The power was provided by an Armstrong Siddeley engine of 80–95 horsepower (60–71 kW) (depending on the version), which gave it a top speed of 22 mph (35 km/h) on roads.

This was considered to be a fairly good system for the time and offered better than normal cross-country performance[citation needed] although it could not compare with the contemporary Christie suspension.

[3] Vickers then started advertising the design to all buyers, and soon received a trickle of orders eventually including the USSR, Greece, Poland, Bolivia, Siam, Finland, Portugal, China and Bulgaria.

This engine would not fit in the rear, and had to be mounted along the left side of the tank, requiring the turret to be moved to the right and rearward.

The Mark E was also developed as a cargo vehicle, and purchased by the British Army in small numbers as artillery tractors to haul their large BL 60-pounder (127 mm; 5 in) field guns.

[4] The Poles modified their vehicles with larger air intakes, their own machine guns, 360-degree Gundlach periscopes,[5] and five or more with added two-way radios, before deciding to make their own tank that would address the shortcomings of the original Vickers design.

The Poles also, besides the aforementioned telescope, added a liquid-cooled diesel engine as well as better armour protection, better ventilation, two-way radios, a 37 mm (1.46 in) Polish version of the Bofors anti-tank gun, and a bigger crew compartment.

Because the T-26 was in such wide use and was a reliable platform, a variety of engineer vehicles were built on the chassis, including flamethrowers and bridgelayers.

In 1939, during the Soviet-Finnish Winter War, the Finnish armoured forces consisted of around thirty-two obsolete Renault FT tanks, some Vickers-Carden-Lloyd Mk.

[6] At the Battle of Honkaniemi on 26 February 1940, the Finns employed their Vickers tanks for the first – and only – time against Soviet armour during the Winter War.

The remaining five continued onwards a few hundred metres but ran into dozens of Soviet tanks in the village of Honkaniemi.