T-26 Light Tank: Backbone of the Red Army

By Steven J. Zaloga and Henry Morshead

The T-26 was the first major Soviet armour program of the 1930s, beginning as a license-built version of the British Vickers 6-ton export tank. Although the T-26 retained the basic Vickers hull and suspension, the Red Army began to make extensive changes to the turret and armament, starting with the addition of a 45mm tank gun in 1933. The T-26 was built in larger numbers than any other tank prior to World War II. Indeed, more T-26 tanks were manufactured than the combined tank production of Germany, France, Britain, and the United States in 1931–40. This book surveys the development of the T-26 as well as its combat record in the Spanish Civil War, the war in China, the border wars with Poland and Finland in 1939–40, and the disastrous battles of 1941 during Operation Barbarossa.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Jan 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781472806277

Steven J. Zaloga

Steven J. Zaloga received his BA in History from Union College and his MA from Columbia University. He has worked as an analyst in the aerospace industry for three decades, covering missile systems and the international arms trade, and has served with the Institute for Defense Analyses, a federal think tank. He is the author of numerous books on military technology and history, including NVG 294 Allied Tanks in Normandy 1944 and NVG 283 American Guided Missiles of World War II. He currently lives in Maryland, USA.

Reviews for T-26 Light Tank

[shrike58 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another typically good title by Zaloga on the topic of hand; what mostly comes to my mind is how it's now possible to simply write a normal monograph on a matter of Soviet military history with very little guess work. The one thing that surprised me a little was how heavily invested the Red Army was in flamethrower tanks.