The Soviets' main battle tank of the Winter War was the T-26 which was based on the British Vickers. The primary production of the single turrent T26 began in 1933 and there were several versions of these tanks manufactured. The armaments varied on the tanks but the standard cannon was a 45mm; however, there were also T26 types whose main gun was a flame thrower and these also saw use in the Winter War. The machine gun was the tanker version of the Degtyarev DP-27, with the version issued to armored units was known as the DT. The DT was such an outstanding machine gun that captured examples became the standard machine guns in Finnish tanks in the Continuation War (1941-44). For its time the T26, and its variants, were very good tanks. Two notable design improvements came about in 1939, which was the change to a sloped armor as well as the improvement of the air ventilator access. The later provided assist in protection from Molotov Cocktails which were effective against the tanks, both in Spain and in Finland. Tank technology rapidly increased in the years just before and after the Winter War but the T26 was still an important fixture with the Red Army until being phased out by the T34 battle tank.
The 1933 model of the T26 tank with
a 45mm cannon.
Brent Snodgrass
Another view of 1933 model of the T26 tank.
Brent Snodgrass
The DT machine gun, standard
of both the Soviet and Finnish armored forces.
Brent Snodgrass
One of the more uncommon tanks seen in the Winter War was the T28
which was a multi-turret tank and a much heavier
tank than the T26 and was armed with a 76mm cannon.
T28 tank
Brent Snodgrass
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