| T-27 | |
|---|---|
 T-27 on display in Kyiv, Ukraine | |
| Type | Tankette |
| Place of origin | Soviet Union |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1931–1941 |
| Used by |  Soviet Union Hungary (captured) Turkey Romania (captured) |
| Wars | World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Sir John Carden-Vivian Loyd, N. Kozyrev, Factory No. 37, Moscow |
| Manufacturer | Bolshevik Factory,GAZ |
| Produced | 1931–33 |
| No. built | 2,540 |
| Variants | T-27A |
| Specifications (T-27A[1]) | |
| Mass | 2.7 tonnes |
| Length | 2.60 m (8 ft 6 in) |
| Width | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Height | 1.44 m (4 ft 9 in) |
| Crew | 2 |
| Armour | 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in) |
Main armament | 7.62mmDT machine gun (with 2,520 rounds) |
| Engine | GAZ-AA 40 hp (30 kW) |
| Power/weight | 15 hp/tonne |
| Suspension | bogie |
| Fuel capacity | 46 l |
Operational range | 120 km (75 mi) |
| Maximum speed | 42 km/h (26 mph) |
TheT-27 was atankette produced in the 1930s by theSoviet Union. It was based on the design of theCarden Loyd tankette, bought under license from theUnited Kingdom in 1930.
The Soviets were not fully satisfied with the Carden Loyd design and made a number of changes before putting it into mass production under the designation of T-27. Compared with the British original, the hull was larger, the running gear was improved and the weapon mount was modified to take a Soviet 7.62 mmDT machine gun. A number of other changes were made by Chief Engineer N. Kozyrev and Lead Engineer K. Sirken to improve the tankette's ability to cope with the Russian climate and terrain. It lacked any communication devices, as communication between vehicles was intended to be carried out usingsignal flags.
The tankette was accepted into service on February 13, 1931. It was manufactured in two factories simultaneously, the Bolshevik factory inLeningrad and what would later become theGAZ factory inNizhni Novgorod.
The principal use of the T-27 during its service life was as a reconnaissance vehicle. Initially, 65 tankette battalions were formed by theRed Army, with each having about 50 tankettes. This figure was later reduced to 23 per battalion. The tankette was also intended to be air-mobile. In 1935, the Soviets experimented with transporting T-27s by air, by suspending them under the fuselages ofTupolev TB-3 bombers.
The T-27 saw active service in the Soviet republics ofCentral Asia during the 1930s, where the tankettes were used in campaigns againstbasmachis. However, they fairly quickly became obsolete due to the introduction of more advanced tanks. The Red Army found them reliable and simple to operate, but the T-27 coped poorly with swampy and snowy terrain due to the narrowness of its tracks. It was also difficult to find crews, as the tankettes were so small that it was difficult to find crews of sufficiently diminutive stature. By the end of the 1930s the T-27 was relegated primarily to training use, with some being used as tractors to tow field guns.
Ten T-27s were captured by Hungarian forces during the fighting on theEastern Front.[2]
Five T-27s were ordered byTurkey in 1935, alongside 60T-26s.[3]
Two T-27 tankettes were captured by Romanian forces as of 1 November 1942.[4]
Some experiments were also made to equip T-27s with more advanced weapons, such asflamethrowers andrecoilless guns, but these did not prove successful. A few T-27s were pressurized and provided with special equipment to enable them to cross rivers underwater. It was also the first Soviet tracked vehicle transported by plane (a single tankette could be mounted below the fuselage of theTB-3 bomber).[5]
