T-26E

From WarThunder-Wiki

Contents
1 General info
1.1 The main purpose, usage and tactics recommendations
1.2 Pros and cons
2 Specifications
2.1 Armament
2.1.1 Main armament
2.1.1.1 Ammunition
2.1.2 Secondary Armament
2.2 Crew
2.3 Armour
2.4 Modules and improvements
3 History of creation and combat usage
3.1 Development
3.2 Combat Usage
3.3 Ingame description
4 Screenshots and fan art
5 Additional information (links)

General info
The main purpose, usage and tactics recommendations
The main purpose of the tank is diversion. In battle, when a close friendly player is attacked by an enemy, go behind
a rock that has the size of the tank's hull, then shoot the target.
When it's a Tank Destroyer, shoot it's tracks, to make it inmobile
When it's a Medium tank (like the T-28 ), shoot it's horizontal turret drive (The ring below it's turret), then
shoot the tracks, to make it defenseless.
In Summary, it is a good tank, it is friendly to new players, but it is not recommended to players above Tier II.

Pros and cons

Pros
High rate of fire
High turret armor
Good for "paying the tax" (High lion income)
It's penetration is effective against almost all enemies in Tier I, except the Sturmgeschtz III Ausf. A
Cons
Low hull armor.
A weak spot in the hull box at the driver - keep this away from enemy.
Slow for a scout, but agile
Useless in Tier II or higher

The T-26E in the Garage.

Specifications
Armament
1 x 45 mm 20-K cannon (205 Rounds)
1 x 7.62 mm DT machine gun (1,890 Rounds)
Main armament
1 x 45 mm 20-K cannon
Ammunition

Penetration in mm @ 90
Ammunition
10m

Type of Velocity
warhead in m/s

Projectile
Mass in
kg

Fuse
delay
in
m:

Fuse
sensitivity
in mm:

Normalization
At 30
from
horizontal:

Ricochet:

100m

500m

1000m

1500m

2000m

BR-240

62

59

45

35

29

26

APHEBC

760

1.4

1.2

15

+4

42

27

19

BR-240SP

73

68

51

35

25

17

AP

757

1.4

N/A

N/A

-1

43

30

15

Secondary Armament
1 x 7.62 mm DT machine gun (coaxial)

Crew
Commander/Gunner
Loader
Driver
Total: 3 Crew members

Armour

0%

50%

100%

Armour

Front

Sides

Rear

Roof

Hull

30 + 15 mm 30 + 15 mm 30 + 15 mm 6 mm

Turret

30 + 15 mm 30 + 15 mm 30 + 15 mm 10 mm

Notes:
The 30 mm applique armor does not cover the entire area on the hull, so there are exposed areas vulnerable to enemy fire.

Modules and improvements

As a premium vehicle, the modules are all already unlocked for use.

History of creation and combat usage

Development
The T-26 light tank in Soviet service, while making up a major part of the Soviet armored forces, proved quite under-armored when against newer anti-tank weapons as it was an old 1931 design. The
Spanish Civil War showed some of these defects in the T-26, but it wasn't until the Winter War against Finland that proved that the majority of light anti-tank weapons could destroy the T-26.
In order to remedy this, Factory No. 174 in Leningrad designed a new variant for the T-26 utilizing applique armor on the hull and turret. This variant was dubbed the T-26E (E for ekranirovanny or
"screened"), which added 30-40 mm of armor to the original armor plates via bolting and welding. All of the single-turreted T-26 models made during the Winter War period was given this modification and
testings proved that the additional armor made the T-26 much more resilient against light anti-tank weapons. A total of 89 T-26Es were made during and after the Winter War, with 27 single-turret models
made from the factory, 27 more as flamethrower-models, and 15 single-turret models were made in workshops near the front-line. After the war, 20 more single-turret variants were made and delivered for
tank units. Many more modified T-26s were made during the course of World War II.

Combat Usage
These T-26Es were used in the Winter War against Finland and the extra armor over the normal T-26 variants made it impenetrable to Finnish light anti-tank weapons. However, the extra armor added to the
T-26 raised the weight from 9.6 tons to 12 tons, thus a larger strain on the chassis, engine, and suspension so the driver were advised to drive the tank in low gear and must take extra care to not overload
these systems.
During World War II, Applique armor of varying thickness from 1540 mm were added onto many different T-26s in large quantities ranging to hundreds in the front-lines to fight back the German invasion.
Such areas where these modifications took place in Leningrad, Odessa, Moscow, and Sevastopol in the period of 19411942 during battles and sieges taking place in or near these cities. However, compared
to the modifications made during the Winter War, the World War II T-26Es were more crude and rough that the gun mask on the tank were unable to move, and the applique armor was only added on the
front.
No known combat records exist for these modified T-26s in World War II and may have been simply be added as performances done by regular T-26s, but due to the obsolesce of the T-26 models compared
to the German Panzer III and Panzer IV, many can be presumed to be lost in combat if not due to mechanical failures.

Ingame description
The Spanish Civil War showed that the T-26 tank's armour no longer protected it from new low-calibre anti-tank weapons. So in 1937-1938, strengthening the tank's armour became an immediate concern.
Designers at factory No. 174 decided to simply introduce a conical-shaped turret and to slope the armour plates on the underturret box. The armour's thickness remained unchanged, as the undercarriage
structure, already pushed to its limits as it was, prevented the tank's mass from being increased. The issue of increasing the light tank's armour became a prominent concern again by the Winter War
beginning on 30 November 1939.
The first battles showed that Finland's anti-tank weapons easily destroyed the tanks. On the 20th of December, work began on up-armouring T-26 tanks with 30-40 mm thick armour plates at factory No.
174. On 30 December 1939, firing tests were carried out on the first up-armoured T-26 at the factory's ballistic range, with positive results. The vehicle withstood fire from a 45 mm anti-tank cannon at a
distance of 400-500 m.
Having successfully passed testing, the up-armoured design was accepted as a success and the Leningrad Kirovsk factory equipped around 70 tanks with the additional armour. The additional armour was
attached to the turret, underturret box, side and front of the tank with screw rivets and electric arc welds. The gun mantlet was also up-armoured. The tank's mass increased to 12 tonnes, which meant the
engine and suspension were overloaded. The tank could now only move in low gear and had an increased risk of breaking down.
T-26Es were used at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Several vehicles remained in service on the Leningrad front until 1943. Captured light tanks of this type were used by the Wehrmacht and
Waffen SS in 1941-1942.

Screenshots and fan art

Additional information (links)
Specify the links to the sources used to create articles and video guides for this vehicle, the link to discussion on the official forum War Thunder
[expand]

Title

T-26E

Country
Weight

USSR
12000 kg

Type
Rank

Light tank
1

Rating
Engine power
Max speed

1.3
91 h.p.
29.95 km/h

Hull armour thickness

-/15/- (mm)
Superstructure armour thickness -/30/6 (mm)

Soviet Tanks [expand]

Time for free repair

0 h 20 m

Max repair cost*

Cost*

500 s.l.
0 s.l.

*Without modifications
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This page was last modified on 14 April 2016, at 07:47.
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