"We watched our shells fired from our [Crusader] 2 pounder guns bounce off the front of German Mark IIIs and IVs at 500 yards. They were using an extrenemy powerful 50mm on the Mark IIIs and the Mark IV had a 75mm gun which would just come stright through a Crusdader, even the frontal armour."

-- Clfford Pace, Wireless Operator, 7th Armoured Division

The British developed several different tanks and extensive variants of the basic types. They also relied on American tanks because the United States had a much larger industrial capacity. Not only did the British not come up with an effective tank, but they failed to grasp for about 3 years what the Germans had at the beginning of the War--and understanding of effective tank tactics. This did not occur until nearly 2 years of fighting in the Western Desert. Rommel essentially taught the British modern tank tactics, as he did the Amerians who proved to be faster learners. This was possible because unlike France, the Germans never deployed sufficent forces to defeat the British in the Western Desert. While huge quantities of American material flowed to the British. The British did not have the industrial capacity to build tanks in the numbers needed. Much of the British industrial capacity was focused on the air war. Thus the 8th Army in the Western Desert relied heavily on the American M-3 Grants and then the M-4 Sherman. British tank forces were notable for the variety of prototypes and types produced in relatively small numbers. The British tanks included the Maltida, Churchill, and Crusader. Most observers believe that the 52-ton Centurion was the best British tank of the War. It was conceived as the answer to the German Panthers and Tigers. The design proved so sucessful that some of its various upgrades were still in service in armies during the 1990s. The Comet Cruiser tank was the most powerful main battle tank developed by the British. It reached British forces relatively late in the War. And by this time not only had tank tactics been worked out, but the the entry of the United States in the War and the attrition experienced by the Germans on the Eastern Front and the development of close air support meant that the British tanks faced a more supportive battlefield situation than they had at the beginning of the War. The Cruiser reached British forces before American tankers got the M-26 Pershing. The British did not really have the tank they wanted until the final nonths of the War. One of the problens was they worked on developing specilized tanks rathervthn multi-porpose tanks kike the Germans. The British worked in three times more types of tanks than the Germans.

Vickers Light Tanks

The British produced a series of similar small tanks (Mk 1- Mk VII) during the inter-War years. The Vickers Mark II can be seen on the previous page. They were used mostly for imperial duties, meaning ctions where they would not face other tanks or anti-tank artillery. They were all aprodimately 5 tons. The first models had a crew of two and were armed with a 0.303 Vickers machine gun. The later had a crew of three and a heavy machine gun (the 0.50 inch version of the Vickers machine gun or 15mm Besa machine gun) in addition to 0.303 or 7.92mm Besa machine gun. Some were used in France and the Low Countries after the start of the war (1940) and proved ineffective, espcially vulnrable to German anti-tank fire. They also saw limited use in the Western Desert (1940) before being withdrawn as not suitable for service in armoured divisions.

Vickers Medium Tanks

Vickers made two medium tanks (Mk I- Mk II) during the iny0War period. They were irdered by the British Arny as their main battle tank. They were heavier than the series of light tanks also made by Vickers for imperial duty. They prioved to be both under-gunned and under-armored. A few like the Vicjers light tanks saw use nn France and the Low Countries (1940). These medium tanks were armed with either the QF 3 pdr or the Vickers machine gun. All had been ithdrawn from service by 1941. The early German Panzers were not aot better than these tanks, but il-conceived tactics and the lack of effective Britiah anti-tanl weapons contributed to the the German battlefield vicotries.

Cruiser Medium Tanks

The Cruiser medium tanks were the Brutish-built mainstay of British armored units during the war. American medium tanks like the M-3 Grant and M-4 Sherman were also heavily used. The Cruiser tanks included awide range of models wighing 10-35 tons. They were designed to be fast and mobile and to operate independently of the slow-moving infantry which had heavy tanks for support. They were conceived to fight a mobile war against other tanks. They were armed with anti-tank guns, from the QF 2 pounder (pdr) to the QF 17 pdr or the general purpose 75 mm gun. The 2 pounder he Crusader was initially armed with was essenially a pea shooer. Fine when fighing the Itlians, but a disasterwhen when they had to take on the Germans. These shells bonced off the Gerrman tanks. he cupgrades Even so they never managed to mark the comnstantly improving German Panzer that appeared on the battlfield until the end of the War. .

Cruiser Mk I (A-9)

The A-9 appeated n 1937. It was the first result of War Office's decision to adopt the the Cruiser and Infantry Tank types as he basic principle in tank development. This decision would have a major impact on how the British Army fought World War II. The A-9 was basically Britin's first modern tank. Itwas meant to be a prototype, but given the te declkaration of war, some were rushed into service. Given the rush of events, some actually saw military action. The lack of an extended testing program meant that it was generally unreliable we it was used in the early stages of the War. Only about 125 were actually built.

Cruiser Mk VI Crusader (A15)

The Crusader was the primary British cruiser tanks during the early part of World War II after the fall of France, meaning he Western Desert. Over 5,000 tanks were manufactured which was substantial in Briridh terms. Ithe Crusaderonlybsawfriont-line action in the Western Desert (1941-42), but variants were forv specialize purpses, including anti-aircraft, fire support, observation, communication, bulldozer and recovery vehicle purposes. The Crusader had several atributes, in particulkar t was manoeuvrable, but it was lightly armoured and most imprtantly under-armed. The early Crusaders had a maximum armour of 49 mm (1.9 in). The main armament was a 40 mm Ordnance QF 2-pounder gun. That worked aginst the Italians, but not the Germans. Rounds would bounce off German tanks. Combined with Rommel's inopvative tactics, British reverses are understnadable. Fortunately American M-3 Grants with a more powerful 75 mm gun helped the British to deal with German armor. Cruader upgrades had a more powerful gun, but required compromises such as reducing crew size. The Crusader never managed to keep up with German upgrades.

Cruiser Mk VIII Centaur/Cromwell (A27)

The Mk VIII Centaur (A27L) and the related Mk VIII Cromwell (A27M) were two of the most important British cruiser tanks until the appearance of the A34 Comet. They were not, howwever, the equal pf the powerful Panthers. The Centaur had serious problems. The plan was to fit the Centaur with a new engine, the Rolls-Royce Meteor. This proved to be impossible because the Meteor engines were needed for aircraft production. as a result, the venrable Liberty V12 engine was used. The army decuded to reserve the Meteor engine for the next Mk VIII interation, the Cromwells which were being built. Nearly 1,000 Centaurs were delivered. The Liberty engines, however, left the Centaurs seriously under-powered. Some of Centaurs were eventually converted to Cromwells by installing the Merlin-engine. Others were converted to specialised roles which did not require speed such as bull[dozers or armored recovery vehickes (ARVs). The Centaur seen here has been fitted with anti-aircraft guns (figure 1). The Cromwell was named for the English Civil War leader and Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. The Cromwell was very similat to the Centaur (A27 L). It was the first British tank to 1) combine a dual-purpose gun, 2) high speed from the powerful and reliable Meteor engine, and 3) fair armour, the three vasic attributes of a sucessful tank. The design would eventually lead to the Comet Cruiser.

Cruiser Mk?? Comet (A34)

The Comet Cruiser tank was the most powerful main battle tank developed by the British. It reached British forces relatively late in the War. And by this time not only had tank tactics been worked out, but the entry of the United States in the War and the attrition experienced by the Germans on the Eastern Front and the development of close air support meant that the British tanks faced a more supportive battlefield situation than they had at the beginning of the War. The Cruiser reached British forces before American tankers got the M-26 Pershing. It was designed to provide greater anti-tank capability to Cromwell tank squadrons. It was armed with the 77mm HV which was effective against the German Panther's 75mm KwK 42 gun when firing APDS rounds. The CometCruiser was an upgrade of the Mk VIII Cromwell and thus an interim design before the Centurion tank reached British forces.

Infantry Heavy Tanks

The infantry tank was a British concept developed in the inter-War era. They would be a heavy tank and as desigbed to wotk with the infantry, speed wa not seen as very important. They were nore heavily armored than most of the Cruiser tanks. They were armed with either the QF 2 pounder (pdr), QF 6 pdr, or the QF 75 mm gun.

Mk I Maltilda

Mk IV Churchill

Multi-purpose Heavy Tanks

Centurion (A41)

Most observers believe that the 52-ton Centurion was the best British tank of the War, although it did not reach Britosh tankers until the final months of the war (1945). It was conceived as the answer to the German Panthers and Tigers. The design proved so sucessful that some of its various upgrades were still in service in armies during the 1990s. Britih tank commanders finally abandoned the idea of various designs for different purposess. The Centuruon was designed as a tank to do it all.

American Tanks

Beginning with Munich anf the German seizure of The Czech industrial complex (March 1939) followed by German milirary succeses ending with the fall of France (June 1940) Germany had substantially larger industrialbase than Britain. Without France, the British Army could not match the German Heer in men or equipment. Nor did the British inclined to try, remembering the blood-letting on the World War I Western font. The British decided to focus on the air war. There were at first trepedation about bomving becase private property could be damaged. The British began the War fropping leaflets while the Germans were leveling Polish cities. After The Germa Vlirz on London, all bets were off. The British decided to ficus there war effirt on the air war. This meant that the British did not have the spare industrial capacity to match the Germans in tank developoment and construction. And what was devoted to tankls was not wellmorgabized. The British went down a lor od fead ends. None of which matched the German tanks. The situation was made worse by the failure to match German Blitzkrieg tactics. After the withdrawk from the Continent, the British land camapign was waged in the Estern Desert, first against the Italians amd than the Germams, This was only possible because Hitler's focus was on Barbarossa. Amd only a small jnit was committed to the Westrn Desert. As a result the British turn to America for tanks. The America provided provided first M-3 Grants and than M-4 Shermans, Especially the Shermans were advanced tanks--in 1942 and they played a ley role at Alemaine. Unfortunarkt by 1944 and D-Day, German tank technology had significantly advanced. Thus the American, British, and Canadian forces had to rely on main battle tank that was inferior to the Germans. It was only possible because the Americab produced a lot of Shermans and the Allies had air superiority over the battle field. Bur in the process a lot of brace tank crews paid the ptice.

Created: 1:37 AM 4/3/2020
Last updated: 8:17 AM 11/21/2024