The birth of Finnish armored forces is often considered to be 1919, when the Panzer Regiment was established - the first formation of this type in Finland's history. Relatively quickly, it was equipped with Renault FT-17 vehicles imported from France. However, in the 1920s, this unit was not particularly developed, and the modernization of Finnish armored weapons took place only in the mid-1930s. Nevertheless, in the course of the Winter War (1939-1940), the Finnish armor did not play a major role. However, after its completion, about 200 captured Soviet tanks were in Finnish hands, and after renovation, they were incorporated into the Finnish army. They included both the BT-5, BT-7 and T-28 vehicles. It is worth adding that the Finns created their own self-propelled gun, the BT-42, based on the BT-7. In progress, the so-called In the continuation war (1941-1944), Finland increased the size of its armored forces, and in 1942 an armored division was formed in the Scheldt Armored Brigade, Motorized Infantry Brigade, Artillery Battalion, Engineer Battalion and Communications Battalion. The armored brigade included many types of armored vehicles, including: T-26, KV-1, T-34, but also the German production StuG III. The division was disbanded at the end of 1944.