The type did not have great success in combat, but it played an important role as a development project for Soviet tank designers.

With this up-armoured version, the Red Army broke through the main Finnish defensive fortification, the Mannerheim Line.

Stalin's Three-headed Monster, over 200 T-28s were knocked out during the Winter War, but only 20 of them were irrecoverable losses (including two captured by the Finnish Army).

The Finnish Army did not have tractors that could tow away vehicles as heavy as the T-28, and so captured T-28s that could not move under their own power were stripped of anything useful (machine guns, radios etc.)

Some T-28s took part in the 1941 winter defense of Leningrad and Moscow,[7] but after late 1941, they were rare in Red Army service; a few were operated by enemy forces.

[8] The T-28 had a number of advanced features for its time, including radio (in all tanks) and anti-aircraft machine gun mounts.

Just before the Second World War, many received armour upgrades, bringing its protection on par with the early Panzer IV, although its suspension and layout were outdated.