By request:
BRITISH WARTIME TANK DEVELOPMENT
As my previous article described, Britain entered the Second World War with a large force (over a thousand) of 5-ton light tanks, plus around 200 medium tanks split between the infantry role (slow but heavily armoured) and the cruiser role (fast but lightly armoured).
INFANTRY TANKS
The Infantry Mark I tank was unofficially known as the Matilda by the troops; the origin of the name is unclear, but may have been an internal project designation by the manufacturer. 139 were built; 97 of them were destroyed or abandoned in the Battle of France, and production was discontinued.
The much larger and better Mark II tank was also, confusingly, called the Matilda despite being a completely different design. It was extremely heavily armoured; the only gun the Germans had in 1940 that was capable of penetrating its frontal armour was the 88mm anti-aircraft gun, which wasn't supposed to be used against ground targets but had to be pressed into use. The Matilda continued in service until 1942; by this point its 40mm 2-pounder gun, which had been very effective against prewar tank designs, was no longer capable of damaging the new heavier machines entering combat.
The Infantry Mark III tank was popularly known as the Valentine - again, the reason is obscure. One theory is that the tank was officially approved for production on Valentine's Day. Another that it was named in honour of Sir John Valentine Carden, co-designer of the Carden-Loyd tankette, who became Technical Director of Vickers after that company bought out his own; or more dubiously that it was an acronym for 'Vickers-Armstrong Limited, Elswick, Newcastle-upon-Tyne'.
The Valentine was first designed in 1938, but production did not begin until 1940 and the first tanks entered front-line service in 1941 in North Africa - the delay was typical of the disorganised British tank industry of the early 40s. This tank was much easier to construct than the Mark II, and so replaced it in British Army use despite not being any better in terms of performance.
Infantry Tank Mk III (Valentine)- 14 tons, 25 kph speed, front armour 65 mm, 40mm gun + MG
In 1942 the Valentine was upgraded by being given a 57mm 6-pounder gun in a new turret. This new version remained in production for another year before being replaced by the Mark IV tank and lend-lease American designs.
8400 were built.
The Valentine became the standard British infantry tank of the years 1941-42, being easier to produce than the Matilda.
The Valentine was seen as a stopgap, and work on a proper replacement for the Matilda was begun in 1940. However, the original design (the A20) was a failure. The Vauxhall company - another of the new manufacturers with no experience in tank production - were ordered to develop a slightly smaller version of the A20 and rush it into production as fast as possible. The result was:
Infantry Tank Mk IV A22 (Churchill) - 35 tons, 26 kph speed, front armour 102 mm, 40mm gun + 2 MGs
The Churchill entered service in 1941, but the rushed construction and inexperienced manufacturer meant it was horribly unreliable. However, a lengthy programme of upgrading and improving the tank was undertaken. In 1942 the Churchill Mk III and Mk IV (the difference was a welded turret in the Mark III, a cast turret in the Mark IV) proved effective in battle. They were also upgraded to use a 57mm gun.
Infantry Tank Mk IV A22 Churchill Mark IV - 35 tons, 26 kph speed, front armour 102 mm, 57mm gun + 2 MGs
The Churchill was still in use by 1944, though by the time of D-Day the Churchill Mark VII now had a 75mm gun and 50% thicker frontal armour. Although slow and heavy, the Churchill actually had lower ground pressure than the Sherman due to its wide tracks, giving it greater mobility in rough terrain. Its wide body also gave it the capability of being upgraded multiple times, as well as being used as the basis for specialist engineering vehicles such as minesweepers, bridgelayers, and flamethrower tanks.
In total
1424 Churchills with 40mm guns were produced in 1941-42,
2297 with 57mm guns in 1942-44,
1346 with 75mm guns in 1944-45, and
1687 of the specialist variants (not counting conversions). Grand total
6754.
The Churchill entered service in 1941 and after many upgrades was still effective at the end of the war.
CRUISER TANKS
Britain entered the war with no fewer than four different cruiser tank models - the original Mark I, the Mark II with upgraded armour, and the Mark III with Christie suspension, plus the Mark IV which was an up-armoured Mark III and still on the drawing board at the outbreak of war, but entering service by 1940.
A single replacement for all these tanks, the Mark V, was ordered in 1940 from the London, Midland and Scottish Railway - who were good at making steam locomotives, less good at making tanks. The result was possibly the worst British tank of the entire war:
Cruiser Mk V A13 Mark 3 Covenanter - 16 tons, 52 kph, front armour 40mm, 40mm gun + 1 MG.
On paper the Covenanter seemed an impressive cruiser tank - fast, well-armoured compared to its predecessors, fairly well-armed for its time. In practice it was a nightmare: constantly overheating and utterly unreliable. Over
1700 were produced in 1941-43, but the War Office never dared send them into combat. They were kept in the UK for use in training.
(Side note - as far as I can tell the Covenanter was the first British tank to be given an official name rather than just a number - 'Valentine' and 'Matilda' were unofficial nicknames. This became standard practice thereafter.)
The Covenanter, Britain's entry in the "Worst Tank of WW2" competition. (Though the Japanese or Italians would probably win the prize).
The Nuffield corporation, who had made the Cruiser Mark III, were offered a contract to help make the Mark V. They turned this offer down and instead came up with their own design, the Mark VI Crusader.
Cruiser Mk VI A15 Crusader - 17 tons, 45 kph, front armour 40mm, 40mm gun + 2 MGs.
A later upgrade removed one MG in favour of 9mm thicker frontal armour. The Crusader was very similar in design to the Covenanter; a little slower but more reliable.
1997 were built in 1941-42, seeing extensive service in North Africa. Though better than the Covenanter, the Crusader was generally a poor tank which often broke down.
The Crusader, Britain's main cruiser tank in 1941-42. Generally outclassed by its opposition.
By the time the Crusader entered service, the British Army already realised they would need a 57mm gun instead of a 40mm one in their cruiser tanks. As a stopgap the Crusader was upgraded with a new 57mm gun turret in 1942, at the cost of reducing the turret crew to two instead of three.
In early 1941 the War Office asked suppliers to come up with designs for a new cruiser tank with a 57mm main gun and better armour. Nuffield, Leyland and the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Waggon company all proposed ideas. With stunning indecision, the War Office authorised all three companies to begin production of their own design. These three tanks were originally called the Cromwell I, II and III, but in November 1942 they were renamed the Cavalier, Centaur and Cromwell. The tradition of giving all British cruiser tanks names beginning with the letter C was now firmly established.
Cruiser Mk VII A24 Cavalier - 24 tons, 40 kph, front armour 76mm, 57mm gun + MG.
Cruiser Mk VII A27L Centaur - 25 tons, 45 kph, front armour 76mm, 57mm gun + MG.
Cruiser Mk VII A27M Cromwell - 25 tons, 67kph, front armour 76mm, 57mm gun + 2 MGs.
The Cavalier was Nuffield's design. It was closely based on their previous Crusader with a new turret. Although better in combat (it returned to the three-man turret configuration), it was even more unreliable than the Crusader. Only
161 were built and it never saw combat.
The Centaur was the Leyland model. It was also quite unreliable, but had better suspension.
1284 were built, including a handful which in 1943 were upgraded to use a 75mm gun, and a few that were converted to mount 90mm howitzers for use in infantry support. Only the last group saw combat, at D-Day.
The Cromwell produced by Birmingham Railway Carriage & Waggon was the best of the group.
2266 were made, and it became the standard British-built cruiser tank of the mid-war period. (At this point it should be mentioned that Britain also imported 17,000 American Shermans, to put that figure into context.) The Cromwell used the new Rolls Royce Meteor engine - a conversion of the famous Merlin aircraft engine - giving it excellent speed and mobility. Its armour was comparable to the German Panzer IV. Reliability was still an issue - it was not as good as the Sherman - but still a lot better than previous British tanks. The main limitation was armament.
The first Cromwells rolled off the production line in 1943 with 57mm guns. It was already obvious by that time that they would need to be upgraded to larger weapons - but although Britain already had the excellent 76.2mm 17-pounder gun in operation as a towed anti-tank weapon, the Cromwell's turret rings were too narrow to accept this. Vickers came up with a solution, reboring the existing 57mm 6-pounder to fire 75mm shells. (In fact, it used the same ammo as the American M3 tank gun fitted to the Sherman). The resulting gun was mediocre, but better than nothing. In October 1943 the Cromwell was upgraded to use this new gun.
The Cromwell, Britain's main home-made tank of 1943-44. Its main claim to fame is that it was at least better than the Crusader and Covenanter.
Meanwhile, Birmingham RCW were asked to produce a new tank based on the Cromwell that would be able to use the proper 17-pounder high velocity gun. The result was the Challenger (not to be confused with the current British Army's MBT):
Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger - 28 tons, 53kph, front armour 102mm, 76mm HV gun + MG.
The Challenger used a widened and lengthened version of the Cromwell chassis, with a new and very large turret. The tank was unsuccessful: too high-profile, difficult to manoeuvre, and unreliable. Only 200 were built; after that it was decided to modify lend-lease Shermans to use the 17-pounder gun instead.
Vickers continued working on improving the 17-pounder. Late in 1943 they came up with the 77mm High Velocity gun - it was actually 76.2mm calibre (3 inches), but was renamed 77mm because it used different ammunition to the standard 76.2mm gun. Its performance was slightly less than the standard 17-pounder - but still capable of piercing the front armour of a Tiger tank at 500 yards; more importantly it was small enough to fit into a tank turret.
Leyland were asked to design a new tank to use the 77mm HV gun. They based the chassis on the Cromwell, and came up with the:
Cruiser A34 Comet - 29 tons, 48kph, front armour 101mm, 77mm HV gun + 2 MGs.
For the first time since the war began, Britain had managed to produce a tank that was as good as any other machine in its weight class then in service in the world. Unfortunately, it entered production late in 1944, and only saw front-line combat in the final few months of the war, after the Allied armies had crossed the Rhine. The Comet was fast and manoeuvrable, with reasonable armour and an excellent gun, and was very reliable. 1187 were built during the war years; it would remain in service with the British Army until 1958 (and in the armies of other countries such as South Africa, Finland and Ireland for even longer).
The Comet: Britain shocks the world by making a tank that's actually good.
UNIVERSAL TANKS
The concept that would later be called the 'main battle tank' was referred to by the British as the 'universal tank'. This would be a vehicle capable of fulfilling all the roles of the infantry tank, cruiser tank and heavy tank - assault, breakthrough and exploitation - but with a single tank design instead of needing multiple ones. In November 1943 the government's Department of Tank Design was given the job of developing a specification (A41) for such a tank. One design requirement was that it be able to withstand a direct hit from a German 88mm gun, while still being as manoeuvrable as a cruiser tank.
The result - proof that at least sometimes, government bureaucrats can do a better job than private enterprise - was perhaps the best tank of the Second World War, the Centurion.
A41 Centurion - 52 tons, 35kph, front armour 150mm, 77mm HV gun + MG.
Six Centurions were running trials when the war ended, which is how it can just scrape in as a WW2 tank. It entered general service with the British Army in 1946, remaining in service until the 1970s. Centurions saw combat in Korea, the Middle East and (as part of the Australian Army) in Vietnam. Their finest moments, however, were the Six-Day War and Yom Kippur War. 76% of Israel's tank forces in 1967 were Centurions, renamed the Sho't in IDF service. In 1973 in the Battle of the Golan Heights fewer than 100 Israeli Centurions defeated an attack by 1260 Soviet-made Syrian tanks, destroying over 500 of them and forcing the rest to retreat - at the cost of 70% casualties of their own.
The Centurion tank.
Don't mess with it.
LIGHT TANKS
A replacement for the Vickers Mark VI light tank was on the drawing board when war broke out, called the Mark VII Tetrarch. However, the poor performance of light tanks in the Battle of France and the opening battles in North Africa led the War Office to reduce its original order for 286 to just
95, produced in 1940-41. The Tetrarch did not see regular combat service, but was issued to airborne troops to be dropped in gliders.
Another light tank design, the Mark VIII, was also developed - called the 'Harry Hopkins' in honour of President Roosevelt's advisor who masterminded the lend-lease programme. The design was approved in 1941, the first 6 were produced in 1943 and only
100 had been built by the end of the war - a sign of the low priority given to light tanks. The Mark VIII never saw combat.
Light Tank Mk VII (Tetrarch) - 7 tons, 25kph, front armour 16mm, 40mm gun + MG.
Light Tank Mk VIII (Harry Hopkins) - 8 tons, 50kph, front armour 38mm, 40mm gun + MG.
Britain also acquired the M3 light tank from the Americans under lend-lease - they called it the Stuart - but in practice it was used in the cruiser tank role instead. Over
5,000 were imported between 1941 and 1945.
LEND-LEASE TANKS
In July 1940 a team of British envoys was sent to the United States to negotiate the purchase of tanks on a commercial basis. The British originally wanted the Americans to manufacture Matildas and Crusaders under licence, but the US companies were unwilling to retool their factories. Instead they offered the British the new American M3 medium tank. The British agreed to this, but asked for some modifications, such as a larger turret incorporating a radio, but omitting the complex cupola with a machine gun fitted on top of the turret. A contract for 3000 tanks was signed.
Before the tanks could be delivered, Roosevelt introduced the lend-lease system. Under this, Britain would be supplied with American tanks under standard US government contracts instead of having to buy their own. Deliveries of the special UK-modified M3 tank began in 1941, but to speed up supply Britain also agreed to accept the default American model as well. To distinguish between them, the modified variant was called the M3 Grant and the default American version the M3 Lee.
M3 Medium (Lee/Grant) - 27 tons, 40kph, front armour 50mm, 75mm gun, 37mm gun + 3 MGs (2 MGs on Grant).
The M3 was a cumbersome design, very high-sided and with an awkward armament layout - the 75mm gun was in the hull with only a limited field of fire. Still, it was better than the Crusader.
1751 Grant and
1152 Lee tanks were delivered to Britain and the Commonwealth in 1941-43.
The M3 Lee: the United States entry in the "Silliest-looking Tank of WW2" competition.
When the USA switched to the M4 Medium, Britain also received supplies of them. They called the new tank the Sherman, continuing the trend of naming their lend-lease tanks after US Civil War generals, and even the Americans eventually started using that name. The Sherman was produced in a bewildering variety of different models with only subtle differences, and to avoid confusion the British referred to the ones they imported as the Sherman I, II, III, IV and V. Over
17,000 were delivered to the Commonwealth countries between 1942 and 1945, making it by far the most common tank in British service in the second half of the war.
M4A4 Medium (Sherman V) - 30 tons, 40kph, front armour 75mm, 75mm gun + 3 MGs.
The M4A4 was the most common version supplied to the UK, with 7160 imported (42% of the total). It used a Chrysler A57 'multibank' engine, which was actually five normal V-6 automobile engines combined together in a star shape. Shortage of engines was the biggest problem facing US tank manufacturers in WW2, and this was one of the more ingenious solutions they came up with.
The Americans called it the M4A4 Medium Tank. The British called it the Sherman tank. Guess which name caught on?
By the time it entered widespread service in 1943 it was already obvious that the Sherman's 75m gun was inadequate. About
1200 of the British Shermans, delivered in 1944, were fitted with the slightly better 76mm gun - the Americans preferred to keep the majority of their production of this gun to themselves. However, the British realised that the best solution would be to convert the Sherman to use their own 17-pounder anti-tank gun. The result was the:
Sherman Firefly - 30 tons, 40kph, front armour 75mm, 76.2mm HV gun + 2 MGs.
The Firefly was something of a bodge job: a hole had to be cut in the back of the turret to allow space for the recoil of the gun (covered by a projecting metal bustle) and the hull machine gun was removed to make room for the 17-pounder's much larger ammunition. Still, during the Normandy landings it was the only Allied tank capable of taking on the German Panther one-on-one.
2100 were converted between 1943-45, with 342 available on D-Day.
Only a small proportion of Shermans were suitable for conversion to Fireflies - they needed a specific combination of turret mount and hull design which were only found in a comparatively small proportion of M4 tank variants. Unfortunately the American authorities never knew whether any given batch of Shermans coming out of one of the many factories they had making the tanks would be suitable for conversion. The British had to send people to the dockside to physically inspect the tanks as they were shipped in, and divert the ones that were suitable for the Firefly conversion.
Sherman Firefly. With a really big gun.
TANK DESTROYERS
The concept of the tank destroyer is a very heavy gun mounted to a fixed chassis, instead of in a turret. The weight saved by omitting the turret allows a larger gun to be fitted, with the obvious drawback of restricting its arc of fire. Tank destroyers were normally expected to operate from ambush rather than take part in open-field battles.
In Britain, it was realised by 1941 that the standard 40mm gun still used by the Matilda, Valentine and Crusader was no longer effective against the latest German tanks. Until a purpose-made tank design could be introduced with a better gun, one solution offered was to fit a 76.2mm (3") anti-aircraft gun to a Churchill tank chassis. However, the early production difficulties that plagued the Churchill tank also prevented the Gun Carrier version from entering front-line service. Less than 100 were made.
As an alternative, the American M10 tank destroyer was ordered instead.
1648 of them were imported via lend-lease in 1943-44; the British christened it the Wolverine. In 1944-45 most of the British Wolverines were converted to use the 17-pounder gun, and were renamed the Achilles.
M10 Motor Gun Carriage (Wolverine) - 30 tons, 50kph, front armour 50mm, 76mm gun + MG.
The M10 was based on the Sherman tank chassis. Unusually for tank destroyers, it had a rotating turret - but this was thinly armoured and open-topped. The turret also lacked a powered traverse, and had to be cranked around by hand. Nevertheless, it proved fairly effective in combat when used in its proper role.
The M10 Wolverine: a tank destroyer you could drive with the top down!
Meanwhile, Vickers were asked to convert their Valentine infantry tanks into a tank destroyer using the 17-pounder gun. This conversion was commonly called the Archer.
Tank Destroyer Archer - 14 tons, 33kph, front armour 60mm, 76.2mm HV gun.
The Archer was a strange vehicle, with the fixed-mount gun pointing backwards over the engine compartment so it had to be reversed into battle. Nevertheless, it was compact and had a very low profile and was excellent when operating from ambush.
655 were produced from 1944 onwards, and it remained in service until the 1950s.
The Archer. The gun points backwards.
