motorized (motor cavalry) divisions were formed – the 24th and the 25th. Old, twin-turreted T-26 tanks were also used during the Winter War, mainly in OTBs of rifle divisions. These tanks did not participate in active combat operations but were suitable for protecting communication lines and used in signal service. Nevertheless, some T-26 mod. 1931 tanks were used in combat on the Karelian Isthmus. For instance, the 377th OTB of the 97th Rifle Division arrived at the front on 28 January 1940 with 31 T-26s (including 11 twin-turreted) and 6 KhT-26 flame-throwing tanks. Among tank units, equipped with the T-26, the actions of the 35th Light Tank Brigade (commander – colonel V.N. Kashuba, from January 1940 – colonel F.G. Anikushkin) were the most noteworthy. The brigade had 136 T-26 tanks of different models, 10 KhT-26 flame-throwing tanks and 3 ST-26 engineer tanks on 30 November 1939. In the beginning, the brigade was involved into combat for Kiviniemi and later it was redeployed to Hottinen area where its tanks, suffering high losses and shortage of repair facilities, supported the attacks of the 123rd and the 138th Rifle Divisions till the end of December. In January tankers of the 35th Brigade evacuated and repaired their T-26s, practised in cooperation with artillery, engineer and rifle units, and manufactured wooden fascines for trench crossing which were placed in special towed sleds. By the breakthrough of the main defensive positions of the Mannerheim Line, battalions of the brigade were attached to the 100th, the 113th and the 123rd Rifle Divisions. On 26 February 1940, six Finnish Vickers 6-ton tanks (armed with 37 mm 37 psvk 36 gun) from the 4th Tank Company (4./Pans.P) suddenly met with three T-26 mod. 1933 tanks from the 35th Light Tank Brigade (these were tanks of the 112th Battalion's company commanders going on the reconnaissance) and vanguard of Soviet rifle battalion near Honkaniemi. As the result of the combat, one Finnish tank was damaged by hand grenades and evacuated by the Finns, and five others were knocked out by T-26s, which suffered no losses.). The T-26 of captain V.S. Arkhipov knocked out three Vickers tanks from these five, and was lightly damaged in combat (Finnish shell from Vickers No. 667 hit the main fuel tank but Soviet tank driver switched to the small fuel tank). The 8th Army, which fought north of Lake Ladoga, had 125 T-26s in separate tank