As I've written before, the tank fleet of the Far East Front was rather heterogeneous. Large amounts of T-26 and BT tanks were preserved there, since there was little for them to do in Europe. When the war moved over to the Far East, these tanks were ready to spring into action.
"Report on the materiel of the Armoured and Mechanized Forces of the 1st Red Banner Army as of August 8th, 1945
Unit | Authorized strength | Actual strength | ||||||||||
KV | T-34 | BT-7 | T-26 | ISU-152 | SU-76 | KV | T-34 | BT-7 | T-26 | ISU-152 | SU-76 | |
75th Tank Brigade | - | 86 | - | - | - | - | - | 43 | - | 46 | - | - |
77th Tank Brigade | - | 86- | - | - | - | - | - | 42 | 42 | - | - | - |
257th Tank Brigade | - | 86- | - | - | - | - | - | 40 | - | 46 | - | - |
48th Independent Tank Regiment | 21 | - | - | - | - | - | 21 | - | - | - | - | - |
335th Heavy SPG Regiment | - | - | - | - | 21 | - | - | - | - | - | 21 | - |
338th Heavy SPG Regiment | - | - | - | - | 21 | - | - | - | - | - | 21 | - |
339th Heavy SPG Regiment | - | - | - | - | 21 | - | - | - | - | - | 21 | - |
455th SPG Squadron | - | - | - | - | - | 13 | - | - | - | - | - | 13 |
456th SPG Squadron | - | - | - | - | - | 13 | - | - | - | - | - | 13 |
457th SPG Squadron | - | - | - | - | - | 13 | - | - | - | - | - | 13 |
459th SPG Squadron | - | - | - | - | - | 13 | - | - | - | - | - | 13 |
460th SPG Squadron | - | - | - | - | - | 13 | - | - | - | - | - | 13 |
466th SPG Squadron | - | - | - | - | - | 13 | - | - | - | - | - | 13 |
Total | 21 | 258 | - | - | 63 | 78 | 21 | 125 | 42 | 92 | 63 | 78 |
Conclusions:
- The army's units are fully equipped with armoured vehicles.
- Instead of the authorized amounts of T-34 tanks, the tank brigades are half full of obsolete T-26 and BT-7 light tanks.
- The 48th Independent Tank Regiment's KV tanks require medium repairs and cannot participate in the operation."
Interestingly enough, at least one of these BT-7 tanks was a refurbished tank equipped with applique armour.
