced two reference copies of the tank. By May 1, working drawings were completed, and on June 16, the technological process was approved and manufacturing of equipment for mass production began.

In July 1931, the production of an installation (pre-production) batch of 10 tanks with non-armored steel hulls using a temporary technology began, with extensive use of imported components. The design of the vehicles exactly repeated the British original, differing only in armament, which consisted of a 37 mm PS-1 cannon in the right turret and a 7.62 mm DT-29 machine gun in the left. In the course of production, a number of serious problems immediately emerged, and although the design bureau from the very beginning of work repeatedly proposed to introduce improvements into the design aimed at simplifying the manufacturing technology, all these attempts were suppressed by top management. The tank engine brought the most problems, which, despite its apparent simplicity, required a higher production culture than the Soviet plant could provide - at first it was considered normal if the marriage of engines was up to 65%. In addition, the Izhora plant, which supplied tank hulls, was initially unable to establish the production of 13-mm armor plates due to a high percentage of defects, as a result of which 10-mm armor plates were used instead of them on a significant part of the hulls. But even the 10-mm sheets on the supplied hulls had numerous through cracks and, during tests, a 7.62-mm rifle armor-piercing bullet made its way from a distance of 150-200 m. Until November, tank hulls were produced with assembly completely on bolts and screws to ensure the replacement of armor plates with conditioned . As a result, the engines on the tanks of the pilot batch did not actually work, and the tanks could move only when they were replaced with an imported engine from the reference B-26.

Serial production of double-turret tanks

In August 1931, the production of the first serial batch of 15 tanks began, which differed from the pre-production ones in increased height turrets with an inspection hatch and slots in the upper part, more suitable for production on available equipment. But even on these tanks, the engines turned out to be inoperable, and it was only in the autumn of that year that it was possible to achieve the movement of production tanks on their own. The rush to master production led to the fact that the plant did not have a precisely established technological process until 1934, and the cost of tanks was almost twice the cost of British-made B-26s. By the end of 1931, 120 tanks were made, but due to poor quality, none of them could be handed over to military acceptance at first. Only after lengthy negotiations did the army agree to accept, according to various sources, 88 or 100 tanks, 35 of them conditionally, since they had non-armored steel hulls. Moreover, the engines on these tanks were also ordered to be replaced by the plant, since when working under load they "made numerous extraneous noises and experienced interruptions."

This situation led to the resumption of work on the T-19 and TMM, as well as the creation of a simplified T-34 small tank, with which it was proposed to compensate for the numerical shortage of an escort tank in the event of a threat of war. However, the plan adopted in September 1931, which provided for the production of 3000 T-26s in 1932, was not adjusted even after it became clear that STZ was unable to join production at that time. Only in February 1932, the Defense Committee allowed the plant to make any changes to the design of the tank that "would not reduce the fighting qualities and help increase production." In addition, for better organization of work, tank production at the Bolshevik plant was separated from February into a separate plant No. 174. By the end of 1932, the number of allied enterprises reached fifteen, including: Izhora Plant (armored hulls and turrets), “ Red October" (gearboxes and cardan shafts), "Red Putilovets" ( chassis), Bolshevik (semi-finished engines) and Plant No. 7 (boiler and tin products). In addition, it was planned to involve NAZ and AMO in the production of engines. On a number of them, problems arose with the production of such complex assemblies, as a result of which the delivery time of components was delayed, and the percentage of defects, according to the report of the director of plant No. 174 K. Sirken of April 26, reached 70-88% for engines and by corps. As a result of all this, the plan for the production of tanks was again frustrated: by July, only 241 tanks were handed over to the army in addition to those adopted in 1931, and in total, by the end of the year, the plant managed to produce, according to various sources, 1341 or 1410 tanks, of which it was presented for delivery was 1361, but only 950 were accepted.

The design of the tank was constantly improved during production. In addition to the introduction of new towers, in 1931 the engine was moved aft to provide it with better working conditions, and from the beginning of 1932, new fuel and oil tanks were introduced, and from March 1 of the same year, a box over the grate was installed on the T-26 an air vent that protected the engine from precipitation. S. Ginzburg also proposed in March 1932 to switch to an inclined front part of the hull, which would improve both the manufacturability and security of the tank, but this initiative was not supported. In January - March 1932, a batch of 22 machines with welded hulls was produced, but due to the lack of a production base at that time, welding was not widespread. Nevertheless, in 1932-1933 welding gradually began to be introduced into the construction of hulls and turrets, while in parallel hulls could be produced as an all-riveted and all-welded construction, as well as mixed riveted-welded ones. On the hulls, regardless of the design, both riveted or welded turrets, as well as turrets of mixed construction, could be installed, and turrets of different types sometimes fell on one tank. From September 1932, the armor protection of the tank was strengthened by replacing 13-mm armor plates with 15-mm ones.

T-26 with riveted hull and turrets and machine gun and cannon armament

In parallel, two variants of tanks were produced - with machine gun armament and with machine gun and cannon armament, consisting of a DT-29 machine gun in the left turret and a 37-mm cannon in the right. At the end of 1932, machine-gun tanks began to be produced with ball mounts for the new DTU machine guns, but since the latter were soon taken out of production, the tanks of these series turned out to be unarmed and later had to be replaced with turret front plates suitable for installing the old DT-29. Cannon tanks were equipped with a 37-mm Hotchkiss cannon or its modified Soviet version "Hotchkiss-PS". but the release of these guns was curtailed, and for arming the T-26, the guns had to be dismantled from the T-18 and even FT-17 withdrawn from the combat units. Even at the stage of preparation for the production of the T-26, it was supposed to arm it with a more powerful 37-mm PS-2 gun, but the prototypes of the latter were never brought to a working state. In addition, the PS-2 had a larger breech and recoil length compared to the PS-1, and on the T-26 it was supposed to be installed in the middle tower from the T-35 tank experienced at that time. Another alternative was the B-3 cannon, obtained by imposing the barrel of the Rheinmetall anti-tank gun on the PS-2 stock. Work on it was more successful, but in addition, due to the smaller size of the B-3, it could be installed in a standard machine-gun turret. Tests of the cannon in the tank in the fall of 1931 were successful, but the production of the B-3 unfolded much more slowly than expected, and only a small number of them were used on the T-26, and from the summer of 1932, all produced guns of this type were to be supplied to the armament of the BT tanks. -2. At the end of 1933, at the suggestion of M. Tukhachevsky, the installation of a 76-mm recoilless gun designed by L. Kurchevsky was worked out in one of the turrets of the tank, but the tests carried out on March 9, 1934 showed a number of shortcomings of such a weapon - the general underdevelopment of the design, the inconvenience of loading on the move, the formation behind guns when firing a jet of hot gases, dangerous for the accompanying infantry - as a result of which further work in this direction was stopped.

For the better organization of tank production, by order of the People's Commissariat for Heavy Industry of October 26, 1932, a special engineering trust was formed as part of plants No. 174, No. 37, Krasny Oktyabr and KhPZ. After getting acquainted with the state of affairs at the factories, the management of the trust turned to the government of the USSR with a proposal to reduce the program for the production of tanks. The proposal was supported and, according to the plan approved for 1933, Plant No. 174 was to produce 1700 tanks, and the main attention was to be directed to improving the quality of the produced vehicles. But these plans were corrected by the start of production of the single-turret version of the T-26 in the middle of 1933. Although M. Tukhachevsky advocated the continuation of the production of double-turret machine-gun vehicles, as the most suitable for escorting infantry, and at first both versions of the tank were produced in parallel, the single-turret T-26 replaced its predecessor in production by the end of the year, and plans for the production of a double-turret version for 1934 were adjusted in favor of releasing specialized variants such as Flamethrower/Chem Tanks. In total, the troops received, according to various sources, 1626 or 1627 twin-turret T-26s, of which about 450 had cannon-machine-gun armament, including about 20-30 vehicles were armed with B-3 cannons.

Transition to a single-turret tank

Although of the Mk.E variants proposed by Vickers-Armstrong, only a two-turreted machine-gun was selected for mass production in the USSR, back in 1931, S. Ginzburg secured funding for the creation of a “fighter tank” armed with a “high-power” 37-mm cannon ” and a 7.62-mm machine gun in a twin mount, housed in a single conical turret from the T-19 improved tank. But in reality, work on the single-turret T-26 began only in 1932. Mastering the assembly of a conical turret from curvilinear armor plates was difficult for the Soviet industry, so the first turret of this type, created by the Izhora plant by the spring of 1932 and intended for the BT-2 tank, had a cylindrical shape. A similar tower was supposed to be installed on the T-26 "tank-fighter" variant. During tests of the riveted and welded versions of the turret, preference was given to the first one, which was recommended for adoption after the identified deficiencies were corrected and a niche for the installation of a radio station was added to the rear. To conduct military tests, the Izhora plant had to produce a batch of 10 towers, according to various sources, from October 1932 or from January 21, 1933.

While work was underway on the turret, the issue of arming the tank was also being decided. The 37 mm gun B-3 was tested in the new turret in September-October 1932 and was recommended for adoption. But in May 1932, a 45-mm cannon mod. 1932, which also became a candidate for armament of tanks. Compared to the 37 mm cannon, the 45 mm had close armor penetration, but a much more effective fragmentation projectile with a much larger explosive charge. This made it possible to use the new tank not only as a specialized fighter, but also to replace the double-turreted version with it, as a universal tank for infantry support. At the beginning of 1933, the design bureau of plant No. 174 developed a twin installation of a 45-mm cannon and a machine gun, which successfully passed factory tests in March 1933. The main identified problem was the frequent failures of the semi-automatic guns, leading to the need for manual unloading, which significantly reduced the rate of fire. In February - March 1933, comparative tests of the B-3 and 20-K were carried out, in which both guns showed similar results, with the exception of continued semi-automatic failures in the 45-mm gun. Nevertheless, already in the spring of 1933, it was decided to adopt a single-turret T-26 with a 45-mm gun. But the double tower of the Izhora plant was considered too cramped and the design bureau of plant No. 174 developed several options for an increased volume, of which the leadership of the UMM of the Red Army chose a cylindrical balanced tower of a riveted-welded design, with a developed oval-shaped aft niche formed by a continuation of the side sheets.

According to the decision of the Defense Committee issued in December 1932, the production of a single-turret tank was to begin with the 1601 serial T-26. No difficulties were expected with the transition to a single-turret tank and it was planned to begin its production in the spring of 1933, but due to delays in the supply of guns and optical sights, it was only started in the summer. In addition to the production of the T-26 with turrets designed by plant No. 174, produced at the Izhora and Mariupol plants, a certain number of tanks also received turrets of the first variant with a small aft niche. According to some data, a single batch of such vehicles was made with turrets of an experimental batch of the Izhora plant, numbering no more than 10-15 units, while according to others, some, but also insignificant, the number of T-26s received tank-type turrets from among 230 manufactured by the Mariupol plant for BT-5 tanks. From the very beginning of the production of the single-turret T-26, the designers of plant No. 174 had to solve a number of problems. One of them was that it was not possible to achieve reliable operation of the mechanical semi-automatic gun 20-K - according to the report of the director of plant No. 8, in summer the semi-automatic gave up to 30% of failures, and in winter - "solid failures". To eliminate this, the special design bureau of plant No. 8 introduced a new semi-automatic inertial type and changed the recoil mechanisms. The modified mechanisms of the gun when firing fragmentation shells worked only as ¼ automatics, providing semi-automatic firing only with armor-piercing shells, but in tests the number of failures was reduced to 2%. Serial production of such a gun, which received the designation "arr. 1932/34, began in December 1933, and until the end of production of the T-26, it was its main armament without significant changes.

Captured single-turret T-26 with a welded hull and turret and a stamped gun mantlet, with Finnish emblems (Tank Museum in Parola, Finland)

Another problem was the T-26 engine, whose power, which at that time was 85-88 liters. s., seemed insufficient due to the ever-increasing mass of the tank, with the transition to a single-turret modification, it increased by another ton. In the fall of 1932, the Vickers-Armstrong company offered the Soviet side its upgraded version of the 100 hp engine. s., but after studying it technical description the specialists of plant No. 174 proposed to carry out a similar modernization of the engine on their own. It was expected that the installation of a new carburetor would increase engine power to 95 hp. s., however, tests of an experimental batch of modified engines showed their low reliability. It was possible to achieve satisfactory operation of the engine only in May 1933, deforcing it to 92 hp. Since 1933, Plant No. 174, and subsequently the Experimental Plant, has been developing an MT-4 air-cooled carburetor engine with a capacity of 200 liters for the T-26. with., as well as a two-stroke or four-stroke diesel engine DT-26 with a capacity of 95 liters. s., but their production was never started, although the engine compartment of the tank was slightly modified since 1934 to allow the installation of a diesel engine.

The development of the tank in other directions also continued. Since the 45-mm gun, when fired, created an unacceptable concentration carbon dioxide in the tank, since 1934, a fan was introduced on the right side of the roof of the fighting compartment. In 1935-1936, the transition to welded hulls was finally made, and the welded mantlet of the gun, which was labor-intensive to manufacture, was replaced by a stamped one in 1935. Of the planned measures to increase mobility, in addition to developing a new engine, which included improving the gearbox and final drives, it was possible to carry out only an increase in the power reserve by placing an additional fuel tank in the engine compartment. A number of other changes were introduced to reduce production costs and improve operational reliability. From the end of 1935, an additional ball mount with a DT-29 machine gun in the rear of the turret began to be installed on the T-26, and some of the machine guns began to be equipped with optical sights instead of diopter sights. At the end of 1935, a pivot anti-aircraft machine gun mount was developed for the tank, all with the same DT-29, but according to the results of tests in the troops, it was considered inconvenient and did not go into mass production. In addition, since 1935, based on every fifth tank, the T-26 for conducting combat operations at night began to be equipped with two spotlights fixed on the mask of the gun - the so-called "combat light headlights".

Single turret tank with radio station 71-TK

T-26 production

It is very difficult to understand how many T-26s were actually assembled. But, using the documents of the Russian state archives, RGAE and RGVA, you can try to figure it out.
It should be noted that telemechanical groups are included in these figures. At the moment, it is not possible to put them on a separate line. It is only known that in 1936-1937 37 groups were manufactured, in 1938-1939 - another 28. In addition, at the beginning of 1941, 130 double-turret tanks were converted into single-turret ones by installing turrets from KhT-133, but with 45- mm gun.

In 1940 military leadership issued an order to two Leningrad plants - Kirov and plant No. 174 to urgently create a tank weighing about 14 tons, armed with a 45-mm cannon and protected by moderate-thick anti-cannon armor. At first, this tank was listed under the brand name T-126SP (SP - infantry escort). Its prototypes were created at the end of 1940 and successfully tested. Preference was given to the tank of plant No. 174. A little later, in April 1940, a decree was issued on its adoption by the Red Army and on putting it into production at plant No. 174 under the T-50 index.

Since 1941, it was supposed to transfer the plant to the production of the T-50 tank, in connection with which the production of the T-26 tank was to be stopped from January 1, 1941. However, problems arose with the production of the T-50 tank, before the start of World War II, plant No. 174 did not produce a single serial tank of this type and actually continued to produce the T-26. The most serious difficulties arose with the development of the V-4 diesel engine (Kharkov Plant No. 75).

T-26 model 1939 with a conical turret and a welded hull.

Modifications

T-26 model 1931 - line tank, two-tower version with machine-gun armament;

T-26 model 1932 - line tank, two-turret version with cannon-machine gun armament (37-mm cannon in one of the towers and a machine gun in the other);

T-26 model 1933 - tank of the line, single-turret version with a cylindrical turret and a 45-mm gun. The most popular option.

T-26 model 1938 - line tank, single-turret version with a conical turret and a welded hull.

T-26 model 1939 - a variant of the T-26 model 1938 with enhanced armor. An improved conical turret and a turret box with sloping walls are also installed.

T-26RT - a single-turret tank with a 71-TK-1 radio station (since 1933).

T-26 TU (T-26 TU-132) - control tank in the telemechanical group. 65 cars were made.

T-26 TT (T-26 TT-131) - teletank in the telemechanical group. 65 cars were made.

T-26A - artillery support tank. A new, more spacious T-26-4 turret with a short-barreled 76-mm tank gun was installed. Produced 6 prototypes.

XT-26 chemical (flamethrower) tank

XT-26 chemical (flamethrower) tank. Double-turret modification (rear view)

XT-26 - chemical (flamethrower) tank, armament was located in one small tower. 552 tanks were produced and 53 converted from serial 2-turret T-26s.

XT-130 is a flamethrower tank, a variant of the 1933 model of the year, the flamethrower is installed in a cylindrical turret instead of a gun. 401 cars were produced.

XT-133 - a flamethrower tank, a variant of the 1938 model of the year, the flamethrower is mounted in a conical turret. 269 ​​tanks produced.

XT-134 is a flamethrower tank, a variant of the 1939 model. Armament: 45-mm tank gun 20K model 1932/38, flamethrower in the hull, 2 DT machine guns, two prototypes were produced.

The latest modification of the tank had 20 mm armor and a 45 mm model 1938 gun and a conical welded turret. Tanks with a conical turret were manufactured in 1975 units.

T-26T ("tractor T-26", "tractor T-26") artillery tractor with canvas top. Converted from 2 turret tanks 151 vehicles. Later, until 1941, another 50 units were converted from single-turret tanks.

T-26T artillery tractor with armored top. Converted into tractors 10 single-turreted tanks.

Bridgelayer ST-26

Design

The T-26 had a layout with the engine compartment in the rear, the transmission compartment in the front, and the combined fighting compartment and control compartment in the middle part of the tank. T-26 mod. 1931 and arr. 1932 had a two-tower layout, T-26 mod. 1933 and subsequent modifications - single-tower. The crew of the tank consisted of three people: on double-turrets - the driver, the gunner of the left turret and the tank commander, who also served as the gunner of the right turret; on single-tower ones - a driver, gunner and commander, who also performed the functions of a loader.

The layout of the T-26 tank (T-26 model 1931 and model 1932 had a two-tower layout)

Armament

Double-turret modifications

Armament T-26 arr. 1931 consisted of two 7.62 mm DT-29 machine guns, located in ball mounts in the frontal part of the towers. Guidance of machine guns was carried out with the help of diopter sights. The DT-29 had an effective firing range of 600-800 m and a maximum aiming range of 1000 m. The machine gun was fed from disk magazines with a capacity of 63 rounds, the rate of fire was 600, and the combat rate of fire was 100 rounds per minute. For firing, cartridges with heavy, armor-piercing, tracer, armor-piercing tracer and sighting bullets were used. As with other Soviet tanks, the machine guns were fitted with a quick-detachable mount to ensure their use by the crew outside the tank, for which the machine guns were equipped with bipods. Machine gun ammunition was 6489 rounds in 103 stores.

On double-turret T-26s with cannon-machine gun armament, a 37-mm Hotchkiss or B-3 rifled gun was installed in the right turret instead of a machine gun. The vast majority of tanks were armed with Hotchkiss guns, and only a small part, about 20-30 vehicles, were equipped with B-3s. The Hotchkiss gun had a monoblock barrel 22.7 caliber / 840 mm long, a vertical wedge breech, hydraulic recoil and spring knurler. To aim the gun, a telescopic optical sight manufactured by MMZ was used, which had a magnification of 2.45 × and a field of view of 14 ° 20 ′. The rate of fire of the Hotchkiss gun was up to 15 rounds per minute. The gun was placed on the frontal part of the tower on horizontal trunnions and in a vertical plane, ranging from -8 to +30 °, was induced by swinging with the help of a shoulder rest. Pointing the gun in a horizontal plane was carried out by turning the tower.

Two-tower cannon-machine-gun T-26 at the exercises of the 51st Perekop division near Odessa, 1932. In the background is a column of MS-1 tanks.

Single turret modifications

The main armament of the single-turret modifications was a 45-mm rifled semi-automatic gun mod. 1932 (20-K), and since 1934 - its modified version arr. 1932/34 The gun had a barrel with a free tube, fastened with a casing, 46 calibers / 2070 mm long, a vertical wedge gate with semi-automatic mechanical type on the gun mod. 1932 and inertial type on arr. 1932/34 The recoil devices consisted of a hydraulic recoil brake and a spring knurler; the normal recoil length was 275 mm for a mod. 1932 and 245 mm for arr. 1932/34 Semi-automatic gun mod. 1932/34 it worked only when firing armor-piercing shells, while when firing fragmentation, due to the shorter recoil length, it worked like ¼ automatic, providing only automatic closing of the bolt when a cartridge was inserted into it, while the bolt was opened and the cartridge case was extracted manually. The practical rate of fire of the gun was 7-12 rounds per minute.

Tower arr. 1933 as a firing point of the Minsk UR, ICC "Stalin Line"

The gun was placed in a coaxial installation with a machine gun, on trunnions in the frontal part of the turret. Guidance in the horizontal plane was carried out by turning the tower using a screw rotary mechanism. The mechanism had two gears, the speed of rotation of the tower in which for one revolution of the gunner's flywheel was 2 or 4 °. Guidance in the vertical plane, with maximum angles from -6 to +22 °, was carried out using a sector mechanism. Guidance of the twin installation was carried out using a panoramic periscope optical sight PT-1 arr. 1932 and telescopic TOP arr. 1930 PT-1 had a magnification of 2.5 × and a field of view of 26 °, and its reticle was designed for firing at a distance of up to 3.6 km with armor-piercing shells, 2.7 km with fragmentation and up to 1.6 km with from a coaxial machine gun. For shooting at night and in low light conditions, the sight was equipped with illuminated scales and crosshairs of the sight. The TOP had a magnification of 2.5 ×, a field of view of 15 °, and an aiming grid designed for firing at a distance of up to 6.4, 3 and 1 km, respectively. Since 1938, a TOP-1 (TOS-1) telescopic sight, stabilized in a vertical plane, with similar optical characteristics to the TOP, was installed on part of the tanks. The sight was equipped with a collimator device, which, when the gun oscillated in a vertical plane, automatically fired a shot when the position of the gun coincided with the aiming line. Cannon arr. 1934, adapted for use with a stabilized sight, was designated as mod. 1938 Due to the difficulty of using and training gunners, by the beginning of World War II, the stabilized sight was removed from service.

Tower T-26 arr. 1933. The breech of the 45-mm cannon and its aiming mechanisms are also visible, paired with the DT-29 cannon. The TOP sight is visible to the left of the gun, the PT-1 panoramic sight has been dismantled.

Means of observation and communication

The means of observation on the T-26 of the first batch were rudimentary and for the driver were limited to a viewing hatch, and for the commander and gunner - machine gun sights. Only in the autumn of 1931, an open viewing slot was introduced in the cover of the driver's hatch and towers of increased height, in the upper part of which there was a viewing hatch, in the cover of which there were two viewing slots.

Flag signaling served as the basic means of external communication on the T-26, and all double-turret tanks had only it. On the part of the produced single-turret tanks, which received the designation T-26RT, a radio station of the model 71-TK-1 was installed from the autumn of 1933. The share of the RT-26 was determined only by the volume of deliveries of radio stations, which were primarily equipped with the vehicles of unit commanders, as well as part of the line tanks. Since 1934, the modernized version 71-TK-2 was adopted, and since 1935 - 71-TK-3. 71-TK-3 was a special tank shortwave simplex telephone and telegraph radio station and had an operating range of 4-5.625 MHz, consisting of 65 fixed frequencies spaced 25 kHz apart. The maximum communication range in the telephone mode was 15-18 km on the move and 25-30 km from a stop, in the telegraph - up to 40 km; in the presence of interference from the simultaneous operation of many radio stations, the communication range could be halved. The radio station had a mass of 60 kg and an occupied volume of about 60 dm³. For internal communication between the tank commander and the driver on tanks of early releases, a speaking tube was used, later replaced by a light signaling device. Since 1937, on tanks equipped with a radio station, a TPU-3 tank intercom was installed for all crew members.

The front bogie and drive sprocket of the damaged T-26

Engine and transmission

GAZ-T-26

The T-26 was equipped with an in-line 4-cylinder four-stroke air-cooled carburetor engine, which was a copy of the British Armstrong-Sidley Puma and had the designation GAZ T-26. The engine had a working volume of 6600 cm³ and developed a maximum power of 91 hp. With. / 66.9 kW at 2100 rpm and a maximum torque of 35 kg m / 343 N m at 1700 rpm. In 1937-1938, a forced version of the engine was installed on the tank. According to some data, its power was 95 liters. s., according to others - could range from 93 to 96 liters. With. even according to passport data. The fuel for the forced engine was gasoline of the 1st grade, the so-called "Grozny". The specific fuel consumption was 285 g/l. s.h.

The engine was located in the engine compartment along the longitudinal axis of the tank, a feature of its configuration was the horizontal arrangement of the cylinders. To the right of the engine in the engine compartment was a fuel tank with a capacity of 182 liters, and the cooling system, which included one centrifugal fan, was located in a casing above the engine. From the middle of 1932, instead of one fuel tank, two were installed on the tank, with a capacity of 110 and 180 liters.

The T-26 transmission included:

Single disc main dry friction clutch (Ferodo steel) mounted on the engine.
- Cardan shaft passing through the fighting compartment.
- Five-speed (5 + 1) three-way manual gearbox located in the control compartment to the left of the driver.
- The turning mechanism, which consisted of two multi-plate side clutches of a springless type and band brakes with Ferodo linings.
- Single-stage final drives.

Chassis

Chassis T-26 in relation to one side consisted of eight dual rubberized road wheels with a diameter of 300 mm, four double rubberized support rollers with a diameter of 254 mm, a sloth and a front drive wheel. The suspension of the road wheels is interlocked in interchangeable bogies of four, on leaf springs. Each bogie consisted of two rocker arms with two rollers, one of which was pivotally connected to a cast balancer, which, in turn, was hinged to the tank body, and the other was mounted on two parallel quarter-elliptical springs rigidly connected to the balancer. The only change in the suspension during the serial production of the tank was its strengthening in 1939 due to the replacement of three-leaf springs with five-leaf ones, due to the increased mass of the tank. Caterpillars T-26 - 260 mm wide, with an open metal hinge, single-ridge, lantern gearing, made by casting from chromium-nickel or manganese steel.

SAU SU-5-1

Vehicles based on the T-26

Self-propelled artillery mounts

After the adoption of the T-26, earlier work on the creation of self-propelled artillery mounts (ACS), carried out on the basis of the T-18 and T-19, was transferred to its base. In accordance with the decree of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR of 1931 on an experimental weapon system, it was planned to develop self-propelled guns based on the T-26 for mechanized formations:

76.2-mm escort cannon, intended for artillery preparation and support of tanks and as an anti-tank weapon;
- 45-mm anti-tank gun for anti-tank defense and tank support;
- 37-mm anti-aircraft automatic gun to provide air defense of mechanized units on the march;

SU-1 was developed by the design bureau of the Bolshevik plant according to the assignment issued in the spring of 1931 for the installation of a regimental gun on the T-26 chassis. The self-propelled guns were armed with a 76.2 mm regimental cannon mod. 1927, placed on a pedestal installation in a fully closed armored cabin above the fighting compartment, which corresponded to the base tank in terms of protection. The ACS crew consisted of three people. The only SU-1 prototype was made in October 1931 and tested in November of the same year. According to the test results, the basic performance of the design and even some improvement in the accuracy of the gun compared to the towed version were noted, but serious shortcomings were also noted - the inconvenience of the crew working in a cramped fighting compartment, the lack of ammunition racks and defensive weapons. According to the decision of the UMM and GAU, after finalizing the design, the SU-1 was to be released in a series of 100 units, but in May 1932, work on it was stopped in favor of the T-26-4 artillery tank.

More active work self-propelled artillery were deployed after the adoption of the STO on March 22, 1934, the resolution on the rearmament of the Red Army with modern artillery equipment.

SU-5, the so-called "small triplex" - a family of self-propelled guns, developed in 1934 by the design bureau of the Experimental Plant of Spetsmashtrest. All vehicles of the family were located on the reconfigured T-26 chassis, which was distinguished by the transfer of the engine compartment to the middle part of the hull, to the left of the control compartment, and the placement of a semi-open fighting compartment in the aft part of the hull, protected by armor only in front. The thickness of the armor was reduced compared to the base tank - the hull was assembled from sheets 6 and 8 mm thick, and only the protection of the fighting compartment had a thickness of 15 mm. The crew of the self-propelled guns consisted of a driver and four gunmen. All variants of the self-propelled guns differed only in the type of gun and the mechanisms associated with it. The SU-5-1 was armed with a 76.2 mm cannon mod. 1902/30, SU-5-2 carried a 122 mm howitzer mod. 1910/30, and the SU-5-3 was armed with a 152-mm mortar mod. 1931 (NM). Due to the lack of space in the self-propelled guns to accommodate the necessary ammunition, it was planned to use an armored ammunition carrier, also based on the T-26.

The prototypes of each of the self-propelled guns were completed by the autumn of 1934 and in 1935 they passed factory tests, accompanied by intensive design refinement. All three variants of the SU-5 were put into service, but only the SU-5-2 entered mass production - the SU-5-1 was abandoned in favor of the AT-1, and the armament of the SU-5-3 turned out to be too powerful for the chassis T-26. According to some data, a total of 6 SU-5-1 and 3 SU-5-3 were manufactured, while according to others - only one sample of each of them. SU-5-2, in addition to the prototype, was released in 1936 in an experimental series of 30 copies. Based on the results of its military tests, it was supposed to finalize the design and begin large-scale production, but in 1937 all work on the SU-5 program was curtailed. Four SU-5-2s were used by the Red Army in the battles near Lake Khasan in 1938, and by the beginning of World War II, the troops had 28 self-propelled guns of this type, which were lost in the very first week of fighting.

ZSU SU-6

SU-6- ZSU based on the T-26, also developed by the Design Bureau of the Pilot Plant in 1934. The armament of the SU-6 was a 76-mm semi-automatic anti-aircraft gun mod. 1931 (3-K), located on a pedestal installation in the middle part of the tank, in a semi-open fighting compartment, defended by folding sides on the march. For self-defense, the ZSU was equipped with two DT-29 machine guns in the front and rear flaps. Compared to the base tank, the hull of the self-propelled guns, assembled from armor plates 6-8 mm thick, was enlarged, an additional roller with an individual spring suspension was added between the suspension bogies, and a hydraulic system for blocking it during firing was introduced into the entire suspension. In 1935, a prototype SU-6 was manufactured and tested, during which numerous breakdowns and overloading of the installation, as well as insufficient stability during firing, were noted. As a result, the SU-6 was not accepted into service, but in October-December 1936 it was tested with a 37-mm automatic gun designed by B. Shpitalny. The production of four more SU-6s with such weapons was started, but the tests of the 37-mm gun revealed its numerous shortcomings, as a result of which further work on the project was stopped.

Tractor T-26T

Tractors

Tractors T-26T had an open hull on top, and T-26T2 closed. Several of these machines survived until 1945.

armored personnel carriers

Several armored personnel carriers based on the T-26 were created, which participated in the battles.

TR-4 - armored personnel carrier.
- TR-26 - armored personnel carrier.
- TR-4-1 - ammunition transporter.

- Ts-26 - fuel transporter.
- T-26ts - fuel transporter.

Chemical tanks

ST (Adjunct Schmidt's Chemical Tank) is a project of a universal chemical tank designed for setting smoke screens, using chemical warfare agents, degassing the area and flamethrowing. Developed in the early 1930s. a team of designers under the leadership of an adjunct of the Military Technical Academy of the Red Army Grigory Efimovich Schmidt. The vehicle was a T-26 chassis with two tanks installed instead of turrets (600 l and 400 l), the hull was slightly modified due to the installation of special equipment and the need for sealing. The project was not implemented due to non-compliance with the requirement of maximum unification with serial T-26s.

OU-T-26 - the tank was developed by the staff of the NIO VAMM named after. Stalin under the leadership of Zh. Ya. Kotin in 1936, differed from the serial two-turreted T-26 tank by installing an additional flamethrower.

Radio-controlled tank TT-26 (217th separate tank battalion of the 30th chemical tank brigade), February 1940

Teletanks

On January 10, 1930, the commander of the Leningrad Military District, Mikhail Tukhachevsky, makes a report on the reorganization armed forces People's Commissar for Naval and Military Affairs Kliment Voroshilov of the Red Army on the need to create remotely controlled tanks. Tukhachevsky got acquainted with the work of the Bekauri Design Bureau, where radio-controlled weapons were developed since 1921 (at first they were radio-controlled aircraft), and was fascinated by the idea of ​​​​automating military equipment. Tukhachevsky proposes to create several divisions of radio-controlled tanks.

In 1931, Stalin approved a plan for the reorganization of troops, which relied on tanks.

Group members

The telemechanical tank group included a pair of two tanks: a control tank (TU), in which the operator performed radio control of the teletanks that were in front of them within sight, in which there was no longer a crew; controlled from TU teletank. In total, there were 61 pairs in service.

Teletanks (TT) and TUs were serial T-26 tanks with special equipment installed on them.

During the year, tankers were trained in the use of the TT-26. In addition to changing the movement vector, it was possible to change the angle of rotation of the turret, control the operation of the flamethrower, tack the tank under fire, and launch a smoke screen.

Very soon, these structures showed an "Achilles heel": once, during the exercises, the cars suddenly lost control. After a thorough inspection of the equipment, no damage was found. A little later, it was found that a high-voltage power line passing near the exercises interfered with the radio signal. Also, the radio signal was lost on rough terrain, in particular when it hit a large funnel formed by a projectile explosion.

Modification "Smokeman" TT-TU

Telemechanical group of T-26 tanks, made in 1938. Composition: telemechanical tank with a discharged explosive charge and a control tank.

Gross weight with equipment: 13.5 tons.
- Weight of the explosive device: 300-700 kg.
- Control distance: 500-1500 m.
- Armament: flamethrower and DT machine gun.

Teletanks based on the T-26 were successfully used in Soviet-Finnish war in February 1940, during the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line. It is precisely known about two episodes of undermining Finnish pillboxes in a difficult area. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, developments to improve teletanks ceased, the equipment from the tanks was removed, and the tanks themselves went to the front in their usual form.

Artillery tank AT-1

Production of armored vehicles on the T-26 chassis

TT-26 - teletank.
- TU-26 - a TT-26 teletank control tank as part of a telemechanical group.
- SU-5-1 - self-propelled guns with a 76.2-mm cannon (a small number).
- SU-5-2 - self-propelled guns with a 122-mm howitzer (a small number).
- SU-5-3 - self-propelled guns with a 152.4-mm mortar (a small number).
- T-26-T - armored artillery tractor based on the T-26 chassis. The early version had an unprotected turret, the late T-26-T2 was fully armored. A small number of tanks were produced in 1933 for a motorized artillery battery to tow divisional 76.2 mm guns. Some of them remained until 1945.
- TN-26 (Observer) - experimental observation version of the T-26-T, with a radio station and a crew of 5 people.
- T-26FT - photo reconnaissance tank (photo tank). The tank was intended for conducting film and photo reconnaissance, which was possible, including on the move. Reconnaissance was conducted through special openings for film and photographic equipment in the tower. The tank did not have a gun - it was replaced by a mock-up. The series was not launched.
- T-26E - In the Finnish army, after the Finnish campaign of 1940, Vickers Mk.E tanks, rearmed with a Soviet 45-mm cannon, were called T-26E. They were used in 1941-1944, and some remained in service until 1959.
- TR-4 - armored personnel carrier.
- TR-26 - armored personnel carrier.
- TP4-1 - ammunition transporter.
- TV-26 - ammunition transporter.
- T-26Ts - fuel transporter.
- TTs-26 - fuel transporter.
- ST-26 - sapper tank (bridge layer). Produced from 1933 to 1935. A total of 65 cars were assembled.

Leningrad Experimental Machine Building Plant No. 185 named after S. M. Kirov. The plant team produced a large number of armored vehicles. More than 20 models were designed on the T-26 light tank chassis alone. The design bureau of the plant under the leadership of P. N. Syachintov, in pursuance of the decree of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR of August 5, 1933 “The Artillery System of the Red Army for the Second Five-Year Plan”, developed in 1934 the so-called “small triplex” (SU-5). It included three self-propelled artillery mounts on a unified chassis of the T-26 tank - SU-5-1, SU-5-2 and SU-5-3 - which differed mainly in armament. A 152-mm mortar was installed on an experimental self-propelled artillery mount SU-5-3, created on the basis of the T-26 tank. The self-propelled guns successfully passed factory tests at the end of 1934, and the experimental vehicle was even sent to the traditional parade on Red Square. In 1935, however, it was decided to abandon its mass production - the chassis of the T-26 tank was not strong enough for the normal operation of a gun of such a significant caliber. The fate of the prototype is unknown, according to some reports, it was converted into self-propelled guns SU-5-2 with a 122-mm howitzer mod. 1910/30 In 1933, the plant began designing a turretless artillery tank based on the T-26. AT-1(self-propelled artillery installation of a closed type), armed with a new promising 76-mm gun PS-3. Tank tests took place in 1935.

In accordance with STO Decree No. 51 of June 1933 "on the manufacture of two prototypes of non-floating wheeled-tracked tanks of the PT-1 type", in 1934 the plant manufactured two prototypes of wheeled-tracked tanks, which received the name T-29-4 and T-29-5. A prototype of the T-29 reference tank was manufactured by the plant in 1935.

By mid-October 1935, the SU-6 self-propelled gun was made on the basis of the T-26 tank.

German self-propelled guns on the chassis of captured T-26 (Pak 97/38)

At the end of 1943, the Germans in the field installed 10 Pak 97/38 guns (French-German) on the chassis of captured Soviet T-26 tanks. The resulting tank destroyer was named 7.5 cm Pak 97/38(f) auf Pz.740(r). The new self-propelled guns entered service with the 3rd company of the 563rd anti-tank division. However, their combat service did not last long - on March 1, 1944 they were replaced by self-propelled guns Marder III.

Tank T-26 with a radio station

Operation and combat use

T-26s took part in the battles of the civil war in Spain, near Lake Khasan and on the Khalkhin Gol River, in the Polish campaign and the Soviet-Finnish war.

Along with the BT, the T-26 tanks formed the basis of the Soviet tank fleet before and during the Great Patriotic War. initial period. It should be noted that tanks of the T-26 type were popular at one time, but the lack of coordination in tank units (sometimes there was simply no radio in the tank) and the slowness of the T-26 made it easy prey for enemy tanks. But there were several tricks that were specific to the T-26, which turned it into a meat grinder on the front line. Here is what is known from the chronicles [source not specified 2219 days]: “T-26 tanks, equipped with two turrets, were used as infantry fire support tanks. The length (wheel) base was about 2 meters. The width of the infantry trenches was about 50-70 cm. This made it possible to use the T-26 in the first line of attack and clear the enemy's trenches. The tank stood up on the trench, turned the towers at 90 degrees to the course, so that the right tower covered the right side of the tank, similarly for the left. Then the machine gunners fired closely at the infantry, shooting through the entire trench in one burst.

One of the significant drawbacks of the double-turret models was that the right and left arrows periodically prevented each other from firing. With the advent of anti-tank rifles, the use of the T-26 became more risky. The armor on the latest models was made thicker and set at a sharper angle (it was believed that this contributed to the ricochet of bullets and shells, which did not always help out). For single-turret T-26s, the welded turret was shifted to the left. The gun and machine gun were mounted in a twin installation, protected by an armored mask. Some of the tanks received an additional machine gun in the aft niche of the turret, which could also be installed as an anti-aircraft gun on the turret of the commander's hatch of the turret. But after the modernization, the tank became heavier (the armor is thicker) and slightly lost in speed. At the same time, the armor of the tank remained bulletproof. Despite the weak armor protection, the tank was tenacious due to the fact that the engine and tanks were located in the aft compartment behind the partition. This tank had a record for that time ammunition - 230 37-mm shells, both armor-piercing and incendiary.

T-26 of the republican 11th international brigade in the battle near Belchite, 1937. Tank T-26 single-turret, arr. 1933, with cylindrical turret

Spanish Civil War

In total, 281 T-26 tanks were sent to Spain

1936—106
- 1937—150
- 1938 — 25

During civil war in Spain, on October 29, 1936, Semyon Osadchiy on the T-26 tank made the world's first tank ram, pushing the Italian Ansaldo tankette into the hollow.

T-26 in China

Battles at Lake Khasan and Khalkhin Gol

During the battles near Lake Khasan, 77 T-26s were lost, of which 1 KhT-26 and 10 T-26s were irretrievably lost, and one T-26 from the 40th brigade, missing on enemy territory, was never found. 2 more tanks were destroyed in the battles near the Khalkhin-Gol River.

Polish campaign of the Red Army

During the liberation campaign in Poland, 10 T-26s with a 45-mm cannon were irretrievably lost.

Soviet-Finnish war

In the Winter War, the Red Army lost 23 double-turret and 253 single-turret tanks.

The Great Patriotic War

On the right flank, in no man's land, a T-26 is moving towards us, towing another, wrecked. The cannon of the downed man looks down, his stern smokes a little. An enemy tank is rapidly approaching the slowly crawling tug. It goes straight to the back of his head, and several other German cars stopped behind him in the distance. I understand his maneuver: hiding behind a damaged, towed tank, he seeks to get closer, so that, turning to the side, he can shoot the towing vehicle on the move. Two people fall out of the tug tower one after another. Having jumped from the stern to the towed tank, they disappear into the open hole of the driver's hatch. The cannon of the wrecked tank trembled, rose to meet the pursuer and flashed twice with flame. The German tank stumbled and froze...

- From the memoirs of G. Penezhko, Hero of the Soviet Union

The most intensive use of tanks of this type was during the Winter War on the Finnish front in 1940, as well as at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in 1941. T-26 tanks were the most numerous in the Soviet army at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. In the very first months of the war, most of these tanks (along with tanks of other, more advanced models) were lost. As of October 28, 1941, there were 441 tanks on the Western Front, including 33 KV-1, 175 T-34, 43 BT, 50 T-26, 113 T-40 and 32 T-60. The last time the T-26 was used was in 1945 against the Kwantung Army in Manchuria.

Project evaluation

Tanks of the BT and T-26 series formed the basis of the tank fleet of the Red Army in the late 1930s. The armor protection of the T-26 was designed for maximum resistance to rifle bullets and shell fragments. At the same time, the armor of the T-26 was easily penetrated by armor-piercing rifle bullets from a distance of 50-100m. Therefore, one of the directions of development Soviet tank building there was a radical increase in the armor protection of tanks from the fire of the most massive anti-tank weapons.

The Spanish Civil War, in which the T-26 and BT-5 light tanks supplied to the republican government took an active part, demonstrated the ever-increasing role of anti-tank artillery and the saturation of armies with it. developed countries. At the same time, the main anti-tank weapons were not anti-tank rifles and heavy machine guns, and rapid-fire small-caliber guns of 25-47 mm caliber. Which, as practice has shown, easily hit tanks with bulletproof armor, and breaking through a defense saturated with such guns could cost heavy losses in armored vehicles. Analyzing the development of foreign anti-tank weapons, the chief designer of plant No. 174 S. Ginzburg wrote:

The power and rate of fire of modern 37-mm anti-tank guns is sufficient to make an unsuccessful attack by a company of thin-armored tanks carried out in ranks by platoon, provided that 1-2 anti-tank guns are available for 200-400 m of front defense ...

Already at the beginning of 1938, the Soviet military realized that the T-26 was rapidly becoming obsolete, which was noted by S. A. Ginzburg a year and a half before. By 1938, the T-26, while still superior to foreign vehicles in terms of armament, began to yield to them in other respects. First of all, the weak armor and insufficient mobility of the tank were noted due to the low engine power and the congestion of the suspension. Moreover, the trends in the development of world tank building at that time were such that in the very near future the T-26 could lose its last advantage in armament, that is, by the beginning of the 1940s. become completely obsolete. The leadership of the USSR in 1938 finally decided to develop new types of tanks with anti-ballistic armor and stop the modernization of the completely obsolete T-26 and BT.

Stuck in a swamp and abandoned Soviet light tank T-26. By characteristics, car produced in 1936-1937.

On June 22, 1941, there were about 10 thousand T-26s in the Red Army. Weak (bulletproof) armor and low mobility of the tank were among the factors that led to the low efficiency of the use of these tanks in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War. However, it should be noted that booking most German tanks and self-propelled guns of that time was, in turn, vulnerable to 37- or 45-mm T-26 guns. Most of the T-26 tanks were lost by the Soviet side in the first six months of the war.

A fairly significant part of the losses of the tank troops of the Red Army in the summer of 1941 was of a non-combat nature. Due to the suddenness of the start of the war, the service engineering personnel were not called up in terms of material support for tank units. Also, tractors for the evacuation of equipment and tankers were not transferred to the Red Army. Worn-out old T-26 and BT tanks, together with the unfinished T-34 and KV, broke down and rushed into the territory occupied by the enemy during over-forced marches, as a result of deep breakthroughs of the Wehrmacht, some tanks were captured even on railway platforms - they did not have time to unload them to join the fight or evacuate to the rear for repairs. Some observers explained the defeats of the Red Army in the first period of the Great Patriotic War by the low qualifications of the higher and middle command personnel. As the former commander of the 14th howitzer battery, who was captured near Senno, said during interrogation tank division, Ya. I. Dzhugashvili:

The failures of the Soviet tank forces are due not to the poor quality of materials or weapons, but to the inability of command and lack of experience in maneuvering. Commanders of brigades-divisions-corps are not able to solve operational tasks. This is especially true for the interaction various kinds armed forces.

The performance characteristics of the T-26

Crew, people: 3
Years of production: 1931-1941
Years of operation: 1931-1960
Number of issued, pcs.: 11 218
Layout scheme: double tower

Weight T-26

9.65 tons (mod. 1936)

Dimensions T-26

Case length, mm: 4620
- Hull width, mm: 2440
- Height, mm: 2190
- Clearance, mm: 380

Armor T-26

Armor type: steel rolled homogeneous
- Forehead of the hull, mm / city: 15
- Hull board, mm / city: 15
- Hull feed, mm / city: 15
- Bottom, mm: 6
- Hull roof, mm: 10
- Tower forehead, mm / city: 15
- Gun mask, mm / city: 15
- Tower board, mm / city: 15
- Tower feed, mm / city: 15
- Tower roof, mm: 6

Armament T-26

Gun caliber and brand: 45 mm 20K
- Barrel length, calibers: 46
- Machine guns: 2 × 7.62 mm DT

Engine T-26

Engine type: in-line 4-cylinder air-cooled carburetor
- Engine power, l. p.: 90—91

T-26 speed

Highway speed, km/h: 30
- Power reserve on the highway, km: 120
- Suspension type: interlocked by four, on leaf springs
- Climbability, degrees: 40°
- overcome wall, m: 0.75
- Crossable ditch, m: 2.0
- Crossable ford, m: 0.8

Photo T-26

A Soviet T-26 light tank abandoned on a road in a village due to an engine failure. The crew tried to fix the malfunction and start the engine, but after unsuccessful attempts, they abandoned the car.

Films about tanks where there is still no alternative to this type of armament of the ground forces. The tank was and probably will remain a modern weapon for a long time due to the ability to combine such seemingly contradictory qualities as high mobility, powerful weapons and reliable crew protection. These unique qualities of tanks continue to be constantly improved, and the experience and technologies accumulated over decades predetermine new frontiers of combat properties and military-technical achievements. In the age-old confrontation "projectile - armor", as practice shows, protection from a projectile is being improved more and more, acquiring new qualities: activity, multilayeredness, self-protection. At the same time, the projectile becomes more accurate and powerful.

Russian tanks are specific in that they allow you to destroy the enemy from a safe distance, have the ability to perform quick maneuvers on impassable roads, contaminated terrain, can “walk” through the territory occupied by the enemy, seize a decisive bridgehead, induce panic in the rear and suppress the enemy with fire and caterpillars . The war of 1939-1945 was the most ordeal for all mankind, since almost all countries of the world were involved in it. It was the battle of the titans - the most unique period that theorists argued about in the early 1930s and during which tanks were used in large numbers by almost all the warring parties. At this time, a "check for lice" and a deep reform of the first theories of the use of tank troops took place. And it is the Soviet tank troops that are most affected by all this.

Tanks in battle that became a symbol of the past war, the backbone of the Soviet armored forces? Who created them and under what conditions? How did the USSR, which lost most of his European territories and with difficulty recruiting tanks for the defense of Moscow, was he able to release powerful tank formations on the battlefield already in 1943? This book, which tells about the development of Soviet tanks "in the days of trials", from 1937 to early 1943. When writing the book, materials from the archives of Russia and private collections of tank builders were used. There was a period in our history that was deposited in my memory with some depressing feeling. It began with the return of our first military advisers from Spain, and stopped only at the beginning of forty-third, - said the former general designer of self-propelled guns L. Gorlitsky, - there was some kind of pre-stormy state.

Tanks of the Second World War, it was M. Koshkin, almost underground (but, of course, with the support of "the wisest of the wise leader of all peoples"), who was able to create that tank that, a few years later, would shock German tank generals. And what’s more, he didn’t just create it, the designer managed to prove to these stupid military men that it was his T-34 that they needed, and not just another wheeled-tracked “highway”. The author is in slightly different positions that he formed after meeting with the pre-war documents RGVA and RGAE Therefore, working on this segment of the history of the Soviet tank, the author will inevitably contradict something "generally accepted". this work describes the history of Soviet tank building in the most difficult years - from the beginning of a radical restructuring of all the activities of design bureaus and people's commissariats as a whole, during a frantic race to equip new tank formations of the Red Army, the transfer of industry to wartime rails and evacuation.

Tanks Wikipedia the author wants to express his special gratitude for the help in the selection and processing of materials to M. Kolomiyets, and also to thank A. Solyankin, I. Zheltov and M. Pavlov, the authors of the reference publication "Domestic armored vehicles. XX century. 1905 - 1941" because this book helped to understand the fate of some projects, unclear before. I would also like to recall with gratitude those conversations with Lev Izraelevich Gorlitsky, the former Chief Designer of UZTM, which helped to take a fresh look at the entire history of the Soviet tank during the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. Today, for some reason, it is customary to talk about 1937-1938 in our country. only from the point of view of repressions, but few people remember that it was during this period that those tanks were born that became legends of the wartime ... "From the memoirs of L.I. Gorlinkogo.

Soviet tanks, a detailed assessment of them at that time sounded from many lips. Many old people recalled that it was from the events in Spain that it became clear to everyone that the war was getting closer to the threshold and it was Hitler who would have to fight. In 1937, mass purges and repressions began in the USSR, and against the backdrop of these difficult events, the Soviet tank began to turn from a "mechanized cavalry" (in which one of its combat qualities protruded by reducing others) into a balanced combat vehicle, which simultaneously had powerful weapons, sufficient to suppress most targets, good cross-country ability and mobility with armor protection, capable of maintaining its combat capability when shelling a potential enemy with the most massive anti-tank weapons.

It was recommended that large tanks be introduced into the composition in addition only special tanks - floating, chemical. The brigade now had 4 separate battalions of 54 tanks each and was reinforced by the transition from three-tank platoons to five-tank ones. In addition, D. Pavlov justified the refusal to form in 1938 to the four existing mechanized corps three more additionally, believing that these formations are immobile and difficult to control, and most importantly, they require a different organization of the rear. The tactical and technical requirements for promising tanks, as expected, have been adjusted. In particular, in a letter dated December 23 to the head of the design bureau of plant No. 185 named after. CM. Kirov, the new chief demanded to strengthen the armor of new tanks so that at a distance of 600-800 meters (effective range).

The latest tanks in the world when designing new tanks, it is necessary to provide for the possibility of increasing the level of armor protection during modernization by at least one step ... "This problem could be solved in two ways: First, by increasing the thickness of the armor plates and, secondly," by using increased armor resistance". It is easy to guess that the second way was considered more promising, since the use of specially hardened armor plates, or even two-layer armor, could, while maintaining the same thickness (and the mass of the tank as a whole), increase its resistance by 1.2-1.5 It was this path (the use of specially hardened armor) that was chosen at that moment to create new types of tanks.

Tanks of the USSR at the dawn of tank production, armor was most massively used, the properties of which were identical in all directions. Such armor was called homogeneous (homogeneous), and from the very beginning of the armor business, the craftsmen strove to create just such armor, because uniformity ensured stability of characteristics and simplified processing. However, at the end of the 19th century, it was noticed that when the surface of the armor plate was saturated (to a depth of several tenths to several millimeters) with carbon and silicon, its surface strength increased sharply, while the rest of the plate remained viscous. So heterogeneous (heterogeneous) armor came into use.

In military tanks, the use of heterogeneous armor was very important, since an increase in the hardness of the entire thickness of the armor plate led to a decrease in its elasticity and (as a result) to an increase in brittleness. Thus, the most durable armor with other equal conditions it turned out to be very fragile and often pricked even from bursts of high-explosive fragmentation shells. Therefore, at the dawn of armor production in the manufacture of homogeneous sheets, the task of the metallurgist was to achieve the highest possible hardness of the armor, but at the same time not to lose its elasticity. Surface-hardened by saturation with carbon and silicon armor was called cemented (cemented) and was considered at that time a panacea for many ills. But cementation is a complex, harmful process (for example, processing a hot plate with a jet of lighting gas) and relatively expensive, and therefore its development in a series required high costs and an increase in production culture.

Tank of the war years, even in operation, these hulls were less successful than homogeneous ones, since for no apparent reason cracks formed in them (mainly in loaded seams), and it was very difficult to put patches on holes in cemented slabs during repairs. But still, it was expected that a tank protected by 15-20 mm cemented armor would be equivalent in terms of protection to the same, but covered with 22-30 mm sheets, without a significant increase in mass.
Also, by the mid-1930s, in tank building, they learned how to harden the surface of relatively thin armor plates by uneven hardening, known since the end of the 19th century in shipbuilding as the "Krupp method". Surface hardening led to a significant increase in the hardness of the front side of the sheet, leaving the main thickness of the armor viscous.

How tanks shoot videos up to half the thickness of the plate, which, of course, was worse than carburizing, since despite the fact that the hardness of the surface layer was higher than during carburizing, the elasticity of the hull sheets was significantly reduced. So the "Krupp method" in tank building made it possible to increase the strength of armor even somewhat more than carburizing. But the hardening technology that was used for sea armor of large thicknesses was no longer suitable for relatively thin tank armor. Before the war, this method was almost never used in our serial tank building due to technological difficulties and relatively high cost.

Combat use of tanks The most developed for tanks was the 45-mm tank gun mod 1932/34. (20K), and before the event in Spain, it was believed that its power was enough to perform most tank tasks. But the fighting in Spain showed that the 45-mm gun can only satisfy the task of fighting enemy tanks, since even the shelling of manpower in the conditions of mountains and forests turned out to be ineffective, and it was only possible to disable a dug-in enemy firing point in the event of a direct hit. Shooting at shelters and bunkers was ineffective due to the small high-explosive action of a projectile weighing only about two kg.

Types of tanks photo so that even one hit of a projectile reliably disables an anti-tank gun or machine gun; and thirdly, in order to increase the penetrating effect of a tank gun on the armor of a potential enemy, since, using the example of French tanks (already having an armor thickness of the order of 40-42 mm), it became clear that the armor protection of foreign combat vehicles tends to be significantly increased. There was a right way to do this - increasing the caliber of tank guns and simultaneously increasing the length of their barrel, since a long gun of a larger caliber fires heavier projectiles at a higher muzzle velocity over a greater distance without correcting the pickup.

The best tanks in the world had a large caliber gun, also has big sizes breech, significantly more weight and increased recoil reaction. And this required an increase in the mass of the entire tank as a whole. In addition, the placement of large shots in the closed volume of the tank led to a decrease in the ammunition load.
The situation was aggravated by the fact that at the beginning of 1938 it suddenly turned out that there was simply no one to give an order for the design of a new, more powerful tank gun. P. Syachintov and his entire design team were repressed, as well as the core of the Bolshevik Design Bureau under the leadership of G. Magdesiev. Only the group of S. Makhanov remained free, who from the beginning of 1935 tried to bring his new 76.2-mm semi-automatic single gun L-10, and the team of plant No. 8 slowly brought the "forty-five".

Photos of tanks with names The number of developments is large, but in mass production in the period 1933-1937. not a single one was accepted ... "In fact, none of the five air-cooled tank diesel engines, which were worked on in 1933-1937 in the engine department of plant No. 185, was brought to the series. Moreover, despite the decisions on the highest levels of the transition in tank building exclusively to diesel engines, this process was held back by a number of factors.Of course, diesel had significant efficiency.It consumed less fuel per unit of power per hour.Diesel fuel is less prone to ignition, since the flash point of its vapors was very high.

Even the most advanced of them, the MT-5 tank engine, required reorganization of engine production for serial production, which was expressed in the construction of new workshops, the supply of advanced foreign equipment (there were no machine tools of the required accuracy yet), financial investments and strengthening personnel. It was planned that in 1939 this diesel engine with a capacity of 180 hp. will go to serial tanks and artillery tractors, but due to investigative work to find out the causes of tank engine accidents, which lasted from April to November 1938, these plans were not fulfilled. The development of a slightly increased six-cylinder gasoline engine No. 745 with a capacity of 130-150 hp.

Brands of tanks with specific indicators that suited the tank builders quite well. Tank tests were carried out according to a new methodology, specially developed at the insistence of the new head of the ABTU D. Pavlov in relation to military service in wartime. The basis of the tests was a run of 3-4 days (at least 10-12 hours of daily non-stop traffic) with a one-day break for technical inspection and restoration work. Moreover, repairs were allowed to be carried out only by field workshops without the involvement of factory specialists. This was followed by a "platform" with obstacles, "bathing" in the water with an additional load, simulating an infantry landing, after which the tank was sent for examination.

Super tanks online after the improvement work seemed to remove all claims from the tanks. And the general course of the tests confirmed the fundamental correctness of the main design changes - an increase in displacement by 450-600 kg, the use of the GAZ-M1 engine, as well as the Komsomolets transmission and suspension. But during the tests, numerous minor defects again appeared in the tanks. Chief designer N. Astrov was suspended from work and was in custody and under investigation for several months. In addition, the tank received a new improved protection turret. The modified layout made it possible to place on the tank a larger ammunition load for a machine gun and two small fire extinguishers (before there were no fire extinguishers on small tanks of the Red Army).

US tanks as part of modernization work, on one serial model of the tank in 1938-1939. the torsion bar suspension developed by the designer of the Design Bureau of Plant No. 185 V. Kulikov was tested. It was distinguished by the design of a composite short coaxial torsion bar (long monotorsion bars could not be used coaxially). However, such a short torsion bar did not show good enough results in tests, and therefore the torsion bar suspension did not immediately pave its way in the course of further work. Obstacles to be overcome: rises of at least 40 degrees, vertical wall 0.7 m, overlapping ditch 2-2.5 m.

YouTube about tanks work on the production of prototypes of D-180 and D-200 engines for reconnaissance tanks is not being carried out, jeopardizing the production of prototypes. "Justifying his choice, N. Astrov said that a wheeled-tracked non-floating reconnaissance aircraft (factory designation 101 10-1), as well as the amphibious tank version (factory designation 102 or 10-2), are a compromise solution, since it is not possible to fully meet the requirements of the ABTU.Variant 101 was a tank weighing 7.5 tons with a hull according to the type of hull, but with vertical side sheets of case-hardened armor 10-13 mm thick, because: "Sloped sides, causing serious weighting of the suspension and hull, require a significant (up to 300 mm) broadening of the hull, not to mention the complication of the tank.

Video reviews of tanks in which the power unit of the tank was planned to be based on the 250-horsepower MG-31F aircraft engine, which was mastered by the industry for agricultural aircraft and gyroplanes. Gasoline of the 1st grade was placed in a tank under the floor of the fighting compartment and in additional onboard gas tanks. The armament fully met the task and consisted of coaxial machine guns DK caliber 12.7 mm and DT (in the second version of the project even ShKAS appears) caliber 7.62 mm. The combat weight of a tank with a torsion bar suspension was 5.2 tons, with a spring suspension - 5.26 tons. The tests were carried out from July 9 to August 21 according to the methodology approved in 1938, with special attention paid to tanks.