front in 1943, the T-26 still equipped some rearward units. Thus T-26 tanks of the 151st Tank Brigade (the 45th Army, Transcaucasian Front), equipped with 24 T-26s and 19 British Mk VII Tetrarch light tanks, guarded the Soviet-Iranian border. This tank brigade was redeployed to Tuapse (47th Army) in January 1943. On the less active portions of the Soviet-German front, some tank units of the encircled Leningrad Front used their T-26 tanks till the beginning of 1944, when the breaking of Leningrade Blockade began (for example, the 1st and the 220th Tank Brigades each had 32 T-26 tanks on 1 January 1944). T-26s with applique armour were used there till summer 1944. In the Karelia and Murmansk area (another stabilized part of the Soviet-German front) T-26s served even longer, until late summer of 1944. Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran T-26 tanks from the 6th and the 54th Tank Divisions of the 28th Mechanized Corps (which had 717 T-26 and BT light tanks on 1 May 1941) participated in Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in August–September 1941. Soviet-Japanese War 1945 The Soviet invasion of Manchuria was the last military operation in which Soviet T-26 was used. The Red Army had 1,461 T-26s in the far east on 5 August 1945 (1,272 of these were in operable condition). There were many old tanks (mainly T-26 and BT-7 tanks) in far eastern separate tank brigades; these had remained on the Manchurian border during the entire German-Soviet War. To increase the combat effectiveness of these tank units, 670 new T-34-85 tanks were issued to one battalion of each brigade in summer 1945, leaving the other two battalions with their T-26 or BT-7 light tanks as before. For example, the 1st Far Eastern Front had 11 separate tank brigades (80–85 tanks in each, half T-26 or BT) at that time. There were some number of T-26s in 2 tank divisions and 5 tank brigades of the Transbaikal Front. Such tank units participated in the defeat of the Japanese Kwantung Army in August 1945. T-26s often demonstrated better cross-country ability in the far eastern theater of operation than much heavier T-34-85 and Lend-Lease M4 Sherman medium tanks. Also, the T-26's performance was still sufficient to fight against Japanese armoured vehicles. T-26 tanks participated in the victory over Japan parade in Harbin in September 1945. Outside the Red Army After the end of the Spanish Civil War and the