Janes ww2 Tanks And Fighting Vehicles

Jane's

WORLD WAR II

TANKS

AND FIGHTING VEHICLES THE COMPLETE GUIDE

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Jane's

WORLD WAR II TANKS AND FIGHTING VEHICLES THE COMPLETE GUIDE

LELANDNESS

tin

HarperCollmsP//Z>/«Zws

In the

UK for information please contact: HaxpetCollinsPttblisfoers

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Jane's Information

Group

www.janes.com

First

published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsP///>//V/;m2002

13579108642

© Leland Ness 2002 Leland Ness

asserts the

moral right to be identified

as the

author of this work

ISBN 000711228-9

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

Designed by Barnett Design Consultants

Printed and

bound

in

England by Bath Press

Contents Preface

Introduction

16

Britain

Commonwealth and Empire

British

7 9

48

Czechoslovakia

62

France

70

Germany

84

Hungary

114

Italy

122

Japan

134

Poland-

146

Soviet

Union

172

Sweden United

150

States

182

Other Countries

212

Index

229

Preface is

probably possible to

fill

a small library

common,

dealt with the operational use of these

It (and a large hard drive) with the material

World War Two. The works range from small global surveys to massive histories

and highly

detailed

undertook

this

Nowhere, however, was there

built what, this

US, German,

I

work, which must necessarily

only scratch the surface of this apparently well-

who

when, and how many. Thus was

book.

Much ot

British

the data

and French

is

drawn from

archives,

and

reconstruction of destroyed Japanese archives in

1945-46. While

work errors, hopefully just minor,

inevitable. In a brief overview

a

comprehensive study of who got what,

born

of particular models and variants.

It was thus with some trepidation that

In any

vehicles.

published on the subject of armored vehicles of

Knox,TMB = Tank Museum, Bovington.

German production

has been

as this one, simplifications

necessary.

I

hope

I

are

of a subject, such

of complex issues are

have kept both errors and

over-simplifications to an absolute

minimum.

Many colleagues provided valuable input for this

work. Steve Zaloga, Jeff McKaughan,

David

Fletcher,

AkiraTakizawa, Nowfel

Jean-Guy Rathe, Henry Klom, Joel

well

documented, and that of the US, Soviets

however, that the works so far published

and

Italians available to serious researchers

Montagu, and many others provided input and

concentrated on only two general areas of

willing to piece together fragments, production

corrected the etrors that they saw. Such errors as

documented

interest.

The

field.

first,

It

quickly became apparent,

and most numerous, were

in other countries,

such

as Britain

those detailing the technical characteristics of

has been largely ignored.

the vehicles. In the case of "popular" vehicles,

tables provided here will help

these were often

Photo

huge tomes containing

incredible levels of detail.

The second, and

less

credits are:

Stockholm,

KAS

It is

and Japan,

hoped fill

that the

those gaps.

Leulliot,

survived, of course, are entirely

And, of course, thanks

my own.

also to Janet for her

patience and forbearance.

= Krigsarkivet,

PMK = Patton Museum, Fort Leland Ness Alexandria, Virginia

Introduction Two weapons

that

debuted during the

World War revolutionized

First

the Second: the

They shared another

trait: in

equipment perfectly serviceable the

war

both cases

at the start

of

1939 were absolute deathtraps by

in

obsolescence within two or three years. Another

remarkable feature of both was the dramatic, in

some cases exponential, rate over the

Unlike

increases in production

course of four years of war.

however, the increased power

aircraft,

of tanks was due not to technological progress (with a few exceptions) but to simple scale-up.

Where combat aircraft saw the jet-engine the vehicles,

That

is

the introduction of

and airborne

radar,

among others,

and their guns, simply got bigger.

not to say that there was no technology

but that

insertion,

and considerably

it

tended to be incremental

less

dramatic.

Debates over whether increased protection levels

spurred the development of more

powerful guns, or vice versa,

The fact is,

pointless.

is

probably

however, that both

increased greatly.

The

much gun

increase in firepower to

size.

as to increase in

In contrast to today's tank guns, which

generally fire at about

World War Two saw case of the

1

,500 metres per second,

little

improvement. In the

US the early 37mm M6 fired AP

ammunition mid-war

was due not so

improved technologies

at

880 m/s, while the standard

75mm M3 used in the Sherman 76mm

reached only 615 m/s, and the late war

M1A2 managed to get back to 790 British

managed

m/s.

to maintain a constant

Rightlhe Austrian tank

(57mm) and 17pdr (76mm)

The 850 m/s

battalion in 1936; typically for the

time relying on machine gun carriers and armoured cars.

m/s,

guns.

The

first

37mm KwK, fired at 745 the short- and long-barrelled 50mm at 685

German tank gun,

combat airplane and the armored fighting vehicle.

through the war, with their 2pdr (40mm), 6pdr

the

and 835 m/s,

respectively, while the

L/48, standard on the at

790 m/s. The

the

real

later

75mm

PzKw IV tanks,

fired

breakthrough came with

75mm L/70 of the Panther (925 m/s) and

JANE'S

the

88mm L/71

(Tiger

II)

ammunition,

ammunition

outer body with them, they lost velocity

by simply using thicker armor plate. Frontal

these figures were

quickly, thus losing their advantage at longer

armor thicknesses of about

ranges.

and

alloy) core

the use of special

in particular in

which

composite

Instead, the bulk of the

a heavy (usually tungsten

was encased

in a light metal shell

body. Being lighter than the normal armorpiercing round,

it

came out of the

higher velocity. In the case of the guns, this usually added about

muzzle

velocity,

US 76mm gun.

and 240 m/s

1

barrel at a

German

80 m/s to the

to the velocity

of

field

of tank

worked imperfectly and,

because these early designs carried the light

improvements

to

1

III

and

and

1

5mm (Soviet T-26

III) to

30mm

British Cruisers

of larger guns. In the case of Germany

50mm (US Sherman and Soviet T-34) 10mm (German Panther). Of equal

this

meant moving from the

37mm gun

(with a 0.69

kg

of the war,

to a

projectile) at the start

in

1

kg) in 1941, to a

942 and

finally, for its

88mm gun (10.2 kg), a weight.

same

1

but

still

did not

increased from

long

(6.8 kg)

5-fold increase in shell

range of 500 metres for the for the Panther's

75mm gun

50mm

heavy tanks, to an

Armor penetration

rate,

rise at

the

29mm at a

37mm,

to

138mm

75mm gun, both using

II

and

way to

to

1

importance was the move to curved and sloped armor. This not only increased the effective (line-of-sight) thickness ot the armor, but also

reduced the volume to be protected, thus reducing armor weight, enabling even thicker

armor

to be used.

The growth possible

in tank

weight was, in turn, made

by the development of larger power

plants. In

some cases

these were

new units,

unit arrives for service; China,

937. Type 89s traversed their turrets for

Simultaneously, of course, armor protection rail

although others were existing aircraft engines

transit.

was improving. In part

10

(German PzKw

I

IV) at the start of the war gradually gave

standard armor-piercing ammunition. Above: fit Japanese tank

British Cruisers

armor penetration came through the adoption

gun (2.06

This was an example of

technology insertion into the design, but the rounds

I

at 1,000 m/s.

Some improvements in made possible by

TANKS OF WORLD WAR

this

was accomplished

such

as the Liberty

and Merlin,

derivatives

JANE'S

thereof,

such

as the

Ford

GAA,

or combinations

of engines, such as the Chrysler A57 multibank unit.

The only major technology infusion came

with the introduction, near the end of the war, of the II

Maybach HL-234

for the last batches of Tiger

tanks, this engine featuring fuel injection, a

process pioneered earlier by aircraft engines.

Transmissions and steering were also

improved during the war, again using mainly concepts devised

such

up

as

the

to the

earlier.

PzKw I,

A few early vehicles,

theT-26, British light tanks

Mk VI and cruisers up to the Mk IV

used clutch-and-brake steering, and the Soviets

continued to use

it

through the war for theT-

TANKS OF WORLD WAR

springs, however,

only limited

mainly

as a

pressure

were very

travel, so the

stiff and

provided

improvement was

suspension worked

pairs

of wheels on each beam.

This greatly limited cross-country speed and

was modified

clear. All it

to individually spring the wheels

German

(although only receivers in some light tanks), as

were

British tanks except the small

all

the French, whose light infantry tanks (the bulk

in the early 1930s.

Variations on this type suspension were used by a

wide variety of tanks, including

light tanks

up

through the

to the

all

American

M5 and medium tanks

M4 Sherman.

The major

1

Japanese and Soviets,

almost every tank.

independent sprung, by the in the late

920s. Their

efficient

most

improved cross-country performance and they

FiVl radios,

was

One area that did see some improvement was

springs of the Christie suspension took of

more small roadwheels

a centrally-pivoting balance

beam

up

them with

torsion bars,

a lot

and these were

beams were mounted

US vehicles such as the M24 light tank and

on the hull by

or themselves

M

combined on

stiff springs

larger balance beams.

The

to

used successfully in Soviet heavy tanks and in

("bogey"). These balance

a

boon

to

in

The US

when

in

the

introduction of

which could operate on the move, to tactical cooperation.

The importance of radios

The

room, however, and some designers chose

replace

them only

At the same time more

tank was stationary.

were adopted with success by the Soviets and the

medium/cruiser tanks.

fitted

models were introduced, although

1930s and quickly spread in popularity.

British for their

who

command tanks. By mid-

cases they could operate only

Controlled differential steering was provided on

US wartime tanks.

had no radios and the

war two-way radios had become standard

improvement came with the development of large roadwheels,

of their tank force)

platoon-and-higher

lower unit mass and greater travel dramatically

mounted on

I

company of Britain

Fandsverk, Czech and Japanese tanks of the

multiples of two or

Mk

infantry tanks. Slower to get the message were

American JW Christie

the suspension. Early tanks simply used

become

tanks were fitted with radios

on each bogey, pioneered by the Horstmann

34s and KVs. Geared steering showed up in

all

communications. By 1939

in

the importance of radios in tanks had

"walking beam" to equalize the

on the

Another significant area of incremental

is

often

underestimated and was particularly striking

during the opening phases of the war. The British

each

and French armies both

rifle

platoon should have

specified that

its

own backpack

the Above: Successful on paper, the Hotchkiss 35 was

1

8 tank destroyer, the latter the fastest tracked

combat

severely hampered by

its

two man crew and

lack of radio.

vehicle of the war.

11

WORLD WAR

JAN E'S TANKS OF

radio, but in fact this gear

both unreliable and battle

became

fluid

was new and thus

in short supply.

and telephone

British

Once a

1

lines useless,

The tank unit commander

had a pretty good chance of knowing, generally,

where

his forces

were and what they

the other hand, often

knowledge of where

his troops

had

little

means of effectively controlling them. The

two years of war must

be attributed as

first

much

to

other factor.

A non-technical innovation resulted from the

PzKw

of the first

modern tanks of the

IV enters a French village

in

late

1

to focus

target

had

all

his

930s, a

directions.

to tetrieve

for

The

hitting a particular

The

loader

ammunition from the bins and

main weapon

for rapid fire, as well as

machine gun. From

followed that three

the Soviets did not adopt

that

it

men were needed to operate

1

942, while

until the

introduction of theT-34/85

Model 44

in early

More remarkable than

all

the technological

innovations was the massive expansion of

production. In most of the major tank-

producing countries construction of tanks and their derivatives (tank destroyers, assault guns,

SP

artillery, etc.)

cases

increased 10-fold, and in

much more than that, between

1930s and 1943/44.

a turret efficiently.

This was not immediately apparent to

it

US moved

M4 Sherman

1944.

magnifying telescopic sight

attention on

and the Japanese. The

that entered production in January

and keep looking

all

tank,

to the three-man turret with the

be accomplished

chosen by the commander.

some

the late

Significantly, this

was

happening at the same time that tanks thus requiring massive

tank designers, however. French tanks, even the

increased greatly in

cavalry tanks intended for mobile warfare,

expansion of industrial

continued to use the spectacularly inefficient

the new, larger tanks, even without considering

one-man

turret.

The Soviets opted for a two-

1940.

man turret,

12

to

from

to use a

service the coaxial

superior tactical communications as to any

Above: One

gunner had

reload the

were or the

stunning successes of the Panzer arm in the

had

for targets

potential threats

at least

meet new circumstances. The poor infantry

commander, on

medium

mid-

930s that there were three jobs in the tank

turret that often

had to search

were doing, and was capable of changing orders to

realization in the

simultaneously in combat. The commander

the tank forces had a tremendous advantage

over the infantry.

and German

as did the

US

initially

with

its

M2

size,

facilities just to

produce

the increased quantities. Thus, for example, the

tanks built in the

US in

1940 totaled 3,830

1

.

JAN E'S TAN KS OF Below: Hn infantry

Commander rides on an

early

ensure coordination on the then-new Eastern

StuG 40

front,

1

to

941

USSR

WORLD WAR

1

1937

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1,558

2,270

2,988

2,669

6,449

24,713

24,227

29,029

USA

150

99

18

365

4,021

26,608

37,198

20,357

Britain

144

408

752

1,382

4,851

8,190

7,329

4,057

tank output had increased to 961,600 tons, this

Japan

347

317

570

1,068

1,269

1,375

990

387

staggering 25 1-fold increase in three years being

Italy

n/a

n/a

100

300

1,050

900

500

n/a

due not only to the increased quantities, but

Germany

300

812

743

1,479

3,057

3,463

12,780

16,832

tons, or 10.5 tons apiece average.

also to the fact that the average

By 1943

the

weight had

Production of Tanks and Derivatives

increased to 25.8 tons.

This was accomplished by different means in different countries.

begun ]

to develop

its

The

Soviet

Union had

tank industry in the early

930s and by 1 937 was building more tanks

than the

rest

of the world combined. This

existing base of production facilities

expertise gave

them

a

large variety

of models with

civilian

tremendous advantage

inefficient,

but then tanks were

efforts to

priority. Italy

relocate the tank plants out of the

German

exclusively

British

late

1941 would succeed. The

had no such luxury and

largely

develop capacity almost from scratch.

to

by farming out small

accomplished

this

contracts to a

number of civilian

"familiarize"

had

They

factories to

them with tank production. This

proved an unfortunate expedient, for the various plants invariably went their

own way in

time, resulting in small production runs of a

who

portion of their factory space for the

production of tanks. Once again,

this

proved

never a high

continued to rely almost

the form of the facility in

Genoa

in

Germans

set

up tank

as well.

factories

down

them almost by hand. One to other countries,

solution,

common

was to tap the expertise of

and locomotive producers, who were

intimately familiar with heavy industrial work. facilitated

contracts placed in

by large-scale

British

1940 and 1941. The

but were not oriented by nature

direction of existing industries, but appear to

slow

building tanks in

locomotive firms proved efficient and useful,

The

under the

have eschewed "hard tooling" for fear

The only plant

1939 was Rock Island Arsenal, which produced

This was

for

production, which severely limited capacity

and probably innovation

production.

railroad

on the Fiat-Ansaldo monopoly

a large industrial

base but almost no knowledge of tank

on

heavy equipment manufacturers,

set aside a

and

The US was blessed with

central

direction. Similarly, the Japanese relied

and helped ensure that the heroic

advance during

little

it

would

the introduction of modifications.

to

mass

production. Instead, attention turned to the

automobile industry and in August

1

940

Chrysler was awarded a contract that gave them

This appears to have limited production to

almost carte blanche to design and build a large

some

factory solely for the production of medium

extent.

13

.

JANE'S

tanks using auto industry assembly-line

techniques.

The

project was successful

and by

initial

TANKS OF WORLD WAR

German

II

invasion, Soviet tank strength

fluctuated between 20,000 and 25,000

Above: A German SdKfz 263 radio version

of the early

8-wheeled armoured car

941

in

North Africa,

1

German tank strength

1943 the Detroit Tank Plant was building 550

through the war,

Shermans

between mid- 1941 and early 1945 varied only

specialized

between 4,900 and 6,300

the

Germans (and

in

940) provided their armored forces with

a

month.

The increasing lethality of other anti-tank weapons, however,

many cases

this increased

meant

that in

production served

only to replace horrendous a disastrous

tanks and

losses.

Aside from

plunge in numbers following the

production.

The tank strength of the US and

Britain increased losses

in spite of increased

due

to

much

smaller tank

during 1942-44.

Of equal

importance was the development of

1

US and

accompanying armor. The to a lesser extent the

infantry in armored vehicles, enabling

accompany the

French

them

to

tanks. Self-propelled artillery

provided the supporting

fire,

while

reconnaissance vehicles with excellent cross-

country performance

let

the tanks

know what

they were about to run into. Similarly, armored recovery vehicles permitted the quick repair of

broken

made

down and damaged

possible the efficient

vehicles. All these

combined-arms

operations pioneered by the the war

and

later

Nevertheless,

it

Germans

Allies.

has to be noted that they were

apparently not absolutely necessary

if one

was

willing to accept greater casualties.

The Soviets

had tew armored personnel

and no

mobile indirect-fire

0,**-;

early in

adopted by the Western

carriers

artillery,

but used their

tank and mechanized corps to great effect in 1944-45. Left: Vast flat terrain

encouraged the most pure form of

tank combat during 1941-42. Preparations to recoveran

abandoned

14

British Matilda.

JANE'S

Above:lt\e car;

M20

utility car,

a variant of the

TANKS OF WORLD WAR II

M8 armoured

seen here as part of the 6 lh Cavalry Group

in

Germany,

1945.

What the machine gun was

to

One, the defining weapon of the

Wotld War conflict

on the

ground, the tank was to World War Two. While the infantry bore the brunt of the battle and suffered

most of the

tank that

made

maneuver

casualties,

it

was usually the

the pivotal thrust, the decisive

that decided victory or defeat

operational

level.

on the

In those areas where terrain

prevented the tank from playing instance in the Pacific,

this role, for

Burma and

Italy,

the

wat

tended to be slower and very bloody per yard gained.

fl/0/rf.The

most

lethal

of Tiger lis in late

and feared tank

of the

war -a row

1944.

15

Britain On

the

first

factories

day of the war

in

September 1939 the

British tank

were turning out tanks generally comparable to their

foreign counterparts.

On the last day, in August

1945, they were

producing excellent tanks, including the Centurion that would stand the test

of time for the next 30 years. Unfortunately, what came between was

often uninspired disaster

and sometimes downright wretched. The seeds of

had been planted before the war and

of the war to

cull

it

would

take the better part

out the weeds and concentrate on the good designs.

Interwar Tanks

The beginning was

auspicious enough, given the general

disarmament sweeping the West Vickers designed a as the

Mk

I,

new medium tank that went into production

it

in

1923

featuring a sprung suspension, air-cooled engine and a

rotating turret with a

machine,

after

mood of

the Great War. The War Office and

was

far

3pdr (47mm) gun. Although hardly an

ideal

combat

in advance of anything anyone else was proposing to

on

build and placed Britain

a fast track in tank development. Subsequent

Mk IA, Mk II and A total of 68 of these

improvements, mostly to the powertrain, yielded the

Mk IIA, the last of these being ordered in vehicles

were

1

928.

1

about 60/40 between Vickers-Armstrong and the

built, split

state-owned Royal Ordnance Factory at Woolwich.

War Office announced

In 1926 the

medium

a

requirement for an all-new

tank and two design teams set to work.

resulted in the A6 (better

Woolwich

known

yielded the A7.

The Vickers

When prototypes were delivered the A6 proved

too expensive for a parsimonious Treasury, while the significant operational shortcomings.

ordered, using

effort

as the 16-tonner), while that at

Three

A7 contained

Medium Mk III were

some of the design concepts of the A6, but otherwise both

vehicles proved a dead end.

More successful was

the Vickers effort to develop a private venture export

came

tank. As the War Office tanks grew ever heavier, Vickers

to realize that

few foreign countries could afford them. Instead, they began developing a separate series of lighter

with the British

was followed by the

The Medium fully the equal

mediums, designated by letters

Army tanks, B-D

primarily for overseas

until they finally got

E, universally

known

it

It

The Medium A

right with the

as the 6-tonner,

of its foreign contemporaries.

to avoid confusion

sales.

was

Medium

a reliable

E.

machine

was offered in two versions,

TANKS OF WORLD WAR

JANE'S

I

Left:

Mk Vi

light

tanks and carriers on maneuvers shortly

before the war.

numbers of tanks with

contracts for small

wide

a

variety of commercial heavy industries in order to "familiarize"

tanks.

them with the production of

These contracts,

typically for

were no incentive to create facility

40-50

tanks,

modern production

a

but simply persuaded the firms and their

component suppliers facilities to

inefficient

to

adapt their existing

low-level production of tanks.

An

system was born, one that would not

only not improve during the

upcoming war, but

The A9/A10 were regarded

first

half of the

actually get worse.

cruisers

and Al

infantry tanks

1

as interim vehicles

even before

the production contracts were signed. In the case of the cruisers the impetus for

one with two machine gun-armed

turrets

the other with a single larger turret with a

machine gun. Although countries,

clearly designed

47mm gun and coaxial

Vickers short-barrel

none of the

was sold to quite

it

sales

were

large.

critetion.

few

a

This was,

the

with price

All, and was

as

improvement came from observation of Soviet

dominant

the

tanks using the American Christie suspension in

A small, slow machine with a two-

1

man crew and armed with only a single machine gun,

it

at least

had

a reliable

engine and thick

however, sufficient to keep the Vickers works

armor in

ticking over during an otherwise dry period in

probably due more to cost considerations than

the early and mid- 1 930s.

anything

In the

meantime

that

would

effect their

battle tanks. Infantry tanks for thick

armor

in order to

manner of the

Medium

static

would

types of

sacrifice

operate on the flanks.

the lead designer

speed

tanks

would be role

to Vickers,

fast

and

where

would be Sir John Carden,

which

initial cruiser

was

a

compromises

in the

(very thin armor),

The

and 2pdr gun), some

name of cost and weight

and some

(twin subsidiary machine three months, this

truly anachronistic

gun

turrets).

Within

had been supplemented by a

second specification, theAlO, for

A9 with

A9.

mix of some new componentry

(the suspension, engine

the

I

months

began

I

Al

from Vickers

1

to

later.

At

this point,

in April

1

a version of

thicker armor. This was

937,

Mk A9 I

however, things

short order Nuffield was given a contract to this

new concept.

Mk III A13, which featured the same inadequate armor as the Mk The

result

was the Cruiser

faster,

particularly cross-country. In

1939

it

was

decided that additional armor was required and, as

with the A 1 0, the answer was to bolt

this yielding the

Mk IV, also known as

In the field of infantry tanks the inefficient

for failing to recognize the threat in

Cruiser

theA13Mk2.

time and failing to

Mk

I

was to be replaced by a

larger tank, faster

provide sufficient funding to build up defenses

(although this was purely relative) and atmed

once the threat was apparent. There

with

much

truth to this, but

it is

money did start flowing, squandered

By 1937

much

is

certainly

also true that

the

once

War Office

Woolwich. The

2pdr gun

Foundry Ltd

of it.

latter

a

design for this

and

in a

2-man

turret.

ROF

was being phased out of

The

basic

new Mk II was undertaken

Woolwich, and then handed

there were two tank manufacturing

plants in operation: Vickers at Elswick at

as part

off to

at

Vulcan

of the expertise-expansion

program. Vulcan had already gained some experience in building

Mk VI light tanks, but

getting production running

on

this

much

tank production in order to concentrate on

heavier tank proved difficult. Although the

weapons, but that same year Nuffield

contract for 130 vehicles was placed in

Mechanisation and Aero was established, with a

modern production

line for tanks.

Money for

1

broke out and very few in the following despite the addition of three

began to flow the following year. That money

small contracts in August 1938.

accomplished by removing the subsidiary turrets

production

and bolting extra armor plates over the

subcontractors, but instead

and integrate the efforts of it

was used

to place

first

May

938, none had been completed by the time war

the acquisition of cruiser and infantry tanks

lines

I

both on the roads and

additional armor plates onto the hull and turret,

could have been used to expand the existing

front.

A Christie tank was smuggled out of the

A9, but was

go awry.

of a resurgent Germany

requirement was the A9,

resulted in the Cruiser iVIk

vehicle

Mk

governments

The specifications for both

handed over

else.

have often criticized the pre-war British

Vickers having acquired the Carden-Loyd firm.

The

Infantry

936.

US and examined with great interest and in develop a cruiser tank using

Historians, particularly military historians,

warfare of the prior war.

(later called cruiser)

although the former was

favor,

and an even smaller quantity of Cruiser four

in the

and would undertake the exploitation

types of tanks were

ways

support infantry

enemy defenses,

attacking prepared

in

tank concepts for the next

now to be two

ten years. There were

its

The War Office ordered a small batch of

British tank design

philosophy had changed significantly

18

The infantry tank was

and

In any event, a replacement for the

Infantry was already

year,

more firms with

Mk II

on the drawing boards. The

Valentine tank had been designed as a private

1

TAN KS OF WORLD WAR

JANE'S

1

Army (which split production

British

1930

1931

1932

1933

1934

1935

1937

1936

between

1938 1939^

ROF), Vickers

Vickers and

also sold in small

Armored Cars

numbers 8

Crossley

Mk

Lanchester

-

4

IA

Mk

Lanchester

6

7

II

-

-

Guy Mk

users.

-

-

257

MG

Mk

VIB

MG MG

Carrier No.1

Mk1

Carrier No.2

Mk1

final

10

Carrier

the

14 41

1

model

weak and

-

-

741

210

667 -

-

Universal Carrier

it

25

new

2,276

Mk

Light Tank

Mk HA

29

Light Tank

MkllB

21

Light Tank

Mk

III

Light Tank

Mk

IV

Light Tank

Mk V

22

Light Tank

Mk

VI

51

Light Tank

Mk

VIA

210

Light Tank

Mk

VIB

30

16

II

-

-

-

Mk

VIC

Light Tank

Mk

VII

-

416

Mk

II

Mk

III

Cruiser

Mk

IV (A1 3

Cruiser

MkV(A13Mk

Cruiser

Mk

Infantry

Mk

III

-

75

-

earlier

Due to

-

-

in the

Normandy

the efforts of Sir John

Mk

230

Mk II production contract was signed. many components from

Vickers ranks, such as the suspension and

engine from the Cruiser

I

and

II,

no prototype

an order for 275 was placed

and

known

as the "tankette".

it

was

The Carden-

Loyd firm developed an armored machine gun

Armored Vehicle Orders

Office in February 1938, actually before

genesis in Britain

soon spread across the globe, where

VIB co ntracts

venture by Vickers and was submitted to the

its

441

300

R/ \?

Garden and

79

60

i

n the

1930s

The

light

tank saga

Based on the

earlier

is

considerably simpler.

Carden-Loyd

armed with

920s.

the late

1

similar,

but the

turret

a single

The Marks

I

to

machine gun

as

in

IV were all

Mark V introduced a two-man

and twin machine guns (one .303 and

one .5-inch)

armament. In addition

to the

it

1928 the

many prototypes in

the 1920s

was acquired by Vickers Armstrong

momentum gained through the

marketing and

facilities

of the industrial giant

paved the way for commercial success. The

carriers,

Vickers began developing a series of two-man light tanks

through

and when in

built. Instead,

A few were used

Vivian Loyd, the concept of the small two-man

carrier

1939.

it.

Other Prewar Vehicles

300

3)

100

Army &

used so

last in

to regular

invasion.

160

-

Mk2)

Valentine

Taken from

first

was adopted by the airborne

tracked vehicle gained

January-September

with the

airborne drop in support of the

100

(A1 2)

b

to 100,

65

(A11)

a

of the

who built the Hamilcar glider

generally

in July

it

specifically to carry

50

(A13)

II

line units, but

25

forces,

(A10)

loss

lost faith in light tanks,

March 1 942. The tank was not issued

b

Tanks

VI {A1 5) I

20 from Metro-Cammell. Afrer the

being delivered in October 1940 and the

468

3

Cruiser

Mk

Mk VII Tetrarch. A total of 166

cancelling the Vickers order and reducing the

167

Cruiser

Mk

MkVI series. Armed with a 2pdr

to

BEF, however, the army

(A9)

Infantry

I

-

70

III

Infantry

Mk

Metro-Cammell order

Mk

entirely

light tank, breaking completely with the

July 1938 as the

33 34

Infantr y

hammered

were ordered from Vickers and an additional 9

Cruiser

1

-

1

Light Tank

armament, was recognized even

gun, the vehicle was ordered into production in

Light Tank

Medium Mk

light tanks,

home. In 1937 Vickers designed an

earlier

Medium, Cruiser &

was

MG

less reliable

before rhe events in France in 1940

Light Tanks

earlier

replaced

5mm Besa.

particularly the

-

1,301

Scout Carrier

it

unreliable .5-inch Vickers

The shortcomings of the

Bren Carrier

the

The

Mark VIC,

50

Carrier

Because

of this tank, the

95

Carrier

Cavalry Carrier

War

most

in the

in the desert.

with the more powerful but even

-

far the

BEF and

large-scale service with rhe

12

Carrier

By

hull.

opening phases of the war

MkVI MG

was the Mark VI,

turret to allow the radio to

common model was the Mark VIB, which saw

100

1

Carriers

MG

definitive version

be moved there from the

99

Alvis-Straussler

AOP

The

which enlarged the

CS9

Morris

number of overseas

to a significant

practical version

was the Machine

first

Gun Carrier

MkVI as transporters for the heavy Vickers .303 water-cooled MG. The Army purchased about 250 from Vickers and another 57 built

under

license

by ROF.

the fact that small

Of more significance was

numbers were exported

to a

19

TANKS OF WORLD WAR

JANE'S large

number of countries, some of whom

(Italy,

the

first

batch of 41 in order to concentrate on

Poland and the Soviet Union) built variants

tanks,

themselves, with or without benefit of license.

Aveling Barford, Thornycroft, Sentinel

As the war was

demonstrate the

to

MG

although inexpensive, had very

carrier,

practical utility.

rendered

it

The

Works and

lack of room for a radio

of the small weapon and the thin armor

made

a questionable

provision for only one driver) rarely

meant

many of the others, came

The

and the

recognized this early and the in

1

933.

and

in

1934 they showed

new prototype which, when

enlarged

caught the interest of the War prototype

trials

the

room

slightly,

MG Carrier No.2 was

for a third

facilitating

a

Office. Following

ordered into production. These

had room

crew

for a radio. Variants

of

once the Vickers guns had been

British

armored

cars

4x2 CS9

and

but with only single-axle drive,

chassis,

Bren gun, these were clearly not

a

armored

for a

many

from Morris, based on rhe

cars

7mm of armor, and armed with a Boys AT rifle

as

structure,

fact,

5

1

command vehicles. A competition

4x4 armored

artillery tractor.

were major proponents of

was held in 1938 and won

car

order in 1939, tank".

To

that

Guy "Quad-Ant"

The vehicle performed so well,

when

in fact, that

through the 1920s. The majority

a long-

of them were completed

by a vehicle based on the

RAF vehicles were relatively light,

of army and

armored

term answer. In

War Office placed the

the

was referred

it

end

"wheeled

to as the

shared the

it

armament of the

MkVIB light tank.

based on the 4x2 Rolls-Royce chassis. Export

new machines

member

Lanchester 6x4 truck chassis. cases

was limited

to .303

Armament in all

Light Tanks

machine guns, usually

in the rear,

were developed, the

which was the Bren Carrier

The poor showing the Mk VI

light tanks

Army that such

vehicles were a

water-cooled Vickers guns. In the early 1930s,

convinced the

however, the Army lost interest in armored

waste of limited production resources.

cars,

work continued

preferring light tanks for the reconnaissance

dismounted use or the weapon, and

most numerous

were used

each infantry

light

vehicles were heavier, utilizing Crossley or

Vickers was not through with the concept of the carrier, however,

carriers

to

MG carriers were converted to that role.

The

Army, unlike

in

99

Waggon

production switched to Bren carriers and of the

weapon would

British

The MG

platoon

removed from the infantry battalion

(other than the

that in practice the

be dismounted.

last deliveries

man

asset,

Nuffield.

a carrier

battalion, but

nearly useless as a scout, the limited

combat

form

to

little

traverse it

and production was instead fanned out

I

role.

Development

of

armored

improvements

cars essentially

ceased from about 1934.

The Alvis

designer Nicholas Straussler in

1

938

to

marker

car called the Alvis-Straussler

a

and

RAF ordered a dozen for use in the Middle

Some

Vickers on evolutionary

Mark VII Tetrarch, and

to the

this resulted in the

firm teamed up with the Hungarian

4x4 armored

at

Mark VIII Harry Hopkins.

Three prototypes were authorized

in April

1941. Production was handed over to Metro-

Cammell, which had previously built

the

which featured improved armor and

the

replacement of the Vickers gun by a Bren light

East,

MG and/or a Boys AT

Indeed, the foreign connection caused the War

demonstrating the low priority assigned. All

was intended for use with the divisional cavalry

Office sufficient worry about security that they

were placed

regiments and had two seats each side on the

did not place any contracts for armored vehicle

rear,

The Scout Carrier

facing outward. Finally, a variant was

produced the

rifle.

for use

with Alvis through the

by artillery forward observers,

AOP carrier. Vickers was relieved of

production responsibility for these vehicles

but the Army refused to follow

In the meantime, the

reconsider after

rest

fix

its

position

was attempted

in

suit.

vehicle

firsr

last in

in reserve,

The US M3-series

was delivered

in

March 1945,

and none saw

light

service.

tank was used

extensively in the Western Desert in 1941-42,

Army was starting cars.

and the

June 1943 and rhe

of the war.

on armored

Tetrarch,

to

A quick

1937 with the purchase of

but more in the role of a cruiser than traditional light tank,

popular due to their to serve as

gun tanks

the war, but

a

where they proved

reliability.

in

They continued

Burma through much of

by 1 944 had been relegated

scout role in the rest of the Army.

to the

They were

assigned on the scale of one platoon

(1

1

tanks)

per rank and armored regiment, often suffering the indignity of having their turrets

removed

to

better act as scout vehicles.

Cruiser Tanks

The Marks

III

and IV had proven the

suitability

of the Christie suspension for tanks and the time had

now come to create a fully integrated

tank using these elements. As part of the plan to diversify

AFV expertise, design responsibility to the

Scottish Railway

(LMS), which had no prior

Left:

A Comet tank approaches the Weser Bridgehead,

April 1945.

20

London, Midland and

was handed over

6

JANE'S experience at disastrous.

all.

The

The

firms building

result was, predictably,

resulting tank, the

Mark V

made

ever built, but could hardly ever be reliably. In particular,

it

no fewer than

(counting the Light VIB/C

run

to

suppliers for

modifications railed to cure. Production was

been given to the need

undertaken by LMSR directly, and by English

their service lives.

With for

and Leyland under

the loss of the

BEF

LMS supervision.

the original contracts

351 tanks were increased

to

852 by

in early

1

1

,700.

The suspensions could

The slow climb back up was to start with

MkVI

Crusader.

to join the

had been offered rhe opportunity

cruiser.

spawned showed up again

wasAl5, and

machines was

January 1943.

finally delivered in

Except for a few

trials

vehicles, these tanks

of these

and bridge-laying

remained

safely in the

UK

development and

the diffusion of effort, both in design

it

for this

radiators,

The

result

Initial trials

although

it

showed

fast,

in

it

to be

more

how

gun was the

cruiser

May 1941

reworked 2pdr

The first production III

1

.

The need

VII

Mk

I

Mk

(A)

II

ofTank Design drew up

III

Mk

had

to

of

December

May

comparison

cruiser

1942. too

it

to

its

had been

The Department

specifications that, in

purpose-built turret for the larger gun, drawing

There

initial

favorable reaction and permission to

proceed with

six

prototypes as the A24.

Birmingham Railway Carriage proposed

Mk

until

6pdr-armed

for a

a

new tank

& Waggon

(although retaining the

Infantry Tanks

Cruiser Tanks

Mk

also

to the detriment

months or so, in

for the

order for the

was not placed

six

turret,

make room

Thus, the commander

little

Nuffield proposed their Crusader but with a

down.

Crabtree

IV

Mk V

MkVI

Mkl

Mkll

Mkll 14

(A)

English Electric

(A)

Foden

&

33

75

Wolff

45

Fowler

6

34 (A)

Leyland

10

LM.S. Metro Cammell

(A)

75

(A)

31

39

N.B. Locomotive

22

Mech & Aero

Ruston & Hornsby

14

190

(A)

30

39

(A)

Vauxhall Motors

43

Vickers Armstrong

31

Vulcan

55

(A)

50

87

72

10

85

38 (A)

West Gas Imps (A)

it

January 1941, yielded two possible approaches.

they soon became unpopular for

their habit of breaking;

73

Nuffield

a

foreseen as early as mid- 1 940.

from sand ingestion and,

Birmingham Car Co.

J.

first

but

mount

to

1941, with deliveries beginning in

retained

was the Cruiser Mark VI

LightTanks

Harland

first

was made

it)

lost to

Thus, within about

was would not show up until

although

MkVIC

more than

larger gun.

Crusader

than the Covenanter, but exactly

standardization and coherence of effort. In

MkVIB

Crusader (the

the Covenanter, as well as the forward

placement of the

the)' suffered greatly

fact,

little

requirement

they were sent to the desert in mid- 1 94

1

was

both.

commonality with the

called for

unwillingness of those responsible to enforce

during the fust year of the war there were

in the

capable of handling

heavier, fast

to the fullest extent possible.

faint this praise

production, and the apparent inability or

gun

larger

that the

The decision

foes.

reliable

and

1940

until early

available for testing.

would be undergunned

Crusader.

production. Part of the problem was certainly

was not

Nuffield's wisely rejected the flat- 12 engine of

appearance.

The Covenanter undoubtedly represented the nadir of British tank

The specification

Covenanter

own,

its

the Christie suspension and the overall

through the war.

initiated in April 1938,

assume the duties of gunner,

Covenanter production plan, but

multitude of producers they had intentionally

last

942, but help

1

The 57mm 6pdr gun

program had been

with one crewman

Supply's seeming inability to say no to the

in their failure to stop

rarely

in arriving.

apparent urgency and the version finally chosen

instead opted to develop

production of a useless tank and the

upgrade vehicles over

to

was slow

but work on the turret proceeded with

Nuffield's

The Ministry of

thought appears to have

with their 40mm 2pdr

rings usually prohibited the adoption of bigger

the

941 the number was

doubled again to almost

little

II

I

guns were undergunned by early

handle any additional weight and the turret

guns.

September 1940. That should have been the end of it, but

that

sometimes overlapped with others, but often

suffered from severe

did not. Further,

Electric

These were

components and assemblies

overheating problems that multiple

The Crusaders and

models of tank

1 1

as one).

each had a network of

just the final assemblers;

Covenanter, was one of the best-looking tanks

tegfc

TANKS OF WORLD WAR II

on order, but none yet completed

Tank Production by Firm, September 1939

to

September 1940

21

(ANE'S

Prior

1939a

TANKS OF WORLD WAR II 1941

1942

1943

1944

Light Tanks

1001

MKVIC MkVII

Mk

7

160 15

Trials in late

68

12

VIM (Harry Hopkins)

33

58

1

(A.9)

41

Mkll(A.IO)

Mk Mk

49

1

159

43

(A.13)

III

IV (A.13

(A.13

Mk II) Mk III)

VI (Crusader)

MkVII

less reliable

8

was

How

6

7

762

957

2

655

1342

6pdr

Cromwell

had taken

at the

seemed

likely

the old

now turned

to the

(if increasingly

160

73

Libert}' engine, rather than

64

50

their

own variant,

radical

come up with

design and

22

using the thoroughly familiar

underpowered and

unreliable)

BRW&C's more

adoption of the powerful Rolls Royce

39

III

1

75mm 95mm How

Meteor.

334

23

220

1604

46

308

33 56

984

Tanks

Predictably, the Ministry of Supply let

three suppliers have their way.

II

IV (Churchill)

6pdr

IV (Churchill)

75mm 95mm How

IV (Churchill)

(of the Churchills,

65

41

33

24

356

1038

1330

143

345

1621

1683

429

Cromwell

256

690

heavy model)

and the

A27L (for Liberty)

In

November 1942

35

1258

73

Centaur, and the A27M as the Cromwell.

6

809

61

180

171

[6]

[567]

[702]

A24 as

the Cavalier, the

A27L as the

531

The Cavalier, not surprisingly,

many of the on which

it

reliability

was based and few were

used in combat.

214

OP OP

Crusader

112

Cavalier

158

Centaur Hulls d

The Centaur still

built,

none

used the old

Liberty engine of the Crusader and

182

352

Valentine Hulls 6

its

23

suspension developed by

102

BRW&C as well as the

Merrit-Brown gearbox and was thus

Covenanter Bridgelayer Crusader Oerlikon

69

AA

26

204

294

474

OP

126

95

Centaur Bulldozer

Churchill

2pdr to 6pdr

Churchill

6pdrto75mm AVRE

armed with 250

Valentine Bridgelayer

42

174

153

505

Churchill Bridgelayer

Sherman OP Sherman 17pdr

60

(Crab)

6

Sherman ARV

They served

for the

most

24

the

95mm howitzer were used by

the Royal Marines in the opening phases of

9

Normandy. 1339

446

593

52

44

22

The Centaur had first

cruiser

the distinction of being the

model with

a

75mm gun, although

only beating the Cromwell by a few days.

43

1783

563

417

224

again, the tank designers

Once

had been caught behind

the curve, with turrets and turret rings developed

53 for the

Ram GPO Ram ARV

of

part as training vehicles, although about 80

123

AA

a sort

interim step in the development of the new-

generation cruiser.

Crusader Tractor

reliability

suffered as a result, but featured the upgraded

Conversions

Flail

from

suffered

problems of the Crusader

898

AA

Crusader Bofors

Centaur Polsten

this

1102

the

I,

BRW&C vehicle as the

confusion was cleared up slightly by renaming

Specialized Variants

Crusader Hulls c

II,

A27M Cromwell III.

734

966

all

The A24 would

enter production as the Cruiser VII Cromwell the Leyland vehicle as the

Mkl (A.11) Mk (A.12)(Matilda) Mk III (Valentine) 2pdr/3" How Mk III (Valentine) 6pdr Mk IV (Churchill) 2pdr/3" How

57mm 6pdr and incapable of accepting

350 34

a

Sept-Dec only

b

Jan-Sept only

anything larger. After several abortive attempts to develop

a

gun, Vickers engineers realized they

could simply rebore and rechamber the existing

c

for later conversion to Oerlikon AA d for later conversion to for Polsten AA e for later

look

1037

143

Sherman

a

2

145

Churchill

it

left in

771

Comet

Cavalier

room

907

Challenger

Infantry

was

BRW&C proposal. In the meantime Leyland

27

161

Cromwell 6pdr Cromwell

little

Crusader lineage. Attention

256

75mm 95mm How

Cromwell

it

than the Crusader, Nuffield's

promised improvements, but

(Cavalier)

Centaur

Mk Mk Mk

even

11

Centaur 6pdr Centaur

1

to be seriously flawed, in particular

22

(Covenanter)

VI (Crusader) 2pdr/3"

94 1 and early 942 showed the

A24

that there

MkV Mk Mk

35

1

a

reception.

9

Cruiser Tanks

Mk

Meteor engine. This received

somewhat cooler

173

(Tetrarch)

added

later

1945^ the Rolls Royce

MkVI, VIA & VIB

which they

Christie suspension), to

1940

6pdr and turn

conversion to bridgelayer

it

into a

75mm gun that fired the

same ammunition and with the same (mediocre)

British

Wartime Production

of

Tanks & Variants

results as

achieved by the American

gun. The

new weapon would,

75mm M3

obviously,

fit

into a

JANE'S 6pdr mounting and starting in October 1943

componenrs. The

Centaurs and Cromwells began coming

ultimate development of the British cruiser.

line

with

The

this

off the

With

weapon.

transition to the next-generation cruiser

the

result

At the start of the war the Marks production and the

Comet, the tank designers had

come up with

finally

Infantry Tanks

was the Comet, the

a winner. After a tortuous

was completed (although nor perfected) by the

process and not a few two-steps-forward-one

Cromwell. The excellent Meteor engine gave

back, the British

the vehicle high speed

tank

the beefed-up

and

good

Christie suspension provided both

as

good

as

Army finally had a medium

any

in

world. Unfortunately,

September

line until

additional weight later on. Although

brought into the production

reliable as the Sherman,

was

it

still

not as

cruisers

They were

and

Rhine

proved a serviceable tank.

The one effective

thing Cromwell did not have was an

main armament.

A perfectly good

weapon had been developed

76mm

17pdr and had entered production

towed anti-tank weapon

in

A10 seems

as its hull

cruiser category.

They widened

mounting

this

the center section of the hull (but

and added an

accommodate turret

with

a high, slab-sided

welded

armor had

unit.

Even

to be reduced,

due

February

1

to

its

The

firmly into the

The Valentine

tried to

do both,

terribly well. Yet

A4l was

first

ofTmk

such program since the war

this responsibility earlier, for

the

were impressive. Six prototypes of the

new vehicle, running

length. In

the requirement

The Department probably should have

been given results

along with the hull side armor, and the vehicle

proved difficult to drive

fell

Ministry of Supply's Department

began.

the weight, and replaced the

christened the Centurion, were

trials

due

when

the

war ended

in

Europe.

and

I

were in

II

Valentine on to bear

much

to the use

The

already totalled the)'

line at Vickers fairly

of components from

parent firm delivered the

first

June 1940, by which time orders 1

,729 from four firms. Since

were more thinly armored than previous

infantry tanks, but slightly

upgunned and then

lor

issued and responsibility was handed over to the

Design, their

extra roadwheel to

so, the turret frontal

and

the quest for a "universal tank" continued. In

November 1943

new gun.

not the distance between the tracks), lengthened it

role

attempted to answer both

and wound up doing neither

was too narrow. Thus,

BRW&C was asked to develop a Cromwell variant suitable for

to have

requirements, but finally

be

to

the tank of the future, could not carry this

weapon,

provision of separate tank types for the

design, development and production assets.

as a

came off the production

faster,

often used as cruisers during

crossing.

infantry support had been seen as wasteful of

mid- 1942.

Unfortunately, the Cromwell, which was

The

March 1945.

III

of the burden of the war for the next two years,

eight in

but output

issued to the troops only after the

normal armored exploitation

form oi the

in the

effort,

did not reach 100/month until

a great

improvement over the previous

1

Mark

The Valentine, which was

earlier tanks.

944. Four firms were

country mobility and the ability to absorb

order.

quickly,

they did not start coming off the production

cross-

tela

TANKS OF WORLD WAR

twice during their

to

sacrificing

1

75mm,

they were

94 1 They were .

lives, first to

6pdr

but both required

one of the

turret crew, with the

attendant inefficiencies.

Both the Matilda and Valentine remained production

in the

UK well into

Matilda being valued for Valentine for

its

its

all-around

in

1943, the

thick armor and the utility.

The

Valentine was also produced in Canada, but lor

shipment to the Soviet Union rather than

for

British use.

In the meantime, a true successor to the

thick-skinned Matilda was under consideration.

An initial effort, known as

the A20, ran in

prototype form in June 1940 bur proved a failure.

With

their tank force

all

but wiped out,

and facing imminent invasion, Vauxhall was asked to take the A20, scale

it

down

a little

and

943 200 Challengers were ordered

but in November the decision was

made

to halt

production once those had been completed.

17pdr could not

If the

fit

without ruining the tank's

into the

integrity,

Cromwell then one

obvious alternative was to modify the gun. Vickers had been working on a high- velocity

75mm L/50 gun since March originally

been planned for the Cromwell, but

in

May 1943 it was discovered

fit

after

all.

October

1942. This had

it

Nevertheless,

was announced

be modified to

fire

that

it

would not

work continued and that the

in

gun would

17pdr ammunition and

it

77mm gun to avoid confusion with others. Now just remained to

was redesignated the

it

design a

new tank to

handed over

maximum

take this weapon. This was

to Leyland,

who made the

possible use of Cromwell

Right: Valentines fitted with Duplex Drive and flotation

screens (here lowered).

23

JANE'S

TANKS OF WORLD WAR AVRE in

Left: A Churchill

France, September

1

944. The

demolition launcher that replaced the gun could throw an

bomb 70

18-kg

a later

meters.

model when

British

that

became

available.

The

M3 had slightly thicker armor and a new

cast turret,

the No.

bulged

in the rear to

accommodate

9 radio and with a simple two-piece

1

US

hatch replacing the cupola used by the models.

The contract was mooted when Lend-Lease became

available.

The

first

Lend-Lease

bill

authorized the transfer of tanks off the

production line under Britain, lights

and 1.271

US Army contracts

M3 mediums and

to

1,250

M3

were diverted. Subsequently, Lend-Lease

purchases were simply incorporated into the

War Department procurement plans. became ger in into production as quickly as possible.

The

result

Churchill.

was the A22,

Matildas and Al 5 Crusaders for Britain.

The American

later called the

An order for 500 was placed right off

the drawing board

and

deliveries

began

in

were shown the

June

1941.

up of the

Not surprisingly,

given the lack of

development models, the

initial

miserably unreliable. Modifications and

reliable.

tank "right" over the next year and by the time

was committed

to action in Tunisia

it

it

this,

A contract was placed almost

terrain.

wider tracks yielded that enabled

caused the

them

a

Sherman,

their

lower ground pressure

a

to cross soft

ground that

M4 to bog down, while their

controlled differential steering allowed pivot turn, something

US

them

tanks at the time

In fact, the Churchill was so successful that

plans to halt production in 1943 were

shelved and they were

still

being turned out in

September 1945.

United States Tanks Little

thought appears to have been given

purchasing tanks in the 1940.

been

US

until the

to

summer of

A British Purchasing Commission had

set

up

earlier,

but

this

concerned

and

M3 Lee (American) M3 Grant (British) tanks.

As anticipated, procurement switched

M3 mediums, with two

with the

major batch, 354 M4A2, being

first

requirements and

were the A2 and

production be switched to

1941 Light,

M2A4

Light,

M3

majority of these

but

all

models

Light,

1942

1943

1,039

59

-

-

1944

1945

36

736

M3A1

-

548

1,046

Light,

M3A3

-

-

1,520

525

23

Light,

M5A1

-

-

3

1,128

300

Light,

22

-

-

57

203

160

Light,

M24

-

-

-

164

125

229

1,522

-

-

-

Medium M3 Grant

-

Medium M3 Lee

-

900

252

-

Medium M4 (75mm)

-

4

190

2,154

90

Medium M4 (105mm)

-

-

-

438

21

Medium M4A1 (75mm)

-

264

121

563

-

Medium M4A1 (76mm)

-

-

-

1,259

71

Medium M4A2 (75mm)

-

385

4,153

489

14

Medium M4A2 (76mm)

-

-

-

-

5

Medium M4A3

-

1

6

-

-

Medium M4A4

-

129

5,392

1,632

7

Medium M4E8 (105mm)

-

-

-

53

81

Medium M4 Tank Dozer

-

-

-

124

40

Medium, M26E3

-

-

-

-

6

-

-

-

24

110

Recovery Vehicle

arrived to attempt to

persuade American factories to produce

24

The

A4 versions,

M32

production. In July 1940 a British Tank Mission

Dewar Mission)

to the

M4 Sherman as soon as that became available,

itself

mostly with coordinating Canadian

(the

of M3

would be

distinguished between the

delivered in August 1942.

(2)

it

necessary to accept the original American

provisos; (1) they be modified to British

to

could not do.

initial

as possible,

had

exceptionally useful in difficult

Although heavier than

soon

version as well as their own. Thus, the British

good combat vehicle, but both were

evolved into an effective and reliable machine.

They proved

but they

M2A4 light tank and a mock-

immediately for 3,000

fixes

were applied in a massive program to make the

on standardization

as

A12

US Tank

US

quickly

clear that in order to get delivery

mediums

M3 medium tank. Neither was a

particularly

batches were

insistence

with American designs thwarted

It

Exports to the

Commonwealth

1

TANKS OF WORLD WAR

JANE'S 1942

1941

month only once,

1945

1944

1943

1

February 1943.

in

resultant vehicle, officially

known

The

as the

Mk

I

Light Tanks

140

UK Middle East

Gun

1,611

306

-

-

armed, but lacked a machine gun, was slow and

239

637

-

169

46

-

-

unreliable,

and had a

-

-

522

407

-

nothing

complement

62

287

5,616

4.664

316

167

1,213

1,965

-

-

-

30

80

-

-

-

-

1,767

1,703

81

-

-

10

-

-

3

armor.

Medium Tank

UK Middle East Persia/Iraq

North Africa

3

Gibraltar 3

later

vertical face that did

tall

the

88mm

They never saw combat and most were trials

vehicles for specialized

Although the Churchill

Gun

difficulties in fitting

US Tank Shipments

among them

an armored vehicle capable ot defeating

German

shortcoming of the Sherman, lack of firepower,

armor.

The only solution visible

welcomed.

not

the tanks were shipped

and was thus

Of course,

directly to Britain.

armed

the

them the Sherman

(M4),

I

(M4A2), IV (M4A3),

vehicle.

One major change made to the retrofitting of the

had become obvious large

numbers

field

was

1

the

Sherman was

7pdr gun. By

late

was developed, but

have (c)

(a) a

it

it

turned out that not

to

M34A1

were not unique

to

any particular model of Sherman, indeed some batches in

all

gasoline-powered models could

incorporate them, but not

all

did.

This led to

the vexing problem that, although they had

been notified

British forces (and those directly under

went

control)

to the

substantial portion cruisers

Middle

went

where

how many of each model were

M

1

in the

0-series tank

Sherman tank with an

mounting a medium-

Over 1 ,600 were acquired

with the designation "Wolverine" and issued to the RA's anti-tank regiments. As production of

for

the

its

17pdrgun ramped up

it

regun the Wolverines with

East. After that, a

to Italy,

turret

velocity 3-inch gun.

two years of

program the majority of tanks destined

proved possible

to

that weapon. When

rearmed the vehicles were known

British

as the Achilles

Mk IC (M10) or Mk IIC (M10A1). In fact, the

were not used.

Wolverines delivered in 1944 arrived without

The first

gasoline engine, (b) a wide mantlet,

hydraulic traversing gear, and (d) features

first

Tank Destroyers and Assault Guns

all

to be

the conversion a Sherman had

gun mount. These

During the

A conversion kit

Sherman.

Shermans could be regunned. In order to

943

of 17pdr-armed tanks into the

to use the

amenable

1

that the only way to get

all

destroyer, essentially a

open-topped

greatly

II

V (M4A4). designate a 76 m into was used "A" suffix The III

need

British tanks highlighted the continuing

short term was the American

(M4A1),

an effective gun to

Italy

Destinations of

the British styled

Carrier was

never intended for mass production the

for

were represented. To distinguish

thick frontal

equipment.

does not include other Empire shipments

note:

to

converted to

ongoing

North Africa served as a staging area for

Gun, Churchill, was well

685

582

Persia/Iraq

North Africa

5

Carrier, 3"

armament, from an

British tank destroyer resulted

urgent request in September 1941 for vehicles capable of engaging heavy

German

tanks.

AA guns, rendered

solution was to take 3"

in fixed superstructures

and

Churchill chassis.

February 1942 and an

initial

theaters with kits.

vehicles.

order for 24 was

in

removed

a further

for use as

1

majority of ,

1

27 by

262

in

gun-towing

in service for several years after

the war.

In the meantime, efforts had begun to

gun on the

the powerful

Production was a

An initial examination

exceeding seven in a

The

Those not converted had

increased to 100 then reduced to 50. trickle,

cost.

The Achilles proved a popular weapon

and remained

on

A prototype was completed

reduced

and depots, and

their turrets

surplus by the introduction of the 3.7" gun,

mount them

factories

One

as this

the Wolverines were so converted,

chassis

of a

mount

British tank.

of the Crusader showed

it

being shipped, the Ministry of Supply did not

know until

1941

they had actually inspected the

arriving tanks,

how many could

be converted -

The 1943

ROF was issued a contract in December

for the conversion

17pdr configuration

of 2,100 Sherman Vs to

as the "Firefly",

other models were eventually used

but in

as well.

rear so that the radio

moved back to

avoid the recoilling gun, and elimination of the hull

gunner position

in favor

23

1945 3

-

-

17pdr Archer

.

354

307

17pdrA.30 Avenger

-

-

25

95mm

-

-

45

_

986

403

-

-

520

-

20cwt

Churchill

Alecto

Conversions

M10

hole in the turret

could be

26

1944

fact

The

conversion involved not only the fitting of the

new gun, but also opening a

1943

Production 3"

certainly an impediment to planning.

1942

to

17pdr

Imports

5

3"M10/M10A1 3" a

M10/M10A1

(less

gun)

1,123

_

January-September

of ammunition

stowage. Although not an entirely elegant solution, the Firefly did rectify the

Deliveries of Tank Destroyers

&

Assault Guns

one major

25

1

JANE'S to

TANKS OF WORLD

WAR

II

be too small and underpowered for the role

and attention turned

to Valentine.

At

1941

first,

arrangement of the Bishop SP 25pdr, but

to Vickers to

develop a

-

Bishop 25pdr

this

1943

137

13

497

335

M7

new vehicle

105mm

Priest

Sexton 25pdr

146

using the chassis of the Valentine as the basis.

The

resultant vehicle

was given the official

ofSP 17pdr Valentine, although referred to as the Archer.

The

it

title

1

944 against an order

for 800,

and few were completed before the war ended and none saw combat.

although

The vehicles were

armored divisions from October 1944 onwards.

SP Birch guns

tank destroyer to enter production

was the A.30 Avenger.

It

was

modified A.30

a

no

the need for such

branch. Both the hull sides and turret were

Middle East

56cm

lower

The coaxial machine gun was

dispensed with, as was the roof armor, the

latter

advantage over that vehicle other than

reduced height and production. As a

saw no combat

The sole

real

its

1946 and the

service.

British assault

gun was

the Alecto.

A

General Staff Requirement issued in April 1942

SP infantry gun

called for a light

close support to the infantry in

solution was to

mount

the

that could give

an attack. The

95mm howitzer (a

variant of the tried-and-true 3.7" howitzer) in

the hull of a turretless light tank. In

May

Metro-Cammell

Mk VIII Harry Hopkins

1943 the contract with

for the near-useless

Hopkins

tank was modified to read only 100 tanks, with the remaining

1

,

1

00

to be

completed

as Alectos.

Shortly thereafter, however, the infantry lost interest

and the contract was reduced

to

300

Alectos, these to be used by the support troops

of the armored car regiments to replace the

75mm half-tracks and ungainly AEC Mk III armored

Right: An

cars.

This was

a

low

RAF Crossley armoured

priority,

car

in

Aden,

however,

1

939.

in

June

home 1

94

vehicles, filled.

25pdr weapon. Birmingham

although these were never completely

With

deliveries to Britain starring in

June

1942, these vehicles served well and the Bishops

were quickly

was not

urgently requested a

M7 SP howitzer became available,

Lend-Lease contracts were placed for over 2500

and

retired,

a standard

a substitute

but their

1

05mm howitzer

weapon of the

British

Army

was sought. The solution came

Ram

their a

a prototype using the chassis of the Valentine as

conversion similar in configuration to the

M7,

but using the 25pdr gun-howitzer. About

1

for

f

and the vehicle, christened the Bishop, firing trials in

00 vehicles was placed began early

for a further

order for 230 until

weapons and

fighting

the

and Grizzly tank chassis and created

deliveries

its

priority was given to

result, the

was not completed

vehicles

vehicle

little

no

The mobile

when

from Canada, where they had taken

was ready for

possessed

943.

Railway Carriage was asked to quickly produce

self-propelled

above the turret

it

every other country, had

Command

a basis

vehicle than the Challenger,

1920s of a battery of

Western Desert quickly brought

replaced by a mild steel cover carried slightly top. Altogether a better looking

like

self-propelled artillery.

in the

American

nowhere and when the war

led

broke out Britain,

requirements of the Royal Artillery anti-tank

than the tank.

26

in the late

Challenger tank altered to meet the

reduced in height, yielding a vehicle

1

nature of the Bishop

conversion was readily apparent and

The formation

final

of these was delivered in January

The extemporized

Self- Propelled Artillery

issued to the anti-tank battalions of the British

The

n/a

Deliveries of Se If-Propelled Artillery

the end of the war terminated production before the contract was completed.

1,220

series

production vehicles came off the Vickers line in April

1945

was usually

of the

flrsr

1944

Imports

quickly proved impractical. Instead, a contract

was given

1942

Production

consideration was given to adopting the

m

August. in

A contract

November and

in 1942. In July a contract

50 vehicles was placed and the

last

of these vehicles,

known

as the

acquired by Britain, and they replaced the in service (except in Italy)

Army's standard SP

and became the

artillery.

500

Sexton, were

M7s

JANE'S

TANKS OF WORLD WAR

Armored Cars 1940

1939a for four-wheel drive

The need

armored

cars

1943

1944

150

1,686

282

721

586

653

1941

1942

657

873

135

1945

had Production

become clear by rhe unril

1938 that rhe

lare

1

930s, bur

was nor

it

Armored Cars

firsr rrials

of such vehicles

were conducted. Morris submitted

artillery tractor with the engine rear.

The Guy won

designation

Daimler

to the

convincingly and an order-

for 101 vehicles

was placed

Humber (37mm)

Quad Ant

moved

Guy Wheeled

May 1940 were all British had.

were

five

moved

it

561

22

1,574

1,071

348

198

Humber"

too busy with other war

work

to

511

2,775

266

.

.

830

508

body and

558

Armored Cars Canadian

GM

(.50cal)

276

841

157

2,687

continue

-

6

999

T17E2(AA)

Guy was

production, a fortuitous circumstance as

206

Imports

T17E1

were suddenly needed.

1,302

1,257

957 2,250

Beaverettes

Guy was the development at

about to provide quick, easy access for

cars

1,528

2223

Morris"

the start of the war, large quanrities of

armored

220

Light Reconnaissance Cars

the welder.

With

63

cars the

The main

the factory of a rotary jig that held the

7

200

Humber

modern armored

GHQ Liaison Regiment,

contribution of the

293

Daimler

by

available

lost in the evacuation.

(6pdr)

Scout Cars

A few were sent to mainland

Europe with the where

the

38

(2pdr)

AEC

Coventry

They

tended to overheat in the desert, and were unreliable elsewhere, but the

AEC

500

119

AEC (75mm)

under the unusual

Light Tank.

101

Humber (15mm)

Guy

based on the work of Srraussler, while rhe proposal used rhe chassis of their

Guy

a design

-

T18E2

.

30

M8

-

6

494

1,355

413

-

902

1,407

761

185

23

6,584

621

-

Marmon-Herrington

348

IV

it

Scout Cars

turned out. Instead, attention turned to the Canadian Ford

Rootes Group, whose Karrier subsidiary was

M3A1 Scout Car building their the Indian as

KT4 all-wheel drive tractor for

Army. Moving the engine

Guy had done earlier with

allowed the quite neatly. use

to the rear,

Guy built a

on the new armored

reliable

cars,

now called rugged a

the

his

made production

compartment

was addressed with the

Mk

the hull. For the

The

December

month behind schedule. This

featured a

new

American

37mm

7.92mm

Finally, that

in

turret that

2pdr gun

mounted an

car.

For

they drew on the BSA/Daimler scout

adopted the unibody

time

a British

May

such as two-speed

The

hull,

this

car,

and

although not the

troublesome four-wheel steering.

A fluid

It

such

of the trials

a

.

car

They took as

their

was

Mk II

improvements,

rear to

and

built as a

AEC company.

Matador medium

Rootes had done, moved

tractor and,

the engine to the

accommodate an armored body. Bulky

heavy, the

than the

AEC Mk

earlier

armored

I

had thicker armor

cars

and

to

escort.

dynamo and modified gun

armored

Some were shipped

form of a

1

22 were

must have seemed

a large,

so design

result

hull

and

7.92mm

heavy vehicle

a

was the

The

The

logical one, replace the

was limited

to

convoy

to waste

2pdr gun,

6pdr version.

a

service in Italy

next step was a

6pdr gun with

heavy armored

200

for

with a 6pdr and

Mk II saw

starting in late 1943.

to yield a

a

North

Mk II, with a redesigned

a different turret

Besa.

shame

to carry a

work was begun on

The

gun

largest

I

where they were used mostly

1941 The original

a range of minor

came from

Africa,

Daimler armored car was followed by the

which featured

turrets

tanks being converted to

bridgelayers.

thousand vehicles were immediately ordered. Deliveries began in

The

armored car

in the

in a turret similar to that

speculative venture by the

design for an armored

Valentine

mounted on

Tetrarch light tank. Following successful

tank gun and a coaxial

Besa.

own

ordered in June 1941.

mounting.

Meanwhile, Daimler had been working on their

first

was given a cannon armament,

Humber Mk IV,

of which was delivered

1942, about a

Armored Cars & Scout Cars

of

gearbox, thence by four separate shafts to the wheels, which were individually

easier

a bit roomier.

same inadequate armament.

first

Wartime Deliveries

much

Mk III version had a larger 3-man turret, but issue

Office (army) only

flywheel linked the engine to a preselector

the hull was redesigned with a modified

rhe

War

further 140 hulls for

and the Humber turned out

driver's position that

and made

b

their chassis,

better vehicle than the earlier Guy. For the II

September-December only

Guy Mk LA body to be dropped on

Humber Mk I. The new chassis proved and

a

car.

a

75mm

Production

vehicles, however, because

the armored car regiments were ahead}'

equipped with the

US M3 75mm half-track

vehicle for the fire support role

happy with

and were quite

it.

The culmination of British armored development was

car

to be the Coventry, developed

27

JANE'S jointly by

Humber and

surprisingly,

combined

it

armored

the producers'

Not

Daimler. features

cars. It

had

shape most

a

went

by two drive

axles driven

variants were planned, the

man

turret

two-man

Mk

I

and

turret

Mk

I

75mm gun.

a

began

944 and were planned

Daimler and production

Two

Deliveries of

both the

to replace

They did,

lines.

at that plant,

three. In

proven

popular that there seemed no point

was completed

in

was the emergence of the

own vehicle.

but the

Significant quantities of armored cars were

from the US, particularly theT"Staghound"

armed with only

service. Large vehicles,

37mm gun, their

in British

they were nonetheless prized lor

roominess

of operation.

as a

command vehicle and ease

A small number were fitted with

the turrets from Crusader

tanks refitted with

III

Ironsides

I

and

II

as

and the Morris

still

I

used the

and Morris

III

made them

other army, the scout car proved very popular in British

when

and Commonwealth

service. It

unclear

is

the requirement for a 4-wheel drive,

lightly-armored,

2-man vehicle was

promulgated, but

trials

end of the war. About 600

designs were held in

promise, one by

938.

1

Two vehicles showed

BSA and the other by Alvis, and

these two were modified

and

retested in

The BSA design was selected and

1

939.

placed in

production by Daimler (who had acquired

BSA

With

the

fall

A crash program to

The effectiveness of the Luftwaffe, Allied morale, was a shock to the

on

War Office. As

Beaverettes

Humber armored

but few of these appear to have been

were acquired from the

although they seem

to

quad

US

built.

AA armored

via Lend-Lease,

have been

little

used.

recognized that the production of four separate types of carrier, the

MG,

Bren, Scout and

A standardized vehicle

MGs and fitted to the chassis the AA Light Tank Mk This was succeeded by the AA Light Tmk Mk II, which had a roomier turret with improved sights and utilized the Light Tmk

was needed and the

Mk VIB chassis. These were clearly far from

gun and

optimal and only about 50 were converted.

Universal carrier were also developed.

7.92mm

Besa

of the Light Tank

Mark VIA in 1 940 as

I.

substantial tanks.

mounting more

weapons on the

The first to

chassis

of cruiser

mount, with

Each infantry battalion received

one with an

a

Bren gun, one with

a 2" mortar.

carrier

was

two

arrangements.

a variant of the

a

of the

The

also issued to the infantry

vehicles for each 3" mortar,

The AOP

in

was developed

for artillery forward observers.

The armored carrier was invention.

a

uniquely British

No country outside the

Commonwealth adopted such vehicles,

armored shield and so was cut into the

that the costs

production

burden of tracked armored vehicles of such

II

and the Humberette

on automobile

chassis.

The

army and 340

I

for the Ministry

of

in

February

line quickly, the first 1

943

as the

being delivered

Crusader AA

Development of the twin Oerlikon into delays, however, to

Mk

and the Crusader

hulls

be put into storage until turret deliveries

and (more importantly)

limited payload

I.

turret ran

had

and

stowage

carrier

the

either half- or full-around

-

Bren gun and

Two variants

differed from the standard

Two versions were

a

AT rifle (later a PIAT), and one with a Bren

battalions,

reach fruition were those

The former utilized

was the Universal

platoon of four sections each of three carriers

mortar

planned, one with a single

Oerlikon.

Carrier.

result

The most common were

batch of the Beaverette

for the

the

field

Mk was followed by orders totalling 800 of the Mk II version, 460 initial

Besa turret on the

mount

to

of

Mks I and

vehicles, based

program

plate as the basis

gravel, rather than

their protection.

armor

7.92mm car,

also a

Cavalry, was wasteful.

40mm Bofors gun and the other with a turretted win 20mm

some cases, concrete or enclosed

There was

an expedient solution a turret was developed with

The vehicles were usually protected,

steel or, in

28

especially

based on the Crusader.

armored, for they almost invariably used mild

removed from the vast

Carriers

produce protected vehicles was embarked on. rather than

,622 of these vehicles

1

Even before the outbreak of the war it was

Efforts then turned to

of Dunkirk very few armored

delivered

tor airfield defense.

Anti-Aircraft Vehicles

in the interim).

vehicles remained in Britain.

M 14,

the

purpose armored vehicles.

cars

Morris reconnaissance cars were also used by the

four

with four competing

The US

Instead, almost a thousand T17E2

75mm guns to create a fire-support armored car. Although the type was not adopted by any

end the program was stopped

M3 half-track with the Maxson twin .50cal

turret.

II

reconnaissance regiments of the infantry

RAF

in the

majority of them and they were used as general

and these models were used by the

divisions to the

and

delivery the turrets were

Humber

introduced four-wheel drive, which useful,

of the Oerlikon models. Once again

between April 1943 and March 1944. After

AFV bodies,

the

4x2 drive system. The Humber

more

a

the

"light reconnaissance

models, such

turret

20mm

but with Polsten

The most numerous AA vehicle was

more conventional

initial

in lieu

II

before completion.

These were somewhat better-designed

vehicles with

its

finding a use for

the delivery of turret lagged behind that of the

1942.

in late

Crusader AA

chassis

and

An outgrowth of this hurried development

Daimler was contracted

as the

Is

vehicles.

Centaur AA, used the same

result, the

as the

guns

for

RAF for

defense to replace the Beaverette

car".

17E1, known

0mm armor for its crew of

500

curtailed at about

Centaur chassis that were otherwise unwanted.

The

MGs and

August 1941 a contract was placed

accepting the inevitable break in production, so

also acquired

1

900 Oerlikon Crusader

The second effort involved

Mk III featured a

thousand of these vehicles by the

this

but the Daimlers had

on building

program was

RAF for airfield defense

Beaverette

June. Although

in

AA Mk II were envisioned, and the hulls built, by mid- 1944 the need had diminished and the

supplies of armor plate

Bren gun or two Vickers

was protected by

airfield

in fact, replace the

to keep

when

The

1940.

turret with a

a

the

Humbers so

also built

after

Mk II with a

Humber armored cars on

A somewhat smaller number of Humberettes

were transferred to the

slow rate in June

at a

began

raiders).

became available. Most of the army vehicles

with a three-

and a 2pdr gun, and the

the Coventry 1

shafts.

presumably against parachute

factories,

were

to a

more conventional suspension/drive system, with

WAR

Aircraft Production for defense of aircraft

from both of

closely resembling the Daimler, but

TANKS OF WORLD

made them

feeling

logistical

inefficient.

Nevertheless, they were popular with the British

Army, which retained them

into the 1950s.

in service

6

JANE'S Not all to this

roles required

end the Loyd

TANKS OF WORLD WAR

an armored vehicle and

carrier

was developed.

Slightly larger than the Universal Carrier,

it

Carrier,

Bren

Carrier,

Scout

charging equipment, lay wire for

Universal (Bren)

communications and

Universal (3" mortar)

fill

a variety of other tasks.

Commonwealth

requirements

the

Windsor

Carrier and in the

Loyd

245

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945 b

6,906

4,193

6,489

6,890

1,818

493

6,879

5,084

663

1

196

645

2,160

2,415

1

184

618

2,648

4,878

9,721

46

4,693

8,200

604

1940

Canada

as

US as the T 16.

vehicle dispensed with the warp-

1

331 1,874

_

611

4,955

US Production Carrier, T1 a

The US

2,346

Universal (AOP)

contracts were also placed overseas. Larger versions of the Universal were built in

1939a

British Production

was

used to tow anti-tank guns, carry battery

To

Prior

b

-

September-December only January-September only

steering used in the Universal in favor of a

simple clutch-and-brake. Both vehicles proved

Warti me Production of Carri ers

useful for carrying the 4.2" mortar and towing

the

6pdr AT gun due

to their larger size. rd Below: A universal carrier enters Uelzen on 23

April

1945.

29

JANE'S

Light Tanks,

TANKS OF WORLD WAR

I

Marks to V I

These tanks were developed by Vickers from the

Carden-Loyd

armed with

carriers.

a single

The Mks

I-IV were

all

machine gun (usually .303,

Mk III Mk II

but sometimes the .5-inch Vickers

in the

and IV) and had one-man

The

turrets.

established the configuration for the later vehicles,

with the powertrain on right and turret

The Mk IV dispensed with

slightly to the left.

the frame, using the hull as the chassis. Similar vehicles were widely sold by Vickers with

commercial designations. The

i

Mk V "

introduced a 2-man turret and twin machine

guns (one of each type). Although thin

fast,

their

armor made them very vulnerable,

their

armament was weak and

-

their short length

caused them to pitch violently over rough

ground, although

this

was

1

slightly less

Mk V.

noticeable on the longer

a tm

^

Obsolete by

939, none of these earlier marks were sent with

the BEF, although a few served briefly in

North

Africa.

Mk V

light

The Mark VI was an evolution

ot the

featuring only detail improvements. sat at the front

on

the

left,

(but

still

Front

3.40

Side

Width (m)

1.30

Engine

Height (m)

2.12

Road Speed (km/h)

Weight (tonnes)

4.68

Front

Length (m)

3.92

Side

Width (m)

2.01

Engine

Height (m)

2.20

Road Speed (km/h)

HP

12 9

88 60

Mark VI

Mk V, The driver

with the commander

and gunner/radio operator 1

3.83

Length (m)

tanks on maneuvers, 1939 (TMB)

Light Tank,

old No.

Armor (mm) Armor (mm)

Weight (tonnes)

in the turret.

The

radio was replaced by an improved flawed) No. 7 radio in the turret

The major change came

late in the

rear.

production

run with the decision to replace the Vickers

MGs with Besa models.

Thus

the

Mk VI-VIB

used a .303 and the underpowered and unreliable 0.5-inch Vickers, while the last batch

of Mk VI B were completed

7.92mm and a

1

as Mk VIC with a 5mm Besa, the latter more

powerful than the Vickers but even

and inaccurate

in burst fire

the long, thin barrel.

The

less reliable

due to whipsaw of

Mk V1B was the most

numerous tank of the BEF and, although only in the scouting

role,

useful

by default served

as a

battle tank, with attendant losses.

A basic Mk

30

VI light tank

Armor (mm) Armor (mm)

HP

14 9

88 58

1

JAN E'S TAN KS OF

Tank, The Tetrarch marked

a radical departure

the preceding line of light tanks.

It

WORLD WAR

Mark VII

1

(Tetrarch)

from

had four

large road wheels, the rear serving also as the

drive sprocket,

and

warp

utilized

steering in

which the roadwheels could be turned at small angles to shift the track for high-speed turns.

For harder turns conventional brake steering

was employed. The vehicle was armed with

2pdrgun

(with 50 rounds) and

7.92mm MG were built

as

A small number

in the turret.

CS versions

which

in

a 3"

howitzer

By the time they came

replaced the 2pdr.

genera] service in late 1941

into

their usefulness

two-man

already limited by their

a

coaxial Besa

weak armament. Most were put

turret

was

and

in storage to

await availability of the Hamilcar glider,

designed specifically for this tank.

A few were

thus used by the 6th Airborne Division in the

Normandy invasion.

Mark

Armor (mm) Armor (mm)

Weight (tonnes)

6.8

Front

Length (m)

4.05

Side

Width (m)

2.31

Road Speed (km/h)

Height

2.11

(in)

16 n/a

25

VI Tetrarch light tank I

Tank, This was with

a further

and

hull tor better shot

deflection and thicker armor.

added

to

(Harry Hopkins)

development of the Tetrarch

a redesigned turret

steering system

Mark VIM

The unique

was retained but power

reduce driver fatigue.

remained the same,

a

assist

The armament

2pdr gun (with 50 rounds)

and a 7.9mm Besa, and tapered-bore Littlejohn adaptors were sometimes fitted to the main gun to

improve

AP

penetration, as with the Tetrarch.

Although an improvement over the Tetrarch the increased weight

made

it

unsuitable tor glider

operations and by the time

it

came

into service

the light tank concept had fallen out of favor

with the British Army. As a never saw combat. the Alecto

SP

saw combat

It

result, the

Hopkins

did serve as the basis for

95mm howitzer, but that never

either,

being too

late.

—'.* 7"* r iVJ^BM *

Mk

VIII

Hopkins

light

*

• .

-

'!.

Armor (mm) Armor (mm)

Weight (tonnes)

7.7

Front

Length (m)

4.34

Side

Width (m)

2.74

Engine

Height (m)

2.11

Road Speed (km/h)

HP

38mm n/a

148 50

tank

31

JANE'S

TANKS OF WORLD

WAR

Commercial Light Tanks In addition to developing

and building

light

tanks for the British Army, Vickers Armstrong built similar vehicles for export 1

during the

930s. Details varied slightly and they were

often referred to by the year of manufacture,

Model 1935, but been an

official

i.e.,

does not appear to have

this

V-A designation

system.

They

were typically two-man vehicles with a small turret

mounting

machine

a single rifle-caliber

gun. Weight usually varied from 3.3 to 3.8 tons

and 1

maximum armor thickness from

1mm.

7mm to

Radios were optional, but appear to

have been fitted only infrequently. Amphibious versions, with still

wide

hulls to ensure flotation in

water, were also developed

thin armor,

2-man crew and

and

sold.

Their

lack of a radio

rendered them obsolete by 1939, although they

continued to soldier on

in a

few countries where

replacements were unavailable, such

as

China,

Armor (mm) Armor (mm)

Weight (tonnes)

3.02

Front

Length (m)

3.54

Side

Width (m)

1.91

Engine

Height (m)

1.98

Road Speed (km/hr)

Thailand and Argentina.

Vickers Armstrong

light

tank model

1935

Vickers

Medium E Tank (6-ton)

A commercial venture designed in

the late

1920s, the

Medium E was

British Arm)', but

usually

never adopted by the

armed with

machine gun

which covered a 100°

Medium

E,

a single

in each turret, each

field

of fire. The

usually featured a short-barrel 3pdr

of

latter

(47mm)

Vickers gun and a coaxial

MG.

optional in both models.

The crew was two

three

60

model and a single-turret model.

The former was rifle-caliber

7

88

was widely sold for export.

There were two basic versions of the a twin-turret

HP

9

Radios were or

depending on the model. Power was from

a horizontal, air-cooled,

Siddeley engine.

4-cylinder Armstrong

The single-turret model was

well-balanced tank for

its

a

time, the early 1930s,

but had clearly slipped into obsolescence by 1939.

mn

A

single turret

trials,

32

1931

medium

Armor (mm) Armor (mm)

Weight (tonnes)

7.02

Front

Length (m)

4.54

Side

Width (m)

2.17

Engine

Height (m)

2.40

Road Speed (km/hr)

E before being shipped to Greece for

HP

17 n/a

80 37

.

JAN E'S TAN KS OF

Mark

Cruiser, The

first

of the new

(A9)

I

of cruiser tanks

armament configuration of a

featured an archaic

main gun and

series

WORLD WAR

a coaxial Vickers .303 water-

cooled machine gun in the main turret, plus two

MGs in the two auxiliary turrets at the

more

The 2pdr main gun was

front.

powerful,

however, and the three-man turret was efficient

and

advance of its time.

in

tank proved

hand,

its

was

also the first

traverse for the

modifications to the prototype the

turret. After

continued

It

power

British tank to feature

reliable,

to

although the tracks

On

show weaknesses.

armor was

the other

pitiably thin for a battle

tank, providing protection only against small

arms

fire

and fragments. About

a quarter

of 125

tanks built were close-support (CS) versions that substituted a 3.7" howitzer for the

v

2pdr

-v

gun.

Cruiser

Mk

with the 3.7" howitzer

CS

I

(TMB)

Cruiser,

Mark

II

Armor (mm) Armor (mm)

Weight (tonnes)

10.8

Front

Length (m)

5.83

Side

Width (m)

2.52

Engine

Height (m)

2.52

Road Speed (km/hr)

HP

14 n/a

150 42

(aio)

The AIO was essentially an uparmored version of the A9. To achieve

this

they eliminated the

near-useless auxiliary turrets at the front

and

carried the vertical plate in front of the driver straight across. Extra

the hull its

and

armor was then bolted

thickness.

The added weight,

to have carried a

however,

The original

reduced the speed considerably.

model was

to

double

turret fronts to effectively

2pdr and a Vickers

MG in the turret and a Besa MG in the hull although the hull mounting was usually

front,

empty to

simplify

supply.

The

weapon

for a

ammunition

Mark IIA changed

the Vickers

-*

,.-.-,*

Besa and added the Besa in the hull front.

About

a quarter

CS

of the II/IIA cruisers were

models with a 3.7" howitzer in place of the 2pdr.

As with the Cruiser

Mk

I,

some Mk lis

with the BEF, but most

were sent

to France

served in

North Africa

until retired in

194

£