Soviet T-28 Multi-Turreted Tank Defends Leningrad – 1941

June 22, 2025 - Reading time: 3 minutes

A rare T-28 medium tank, from the 42nd Army’s 51st Independent Tank Battalion, dug in as a fixed gun position during the defense of Leningrad.

Leningrad, December 1941.
Snow-covered rubble. Frozen breath. And a steel beast from another era stands firm — the T-28, a multi-turreted Soviet medium tank once designed for breakthrough warfare, now dug in as a bunker to halt the German advance on Leningrad.

By 1941, the T-28 was already considered obsolete, a relic of interwar tank design. It had three turrets, modest armor, and a 76.2 mm main gun — enough to intimidate infantry, but no match for modern German panzers in mobile combat. Most T-28s were lost in the chaos of Operation Barbarossa. But this one survived.

Assigned to the 42nd Army, 51st Independent Tank Battalion, this 1938 model was no longer prowling the battlefield — it had become a Dug-In Firing Point (DOT). Reinforced with makeshift armor and static emplacements, it delivered supporting fire from a fixed position in the city's defenses, helping to repel attacks during the early and brutal stages of the Siege of Leningrad.

The use of older tanks as immobile bunkers was a necessity born of shortage — but also a testament to Soviet improvisation and grit.
And this T-28? Still fighting. Still defending the city of Lenin.

📷 Technical photo data:
📸 Photographer: Unknown Soviet war correspondent
📅 Date: December 9, 1941
📍 Location: Leningrad, USSR

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