The T-26 was a Russian light tank based on the British Vickers Six-Ton tank. The T-26 Model 1931, a twin turret machinegun tank, went in service in 1931 and was used mostly during the outbreak of the war. The Polish 7TPdw is a nice example of a twin turret tank. In 1933, the Soviets unveiled the T-26 Model 1933. The Model 1933, with a new single cylindrical turret carrying one 45 mm cannon and one 7.62 mm machine gun, would become the most common T-26 variant. It would be the most numerous tank at the time of the German invasion in 1941. The 45 mm 20K tank gun was based on the Soviet 45 mm anti-tank gun 19K (model 1932). The T-26 could carry up to three secondary DT 7.62 mm machine guns in coaxial, rear, and anti-aircraft mounts. This increased firepower was intended to aid crews in defeating dedicated anti-tank teams, as the original machine gun armament had been found insufficient. The turret rear ball mounting for the additional DT tank machine gun was installed on the T-26 tanks from the end of 1935 until 1939. The T-26 Model 1933 carried 122 rounds of 45 mm ammunition, firing armour-piercing 45 mm rounds with a muzzle velocity of 820 m/s (2,700 ft/s), or lower-velocity high-explosive rounds. Tanks intended for company commanders were equipped with a radio set and a hand-rail radio antenna on the turret (called radio tanks). Later the hand-rail antenna was replaced with a buggy-whip antenna, because the Spanish Civil War and Battle of Lake Khasan demonstrated that the hand-rail antenna unmasked commander tanks for enemy fire.
Finland[]
The T-26 in many of its variations were used in combat against Finland in the Winter War of 1939-1940 and early Continuation War of 1941-1944. Many were captured by the Finnish and were put to use, the T-26 would be the most common tank used by the Finnish army. The tanks were marked with either blue and white stripes on the turret or a type of swastika, a symbol that had been in use in Finland since 1918. While no use against a T-34 or KV-1 they could be fielded where the Soviets still had no or equivalent tanks. After the peace treaty with soviets which included that the Finnish army had to remove any German forces from their country T-26 tanks were fielded against them, the Germans had mostly captured French Somua S-35 and Hotchkiss tanks which were about as obsolete as the T-26.
Flamethrower tanks were made on the T-26 gun tank design by exchanging the 45mm gun with a KS-25 flamethrower in the main turret and installing flamethrower fuel tanks. Another minor difference was that the turret position was shifted from the left to the right side of the hull, this can be used to identify Finnish captured vehicles that had a 45mm gun retrofitted. Before the OT-130 there was the OT-26 or kht-26 which basically was a twin turret tank with one turret removed and a flamethrower installed alongside the machine gun in the remaining turret on the right side of the hull. Ingame we have the model with the KS-25 flamethrouwer which can have a range of 50 metres.