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The BT Series
was based on 2 Christie tanks purchased from the USA
in 1931. These were designated as the BT1 with the first
series production of the new Fast Tank being ready in
1932 as the BT2 armed with a 37mm gun. Further development
produced the BT3 and BT4 and in 1933 the BT5 was developed
incorporating numerous changes but most importantly
with a new 45mm gun in an elarged turret.
In
1935 further improvements resulted in the Model 1935,
also known as the BT7-1, which had a new engine and
a welded, redesigned hull.
These tanks would
remain in service until, and including, the first years
of the Great Patriotic War having previously seen action
in the Spanish Civil War, the brief hostilities with
Japan in Manchuria in 1938 and in the Winter War of
1940 against Finland. They would also participate in
the Soviet-German partition of Poland in 1939.
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