Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 24. Chapters: T-26, Char 2C, FCM F1, Vickers 6-Ton, T-28, T-35, Medium Mark III, Cruiser Mk I, Neubaufahrzeug, T-24 tank, Vickers A1E1 Independent, T-100 tank, SMK tank, Type 95 Heavy Tank. Excerpt: The T-26 tank was a Soviet light infantry tank used during many conflicts of the 1930s as well as during World War II. It was a development of the British Vickers 6-Ton tank and is widely considered one of the most successful tank designs of the 1930s. It was produced in greater numbers than any other tank of the period, with more than 11,000 produced. During the 1930s, the USSR developed approximately 53 variants of the T-26, including other combat vehicles based on its chassis. Twenty-three of these were mass-produced. The T-26 was used extensively in the armies of Spain, China and Turkey. In addition, captured T-26 light tanks were used by the Finnish, German, Romanian and Hungarian armies. Though nearly obsolete by the beginning of World War II, the T-26 was the most important tank of the Spanish Civil War and played a significant role during the Battle of Lake Khasan in 1938 as well as in the Winter War in 1939-40. The T-26 was the most numerous tank in the Red Army's armored force during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. The Soviet T-26 light tanks last saw use in August 1945, during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. The T-26 was reliable and simple to maintain, and its design was continually modernised between 1931 and 1941. However, no new models of the T-26 were developed after 1940. The T-26 was a Soviet development of the British Vickers 6-Ton (Vickers Mk.E) light tank, which was designed by the Vickers-Armstrongs Company in 1928-1929. The simple and easy to maintain Vickers 6-Ton was intended especially for export to less technically advanced countries: the Soviet Union, Poland, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Thailand, China and many others. Vickers advertised the tank in military publications, and both the Soviet Union and Poland expressed interest in the Vickers design. In spring 1930, the Soviet buying committee, under the direction of Semyon Ginzburg, arrived in Great Britain to select tanks, tractors and cars to be used in the Red Ar