10 Operating British Tanks on World War II

 The Tank, Heavy, TOG II was a prototype British tank design produced in the early part of the Second World War in case the battlefields of northern France turned into a morass of mud, trenches and craters as had happened during the First World War.

A development of the TOG 1 design, only a single prototype was built before the project was dropped.

The second design to come out of the Special Vehicle Development Committee, or as it was called "The Old Gang", the TOG 2 was similar to the TOG 1 and kept many of its features but mounted the turret of the Challenger A30 cruiser tank with the QF 17-pounder (76.2 mm) gun. Instead of the track path arrangement of the TOG 1 which was like that of the First World War British tanks, the track path was lower on the return run and the doors were above the tracks. Ordered in 1940, built by Foster's of Lincoln, the prototype ran for the first time in March 1941.

Although equipped the same electro-mechanical drive as the TOG 1, the TOG 2 used twin generators and no problems were reported. It was modified to include among other things a change from the unsprung tracks for a torsion bar suspension and as the TOG 2* trialled successfully in May 1943. No further development occurred, although a shorter version, the TOG 2 (R) was mooted. The TOG 2 can be seen at the Bovington Tank Museum.

 The Tank, Heavy Assault, Tortoise (A39) was a British heavy assault tank design developed in World War II but never put into mass production. It was developed for the task of clearing heavily fortified areas and as a result favoured armour protection over mobility.

Although heavy, at 78 tons, and not readily transported, it was reliable and a good gun platform.

The Ordnance QF 32 pounder gun design was adapted from the British 3.75 inch anti-aircraft gun. The ammunition used a separate charge and shell, the latter a 32 pound (14.5 kg) armour piercing shot (APCBC). In tests the gun was successful against a German Panther tank at nearly 1,000 yards.

The 32-pdr gun was mounted in a power-assisted limited traverse mounting; rather than being mounted on the more traditional trunnions, it protruded through a large ball mount in the front of the hull, protected by 225 mm armour. To the left of it was a Besa machine gun in an armoured ball mount. A further two Besa machine guns were mounted in a turret on the top of the hull to the right.

The Sherman Firefly was a World War II British variant of the American Sherman tank, fitted with the powerful British 17 pounder anti-tank gun as its main weapon. Originally conceived as a stopgap until future British tank designs came into service, the Sherman Firefly became the most common vehicle with the 17 pounder in World War II.

Though the British expected to have their own new tank models developed soon, British Major George Brighty championed the already-rejected idea of mounting the 17 pounder in the existing Sherman. With the help of Lieutenant Colonel Witheridge and despite official disapproval, he managed to get the concept accepted. This proved fortuitous, as both the Challenger and Cromwell tank designs experienced difficulties and delays.

After the problem of getting the gun to fit in the Sherman's turret was solved, the Firefly was put into production in early 1944, in time to equip Field Marshal Montgomery's forces for the Normandy landings. It soon became highly valued as the only British tank capable of defeating the Panther and Tiger tanks it faced in Normandy at standard combat ranges. In recognition of this, German tank and anti-tank gun crews were instructed to attack Fireflies first. Between 2100 and 2200 were manufactured before production wound down in 1945.

  Tank, Infantry, Black Prince (A43) was the name assigned to an experimental development of the Churchill tank with a larger, wider hull and a QF 17-pounder (76 mm) gun. It was named after Edward, the Black Prince, a famous 14th century military leader.

As a development from the Churchill, the Black Prince was a continuation of the line of Infantry tanks, that is slower, heavier tanks intended to operate in close support of infantry. The parallel development in British tank design were the Cruiser tanks, which were intended for more mobile operations. A43 was the General Staff Specification number issued in 1943, for an interim tank that would eventually be superseded by a "Universal tank" that would replace both Infantry and Cruiser tanks.

The cruiser line led to the Cromwell tank (and the 17 pounder armed Challenger variant) and then the Comet tank, (which had a variant of the 17 pounder gun) entering service during the war. While not as heavily protected as the Churchill, the Comet showed the way tank development was going. This led to the last of the cruiser line and the first of the Universal tanks, the very successful Centurion tank.

A larger gun than a conventional Churchill required a larger turret on a wider turret ring and consequently a widening of the tank hull to carry this. The Black Prince weighed around ten tons more than the Churchill so the suspension was modified and the tracks widened by 10 inches to carry the extra load. However, the Churchill's 350-horsepower (260 kW) engine was retained, leading to the tank being underpowered and slow, with maximum speeds of 10.5 mph (16.9 km/h) on roads and 7.5 mph (12.1 km/h) cross country. This was so slow that the tank's tactical usefulness would have been limited. Consideration was given to the use of the Rolls-Royce Meteor engine; this would have increased the available power to 600 hp (450 kW), but the idea never left the drawing–board. Likewise, plans to fit the Black Prince with the turret from the Centurion were never carried out.

By the time the Black Prince prototypes had appeared in May 1945, the Sherman Firefly had acquired a proven combat record, the Comet tank was in service and the introduction of Centurion was imminent. All these tanks carried the QF 17-pounder or a derivative; all had better mobility than the Black Prince and the Centurion had frontal armour of comparable effectiveness. The Black Prince had become redundant and the project was abandoned.

The Black Prince marked the end of the development of the Churchill tank, and the end of the Infantry tank concept in British tank design.

The Tank, Heavy Assault, A33 (Excelsior) was a British experimental heavy tank based on the Cromwell (A27) design developed in the Second World War when there were concerns as to performance of the Churchill tank.

After the Dieppe Raid in August 1942, there was concern that the Churchill was not as good as expected and a tank to combine the infantry and cruiser tank roles was planned.

While two lines of tank were still policy there was interest in standardizing on common components. The design used the Cromwell's combination of Rolls-Royce Meteor engine and Merrit-Brown transmission.

English Electric built two prototypes on a Cromwell tank hull the first with the suspension of the US M6 Heavy Tank and the second with a widened Cromwell track and armoured skirts. The design included extra armour and an Ordnance QF 75 mm gun. When the problems of the early Churchill models were worked out, the project was dropped.

The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) was a heavy British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, and its use as the basis of many specialist vehicles. It was one of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war.

The origins of the design lay in the expectation that war in Europe might be fought under similar conditions to that of theFirst World War and emphasised ability to cross difficult ground. The Churchill was rushed into production in order to build up British defences against an possible German invasion and the first vehicles built had flaws that had to be overcome before the Churchill was accepted for wide use. After several Marks had been built a better armoured version - the Mark VII - entered service.

The Churchill was used by British and Commonwealth in North Africa, Italy and North-West Europe. In addition many were supplied to the USSR and used on the Eastern Front.
 

 Tank, Cruiser, Mk VIII, Cromwell (A27M), and the related Centaur (A27L) tank, were one of the most successful series of cruiser tanks fielded by Britain in the Second World War. The Cromwell tank, named after the English Civil War leader Oliver Cromwell, was the first tank in the British arsenal to combine a dual-purpose gun, high speed from the powerful and reliable Meteor engine, and reasonable armour, all in one balanced package. Its design formed the basis of the Comet tank.

The Cromwell and Centaur differed in the engine used. While the Centaur had the Liberty engine of the predecessor cruiser tank, the Crusader, the Cromwell had the significantly more powerful Meteor. Aside from the engine and associated transmission differences, the two tanks were effectively the same and many Centaurs built were given the Meteor to make them Cromwells.

The Cromwell first saw action in the Battle of Normandy in June 1944. The tank equipped the armoured reconnaissance regiments, of the Royal Armoured Corps, within the 7th, 11th, and Guards Armoured Divisions. While the armoured regiments of the latter two divisions were equipped with M4 Shermans, the armoured regiments of the 7th Armoured Division were fully equipped with Cromwell tanks. The Centaurs were not generally used for combat except for those fitted with a 95mm Howitzer which were used in support of the Royal Marines during the invasion of Normandy.

  The Tank, Infantry, Valiant (A38) was a British tank design of the Second World War that only reached the prototype stage. Intended to meet the specification for a lightweight but heavily armoured tank for use in the war in the Far East, it proved to be an ergonomic failure. The sole example was retained by the School of Tank Technology after the war as a lesson to its students.

A Valiant II was mentioned in late 1943, but little more was heard of it. In February 1944 there was more detailed discussion of a Heavy Valiant, which may have been the same and has been reported as such in some sources.

The Heavy Valiant was a substantially different vehicle, only using the turret and driver's compartment of the Valiant on a hull derived from the A33 Excelsior and its T1 suspension. This gave armour of 9 (hull front) and 10 inches (turret) thickness. Weight was now estimated at 42 tons, which is comparable with the original Excelsior despite almost doubling the armour thickness, and so this must have been a much smaller tank. Power was doubled to cope with the weight, using the new and compact 400 bhp Rolls Royce Meteorite engine (a cut-down V8 Meteor) and an improved transmission. The mistake of the Valentine was to be repeated, where the turret was up-gunned to the 95mm howitzer of the Centaur IV at the cost of forcing the commander to take over the loader's task in a two-man turret. There is a record of a prototype having gone to the ranges at Lulworth Cove for trials in January 1945, but no other record of what it looked like.

The Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34) was a British cruiser tank that first saw use near the end of World War II. It was designed to provide greater anti-tank capability to Cromwell tank squadrons. It was armed with a 77mm HV, a derivative of the 17 pounder, with the result that it was one of the few British tanks with the firepower to challenge late war German designs. As a development of the Cromwell, it was an interim design before the Centurion tank. Seeing post World War II combat during the Korean war, the Comet remained in British service until 1958. Comets sold to other countries continued in some cases to operate into the 1970s. 

With the A34 (the General Staff specification), later named Comet, the tank designers opted to correct some of the Cromwell's flaws (the track shedding and broken suspension problems) and enhance the Cromwell's main strengths, low height and high speed. Originally, it had been expected that the tank would use a new gun from Vickers: the "High Velocity 75mm". However, as designed, the gun would not fit into the turret size available. So the gun was changed to a different gun, the "77mm HV". This gun used the same calibre (76.2 mm) projectile as the 17-pounder but the shell casing was from the older QF 3 inch 20 cwt gun loaded to higher pressures. The resulting round was completely different to 17-pounder ammunition. It had a lower muzzle velocity than the 17-pounder but the ammunition was much more compact and more easily stored and handled within the tank. This made it possible to mount the gun on a smaller turret ring - the Challenger turret had been so large to allow space for two loaders - without making the hull wider. Several other improvements were made: armour protection was increased, the hull and turret were welded with a cast gun mantlet, ammunition was stored in armoured bins, the suspension was strengthened, return rollers were added and the turret was electrically traversed (a design feature taken from the Churchill tank), with a generator powered by the main engine rather than the hydraulic system of the Cromwell.

Armour on the Comet ranged from 32 mm to 74 mm on the hull, while the turret was from 57 to 102 mm.

The Comet tank's top speed was limited from the Cromwell's 40+ mph to a slower, but respectable 32 mph (51 km/h) to preserve suspension and engine components and to reduce track wear.

The mild steel prototype was ready in February 1944 and entered trials. Although concerns about the hull gunner and belly armour were put to one side (to avoid redesign), there was still sufficient delay caused by minor modifications and changes that production models did not begin to be delivered until September 1944. Intended to be in service by December 1944, crew training was delayed by the German Ardennes Offensive. By the end of the war, 1,200 had been produced.

Comet was fitted with two radio sets: a No. 19 Wireless, for communication with the regiment and the troop, and a No. 38 Wireless for communication with infantry units. Like many British tanks, it also had a telephone handset mounted on the rear so that accompanying infantry could talk to the crew.

The Infantry Tank Mark II known as the Matilda II (sometimes referred to as Matilda senior or simply an 'I' tank) was a British infantry tank of the Second World War. It was also identified from its General Staff Specification A12.

It served from the start of the war to its end and became particularly associated with the North Africa Campaign. It was replaced in service by the Infantry Tank Mk III Valentine.

When the earlier Infantry Tank Mark I which was also known as "Matilda" was removed from service the Infantry Tank Mk II simply became known as the Matilda.