Ironsides - Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicle Museums and Monuments, Part 1
Ironsides, Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicle Museums and Monuments
Armour in Canadian service
Major Hal Skaarup has woven together an informative and detailed synopsis of the carefully preserved and restored armoured fighting vehicles on display in Canada. He highlights the importance of these upon key turning points in history when these AFVs were in use as tools of war at home and overseas. We often associate the evolution of military prowess with the advancement of sophisticated technology. Major Skaarup's descriptions of Canadian armour as it evolved to the level it has today reveals that military planners have had to be continuously creative in adapting to the changes in modern combat. They had to devise many intricate techniques, tactics and procedures to overcome the insurgents and opposition forces faced in Afghanistan and future overseas missions where Canadian armour will be brought into play. This guide book will show the interested reader where to find examples of the historical armour preserved in Canada, and perhaps serve as a window on how Canada's military contribution to safety and security in the world has evolved.
Lieutenant-General Steven S. Bowes
You may order the book "Ironsides" on line at these websites:
Order Book: http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000479183/Ironsides.aspx.
Order E-book: http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000479183/Ironsides.aspx.
Order book in Canada: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Ironsides-Canadian-Armoured-Fighting-Vehicle-Harold-A-Skaarup/9781462034642-item.html?ikwid=harold+skaarup&ikwsec=Books
Introduction
Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFV) have played a constant role throughout my 40 years of service with the Canadian Forces. My father served in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) for many years, retiring as a Warrant Officer in 1974. As a dependent member of his family, we lived at a number of bases and stations including overseas in Germany and at home in Canada during his service. As both a dependent back then, and in my service as an Army Intelligence Officer, I have had the chance to see NATO firepower when its list of combat ready AFVs numbered in the thousands. Today, to have hundreds of Canadian combat vehicles available at any given time would be unusual.
I served as an Army Intelligence Officer (G2) in Germany with HQ Canadian Forces Europe from 1981 to 1983, and with 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, 1st Canadian Division Forward from 1989 to 1992. During this time, the brigade’s Intelligence Section was provided with a large number of various Soviet-made AFVs and equipment used to familiarize our soldiers with foreign weapons while training on various NATO bases such as Hohenfels, Grafenwohr and Munster.
Author with Russian T-62 Tank, Hohelfels, Germany, 1989.
The equipment we handled included T-55 and T-62 tanks, a T-80 tank mock-up and BRDM-2, BTR-60, BRT-152, BMP-1 and BMP-2 AFVs. On exercises we (Blue Force) fought against mock enemy (Red Force) forces (sometimes called “Fantasians”) from other nations, and would often observe our Leopard C1 tanks engaging American M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley IFVs, German Leopard tanks and Marder IFVs and British Challenger Tanks, Chieftain Tanks and FV432 APCs. We moved every night and hid by day in our M577 Command Post Vehicles in duplicate sets of HQ vehicles leapfrogging each other from hide to hide and laager to laager. We often covered hundreds of kilometres as the exercise unfolded while ranging from the south-eastern area of Germany near Regensburg on up to the Rhine and Mosel Rivers near Koblenz and beyond.
Major Radley-Walters receives the Military Cross from General Bernard Law Montgomery in Ghent, Belgium, October 1944.
During a battlefield tour of Normandy with the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College in May 1989, our course had the privilege of being escorted and briefed by Brigadier-General (Retired) S.D. Radley-Walters, CMM, DSO, MC, CD. Listening to him describe the battles he took part in while standing on the ground in bare farmer's fields where the action took place was a fascinating experience. The stories have been told that "General Rad" had been shot out of four tanks and two armoured cars during his earlier visit to Normandy. We stayed in Caen, and by day were driven by bus to St Aubin-sur-Mer and the Normandy beaches with a group of Canadian and German veterans. Our group hosted Colonel (Retired) Helmut Ritgen of the Panzer Lehr Division, and his perspective of the actions that took place on the ground we were standing on was sobering to say the least. There are always two sides to a battlefield story, and it is rare to speak with people who were actually there when things recorded later took place. Suffice it to say, there is a lot that isn't in the history books from the participants perspective. We visited Bernières-sur-Mer and Courseulles-sur-Mer, both invasion beach landing sites, as well as Creully, Putot-en-Bessin, Buron, and Villons les Buissons. (We were also provided with a French Army box lunch, which included a bottle of red wine).
The Canadian and German vets described their experiences at Marcelet, Carpiquet, Caen and a number of other battlefield sites, with lectures and briefings on site at Hill 112, St André, Troteval Farm, Bourgebus, “Tilly” and the area covered during “Operation Totalize.” The tour ended with a visit to one of the Canadian cemeteries some of which had a large number of unknown Canadian soldiers. Our visit ended with a Hercules flight from Carpiquet Airport, the site of a major battle involving Canadians early after the D-Day landings. If you have not had the opportunity to do so, please visit these sites for yourself. It is a moving experience to walk the battlefield grounds of Normandy where our soldiers fought – and where many are buried - for what we have today.
Throughout our training at home and abroad and during preparations for operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Afghanistan, we had to become familiar with how effective our own equipment was and what we were likely come up against in engagements with opposition forces. Seeing the damage that could be and often was inflicted by the wide variety of AFV weapons we had to confront brought home the very real need to ensure our troops were well-trained and familiar with equipment recognition, both friend and foe. As such, we taught courses that trained men and women in how to recognize the difference in armoured vehicle glacis plates, bore evacuator placement, road wheel spacing, camouflage patterns, and signature weapons and equipment for vehicle and unit recognition.
It would seem that the value of AFVs is such that once the vehicles have served their use; many have been disposed of as range targets or sold as surplus. A few have been set aside for display in Museums, outdoors as gate guards or as memorials. There are, for example, at least 82 Sherman tanks in various versions on display in Canada. Even fewer captured enemy vehicles have been kept for display, although Canadians have a good number of German, Italian and former Warsaw Pact AFVs preserved.
This handbook is one attempt to identify historical AFV survivors in Canada and to list them in a catalogue format that will enable the serious researcher and AFV enthusiasts to find them. The list includes AFVs in Canada that have been or are currently being salvaged and preserved, particularly where they are of significant historical interest.
There are unfortunate numbers of Canadian-related military firepower and combat equipment that saw service on the battlefields of Europe where no examples exist. A good number brought back to Canada, including captured war prizes, were destroyed on the ranges (a German Panzer V Panther tank at CFB Petawawa, for example) or sold to support a Museum that had it (a German StuG III Assault Gun formerly on display at CFB Shilo, for example). Many others have been lost to scrap yards burned up in fires (at least ten captured AFVs at CFB Borden in 1951, for exampel), or sold to people in other countries. On the up side, there is a wonderful collection of historic AFV survivors in Canada that can still be found and viewed in Museum collections, and many are on display as gate guards, monuments and memorials.
The purpose of this handbook is to provide a simple checklist of where the surviving AFVs in Canada are now, and to provide a photograph of each of the major types mentioned for recognition purposes. This list is also appended with a brief summary of the AFVs presently on display within each province by location, and a bit of the vehicle’s history in the Canadian military. Due to space limitations, the details contained in this handbook are limited to a selection of only those AFVs that can be found in or have a connection with Canada.
If you are interested in other books on military equipment like this one, they are available through online bookstores (including the Warplane Survivor series). It is my sincere hope that the list of Canada’s preserved historically significant armoured fighting vehicles will continue to grow as more of them are recovered and restored. Grant that you find this handbook useful.
Harold A. Skaarup
Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel for 3 Intelligence Company (Halifax)
Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicles, History and Technical Data
Current to 14 Nov 2016
Background
To outline the history of Canada’s AFVs, one has to look at the Canadian Army and its training and operations from the beginning of its transition from horsepower to its modern use of armour in battle. The history of the tank began in First World War, when armoured all-terrain fighting vehicles were first deployed as a response to the problems of trench warfare, ushering in a new era of mechanized warfare. Though initially crude and unreliable, tanks eventually became a mainstay of ground armies. By Second World War, tank design had advanced significantly, and tanks were used in quantity in all land theatres of the war. The Cold War saw the rise of modern tank doctrine and the rise of the general-purpose main battle tank. The tank still provides the backbone to land combat operations in the 21st century, as demonstrated by the Canadian Forces serving in Afghanistan.
The advent of First World War generated new demands for strongly armoured self-propelled weapons which could navigate any kind of terrain, leading to the development of the tank. The great weakness of the tank’s predecessor, the armoured car, was that it required smooth terrain to move upon, and new developments were needed for cross-country capability.
The tank was originally designed as a special weapon to solve an unusual tactical situation: the stalemate of the trenches on the Western Front. “It was a weapon designed for one simple task: crossing the killing zone between trench lines and breaking into enemy defences.” The armoured tank was intended to be able to survive artillery bombardments and machine-gun fire, and pass through barbed wire in a way infantry units could not hope to, thus allowing the stalemate to be broken.
Few recognized during First World War that the means for returning mobility and shock action to combat was already present in a device destined to revolutionize warfare on the ground and in the air. This was the internal combustion engine, which had made possible the development of the tank and eventually would lead to the mechanized forces that were to assume the old roles of horse cavalry and to loosen the grip of the machine-gun on the battlefield. With increased firepower and protection, these mechanized forces would, only some 20 years later, become the armour of Second World War. When self-propelled artillery, the armoured personnel carrier, the wheeled cargo vehicle, and supporting aviation - all with adequate communications - were combined to constitute the modern armoured division, commanders regained the capability of manoeuvre.[1]
Landships
Numerous concepts of armoured all-terrain vehicles had been imagined for a long time. With the advent of trench warfare in First World War, the Allied French and British developments of the tank were largely parallel and coincided in time. One of the earliest tank designs was a machine developed and completed in December 1915 in the UK that was nick-named Little Willie. Its trench-crossing ability was deemed insufficient however, leading to the development of a rhomboidal design, which became known as the Centipede and later Mother, the first of the Big Willie types of true tanks. After completion on 29 January 1916 very successful trials were made, and an order was placed by the British War Office for 100 units to be used on the Western front in France, on 12 February 1916, and a second order for 50 additional units was placed in April 1916. Although the French were also testing tank designs, the British were the first to put tanks on the battlefield, at the battle of the Somme in September 1916.
An early model British Mark I "male" tank, named C-15, near Thiepval, 25 September 1916. The tank is probably in reserve for the Battle of Thiepval Ridge which began on 26 September. The tank is fitted with the wire "grenade shield" and steering tail, both features discarded in the next models.(IWM Photo Q 2486, Collection No. 1900-09)
In an effort to keep the real purpose of the early models Secret, when they were being shipped to France, the British labelled them as “tanks” - for use as water tanks by Russia, instead of the official designation of “Landships“. Also some of the early “special tanks” were built at North British Locomotive Works in Glasgow at its ironically named Tank shops. Thus originated the name “tank” for the new weapon. There was a naval element in the background of the tank’s development, which also explains the use of such nautical tank terms as hatch, hull, bow, and ports in its nomenclature. The great secrecy surrounding tank development, coupled with the scepticism of infantry commanders, often meant that infantry at first had little training to cooperate with tanks before they engaged in battle.[2]
Canadian commanded British First World War tank being painted with a Maple Leaf war crest before a battle in France, Aug 1918. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3395392)
Australians engaged in combat ca 1918 noted, "Canadians advancing on our right were assisted by Tanks". (Australian War Records Section Photo)
Canadian commanded British First World War tank painted with "Toronto" and a Maple Leaf passing 8th Field Ambulance, Hangard. Battle of Amiens. August, 1918. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3395386)
First Tank Battles
British Tank, July 1917. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3395261)
British Tank in action, July 1917. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3521956)
Canadian soldiers alonside a British tank, examining a German anti-tank rifle captured during the Battle of Amiens, August, 1918. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3395388)
British tank with 5 CMR troops, Amiens, Aug 1918. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN NBo. 3405525)
The first offensive operation which made use of 31 British Mark I tanks took place on 15 September 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, under Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig, meeting with limited success. Not until 20 November 1917, at Cambrai, did the British Tank Corps get the conditions it needed for success. During this battle, about 400 tanks penetrated almost six miles on a 7-mile front. This was their first large-scale deployment in combat. Unfortunately, success was not complete because the infantry failed to exploit and secure the tanks’ gains. The British scored another victory the following year, on 8 August 1918, with 600 tanks in the Amiens salient. General Erich Ludendorff referred to that date as the “Black Day” of the German Army.
German Sturmpanzerwagen A7V Tank "Hagen". (German Army Photo)
German Sturmpanzerwagen A7V mounted on a railway flatcar. (German Army Photo)
The German response to the Cambrai assault was to develop its own armoured program. Soon the massive A7V Tank appeared. The A7V was a clumsy monster, weighing 30 tons with a crew of eighteen. By the end of the war, only fifteen had been built. Although other tanks were on the drawing board, material shortages limited the German tank corps to these A7Vs and some captured Mark IVs. The A7V would be involved in the first tank vs. tank battle of the war on 24 April 1918 at Villers-Bretonneux - a battle in which there was no clear winner.
Captured British Mk. V tank in German markings. (Library of Congress Photo cph.3c36088)
French Schneider CA1 tank, GTR yards, Toronto, Ontario, 2 Nov 1918. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3401750)
Numerous mechanical failures and the inability of the British and French to mount any sustained drives in the early tank actions cast doubt on their usefulness - and by 1918, tanks were extremely vulnerable unless accompanied by infantry and ground-attack aircraft, both of which worked to locate and suppress anti-tank defences.
Renault tank, Arras, France, Sep 1919. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3522273)
Allied Mark VIII Liberty Tank. (US Army Photo)
The first American-produced heavy tank was the 43.5-ton Mark VIII, a US-British development of the successful British heavy tank design. (The Mark VIII would see service in Canada when a few were purchased from the US in Second World War). Armed with two 6-pounder guns and five .30-calibre machine guns, the Mk VIII was operated by an 11-man crew, had a maximum speed of 6.5 miles per hour, and a range of 50 miles. The American-built 6.5-ton M1917 light tank (which also was put in service as a tank trainer in Canada early in Second World War), was a copy of the French Renault FT-17. It had a maximum speed of 5.5 miles per hour and could travel 30 miles on its 30-gallon fuel capacity. The US program was augmented in the summer of 1918 by the development of a 3-ton, 2-man tank, (Ford 3-Ton M1918) originated by the Ford Motor Company. This third tank to be mass-produced during 1918 was powered by two Ford Model T, 4-cylinder engines, armed with a .30-calibre machine gun, and had a maximum speed of 8 miles per hour. By the armistice of 11 November 1918, the Allied Expeditionary Force (AEF) was critically short of tanks, as no American-made ones were completed in time for use in combat.
After the Great War, General Erich von Ludendorff of the German High Command praised the Allied tanks as being a principal factor in Germany’s defeat. The Germans had been too late in recognizing their value to consider them in their own plans. Even if their already hard-pressed industry could have produced them in quantity, fuel was in very short supply. Of the total of 90 tanks fielded by the Germans during 1918, 75 had been captured from the Allies.[3]
Canada did not employ its own battle tanks in combat during the Great War, although it did successfully engage the German army using the Canadian Autocar Machinegun Carrier in a motorized machine gun Corps. A Canadian Tank Corps was created in 1918, with three battalions that were disbanded in 1920.
British tank "Britannia" taking part in the Victory Loan Parade, Toronto, Ontario, on 21 Nov 1917. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3408624 and MIKAN No. 3395405). This tank has been preserved in the U.S. Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center (Formerly known as the U.S. Army Ordnance Museum) that is currently located at Fort Lee, outside Petersburg, Virginia.
"Britannia" being demonstrated to the US Army at Camp Yaphank, New York on 1 Feb 1918. (NARA Photo)
(DZGuymed Photo)
"Britannia", British Mk. IV tank, now with the U.S. Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center, Fort Lee, outside Petersburg, Virginia.
Autocar Machinegun Carrier
Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade, France, April 1918. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3395367)
The first contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) arrived in England on 16 October 1914, equipped with a “motor machine-gun corps” of twenty armoured cars. This formation - the first in the First World War designed and equipped right from the start as an armoured force - was the outcome of the enterprise shown by Raymond Brutinel. Brutinel had served in the French Army and became convinced of the value of the machine-gun. Living in Canada at the outbreak of war in 1914, he persuaded wealthy business contemporaries led by Sir Clifford Sifton to join with him in raising and equipping a brigade of motor machine-guns. Brutinel purchased a total of 20 Autocars: 8 were made into Machine Gun Carriers, 5 were for Ammo and supply carrying, 4 were for Officer Transport, 1 was a gasoline carrier, 1 was a repair vehicle, and the 20th one was an Ambulance which the Autocar Co. donated. All were made mechanically identical so parts could be swapped around.
Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade, France, April 1918. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3395368)
The cars were ordered from the Autocar Company, of Ardmore, Pennsylvania, USA. They were standard commercial chassis with solid tires armoured with 9.5-mm plate supplied by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. The armour gave all-round protection but was unusual in that it not only offered no head cover for the driver, but had no vision port in the front plate. However, the cars were not intended to go into action as fighting vehicles but to act as carriers for the two machine-guns normally provided in each car. These machine-guns were originally air-cooled, American-made Colt Model 1895 (which the German workers at the Colt Plant tried to stop from being shipped, so they were smuggled out at night). Later, with the Canadian Corps in France, from 9 August 1916, 0.303 inch Vickers water-cooled machine-guns (on a swivel mount allowing them 360 degree rotation) were used instead. These guns could also be off-loaded and used on normal ground tripods.
A normal “Ground” Vickers Machine Gun Crew consisted of 6 men: No. 1 was the gunner who also carried the tripod to the setup position, No. 2 was the belt feeder who carried the gun to the setup position, Nos. 3 & 4 were in charge of the ammo boxes, cooling water and spare parts, No. 5 was a scout and runner, No. 6 was a range taker and spare body. All men in the Crew were trained in all positions and could strip and reassemble the weapon blindfolded. The cramped size of the Canadian Autocar Machinegun Carriers only allowed 3 men each for the two Vickers plus one driver and one officer who had the option of using a Lewis Machine Gun mounted in front. Each Car could carry 10,000 rounds.
King George V, when inspecting the 1st Canadian Motor Machine-Gun Brigade at Aldershot in the UK shortly after their arrival from Canada, expressed the opinion that the unit should prove very useful - a view that did not coincide with general military opinion at the time. The Canadian Autocar Machinegun Carriers were, however, of great value in France, from their arrival in 1915 to the end of the war - perhaps at their best in holding the German offensive of March 1918 - in providing a mobile reserve of fire power. However, because of the light armour (only to waist height) their crews suffered an exceptionally high casualty rate. At war’s end only 4 of the 8 gun carriers were still operational and one more repaired after.[4]
Many members of BGen R. Brutinel‘s force came from the Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion. They were included in the establishment of the Canadian Independent Force when it was formed in 1918 as a heavily armed (machine-guns and mortars) mobile force. Later, General A.W. Currie strengthened his defences against the German offensive with extra machine-gunners from the Cyclists and the Canadian Light Horse. In August, at Amiens, the Cyclist Battalion covered the right flank of the cavalry. They formed part of BGen Brutinel‘s Automobile Machine Gun Brigade’s thrust through the Hindenburg Line, and were active in the pursuit of the Germans around Mons. During the Battle of Amiens, 7 Aug 1918, “Cavalry…was to pass through the Infantry…seize area “Blue Line” supported on its right flank by the Canadian Independent Force, which consisted of two Motor Machine Gun Brigades, two sections of heavy trench mortars which could be fired from trucks and the Canadian Cyclists Corps, all under the direction of BGen Brutinel, CMG, DSO, commanding the Canadian Machine Gun Corps.[5]
On 15 September 1916, seven British tanks attached to Brutinel‘s Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade supported the Canadian attack on Courcellette, France during the battle of the Somme. British tanks also supported the Canadian Corps during the 8 August 1918 Amiens offensive.[6]
One detachment of three tanks was tasked to support the 2nd Canadian Division‘s 4th Infantry Brigade. Another detachment of three was to work with the 6th Brigade, while the seventh tank was held in reserve. One of the first tanks Brutinel inspected was a male tank, which meant that it was equipped with two 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns, was given the nickname Crème de Menthe. The second tank, named Cordon Rouge, was a female version with a complement of Vickers machine-guns. Two more tanks in the section were named Cupid, a male, and Cognac, a female. During the battle, only one of the tanks, Crème de Menthe, was able to get into the German lines. A soldier described seeing “a landship named the L.S. Crème de Menthe pass ahead, and go right up to the walls…its guns blazing…and the monster roared into the fort, while we could see the Germans streaming out behind it, offering an excellent target to the riflemen in the shell holes.”[7]
Although the 1st Canadian Tank Battalion was formally created by an Order-in-Council on 19 April 1918, the war ended before it could be employed. Canada raised three tank battalions that together with a brigade headquarters, supply and workshop companies and a depot, would have comprised the Canadian Tank Brigade. The 2nd Canadian Tank Battalion was formed in the UK and the 3rd Canadian Tank Battalion was being organized in Canada when the armistice was signed. Originally, these tank units were designated as part of the Canadian machine Gun Corps, but on 29 Nov 1919, they were assigned to the very short lived Canadian Tank Corps.[8]
A number of Internet websites report the British First World War Whippet Medium Tank Mk A now on display in the main hangar of the CFB Borden Military Museum was called “Judith” by General Worthington after Judith Robinson of the Globe and Mail, who wrote a feature article in 1940 on this tank. The tank, damaged in combat, had been taken from the battlefields of France and brought to Canada in 1919.
“Judith” was discovered on the Exhibition grounds in Toronto and obtained by General Worthington for the Armoured Fighting Vehicles Training Center from the directors of the CNE. It was claimed that this was one of the veteran tanks which fought in an action on the Roye Road near the Ypres salient on 7 August 1918, an action in which General Worthington took part with his battery of the Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade during which he won the Military Cross.[9]
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4232846)
Major-General Frederic Franklin Worthington, MC, MM, CD (September 17, 1889 – December 8, 1967), nicknamed "Worthy" and "Fighting Frank", is considered the father of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps.
In October 1982, CFSAOE Vehicle Company, CFB Borden, provided a Leopard ARV to lift the 14 ton tank onto a lowbed for transporting to the Militia Training Centre AVGP Hangar. During the next eight months, militiamen employed servicing the AVGPs, volunteered their spare time to gut the Whippet, remove the two engines, replace the floor and control mechanism and finally repaint it for presentation. A plexiglas door was installed to allow visitors a clear view of the fighting compartment and driver’s station and controls. On completion, the Leopard ARV once again was called upon to pull the much lighter Whippet into the Museum hangar, where the Whippet took up its last resting spot beside a much younger Centurion.[10]
Whippet Medium Tank Mk A
Whippet Medium Tank Mk A, Tpr Harold J. Skaarup, 8CH, Camp Borden, Ontario, 1941. (Family Photo)
The Whippet Medium Tank Mk A was a British tank of the First World War. It was intended to complement the slower British heavy tanks by using its relative mobility and speed in exploiting any break in the enemy lines. Possibly the most successful British tank of First World War, the Whippet was responsible for more German casualties than any other British tank of the war. Whippets later took part in several of the British Army’s postwar actions, notably in Ireland and North Russia.[11]
This armoured fighting vehicle was intended for fast mobile assaults. Although the track design appears more “modern” than the British Tanks Mark I to V, it was directly derived from Little Willie, the first tank prototype and was unsprung. The crew compartment was a fixed square turret at the rear of the vehicle, and two engines of the type used in contemporary double-decker buses were in a forward compartment, driving one track each.
When driving in a straight line the two engines were locked; turning the steering wheel gradually closed the throttle for the engine of one track and opened the throttle for the engine driving the other. The two engines were joined at their cross-shafts, from which the final drive to the tracks was by chains to sprockets on either side. When steering the clutches joining the cross-shafts were released, one engine sped up while the other slowed down, the turn being on the side opposite to that of the faster running engine. The steering effect could be increased by use of the brakes on one engine or another. This arrangement had the advantage over that of earlier tanks of being controlled by one man only, but called for great skill on the part of the driver, because one or both of the engines could be stalled if care was not exercised. Although in theory a simple solution to give gradual steering, in practice it proved impossible to control the speeds of the engines, causing the vehicle to take an unpredictable path. Drivers grew wary and stopped the vehicle and locked one track before every turn; this caused many track breaks, as the movement became too abrupt.
The fuel tank was in the front of the hull. The sides featured large mud chutes which allowed mud falling from the upper treads to slide away from the tank, instead of clogging the suspension.
Armament was four 0.303 in Hotchkiss Mk 1 machine guns, one covering each direction. As there were only three crewmen, the gunner had to jump around a lot, though often assisted by the commander. Sometimes a second gunner was carried in the limited space, and often a machine gun was removed to give more room, as the machine guns could be moved from one mounting position to another to cover all sides.
Whippets arrived late in the First World War, at a time when the entire British Army, crippled by the losses in Flanders, was quite inactive. They first went into action in March 1918, and proved very useful to cover the flight of the infantry divisions recoiling from the German onslaught during the Spring Offensive. Whippets were then assigned to the normal Tank Battalions as extra “X-companies” as an expedience. In one incident near Cachy, a single Whippet company of seven tanks wiped out two entire German infantry battalions caught in the open, killing over 400. That same day, 24 April, one Whippet was destroyed by a German A7V in the world’s second tank battle, the only time a Whippet fought an enemy tank.
German Sturmpanzerwagen A7V Tank. (German Army Photo)
British losses were so high however that plans to equip five Tank Battalions (Light) with 36 Whippets each had to be abandoned. In the end only the 3rd Tank Brigade had Whippets, 48 in each of its two battalions (3rd and 6th TB). Alongside Mark IV and V tanks, they took part in the Amiens offensive (8 August 1918) which was described by the German supreme commander General Ludendorff, as “the Black Day of the German Army”. The Whippets broke through into the German rear areas causing the loss of the artillery in an entire front sector, a devastating blow from which the Germans were unable to recover. During this battle, one Whippet “Musical Box” advanced so far it was cut off behind German lines. For nine hours it roamed at will, destroying an artillery battery, an Observation balloon, the camp of an infantry battalion and a transport column of the German 225 Division, inflicting heavy casualties.
The Germans captured fewer than fifteen Whippets, two of which were in running condition. They were kept exclusively for tests and training purpose during the war, but one of them saw action afterwards with the Freikorps in the German Revolution. The Germans gave them the designation Beutepanzer A.
Whippet Medium Tank. (British Government Photo)
After the war, Whippets were sent to Ireland during the Anglo-Irish War as part of the British forces there, serving with 17th Battalion, Royal Tank Corps. Seventeen were sent with the Expeditionary Forces in support of the White Russians against the Soviet Union. The Red Army captured twelve, using them until the 1930s, and fitted at least one vehicle with a French 37-mm Puteaux gun. A few (perhaps six) were exported to Japan, where they remained in service until around 1930.[12]
Five Whippets survive: A259 Caesar II, Bovington Tank Museum. This is the tank in which Cecil Harold Sewell won the Victoria Cross. A347 Firefly, The Royal Museum of the Army, Brussels. This tank, part of B-Company, is still in its original paint and markings. It still carries battle damage from when it was hit on 17 August 1918. United States Army Ordnance Museum, previously at Aberdeen, New Jersey, now at Fort Lee, Virginia (census number unknown). Army College, Pretoria, South Africa. This tank was originally dispatched to South Africa to put down labour unrest. A371 Judith, CFB Borden Military Museum, Ontario.[13]
Between the Wars
At the war’s end, the main role of the tank was considered to be that of close support for the infantry. Nonetheless, their work was sufficiently impressive to imbue at least a few military leaders with the idea that the use of tanks in mass was the most likely principal role of armour in the future. Although the tank of First World War was slow, clumsy, unwieldy, difficult to control, and mechanically unreliable, its value as a combat weapon had been clearly proven. But, despite the lessons of First World War, the combat arms were most reluctant to accept a separate and independent role for armour and continued to struggle among themselves over the proper use of tanks.
At a time when most soldiers regarded the tank as a specialized infantry-support weapon for crossing trenches, a significant number of officers in the Royal Tank Corps had gone on to envision much broader roles for mechanized organizations. In May 1918, Col. J.F.C. Fuller, the acknowledged father of tank doctrine, had used the example of German infiltration tactics to refine what he called “Plan 1919”. This was an elaborate concept for a large-scale armoured offensive in 1919.
The Royal Tank Corps had to make do with the same basic tanks from 1922 until 1938. British armoured theorists did not always agree with each other. B.H. Liddell Hart, a noted publicist of armour, wanted a true combined arms force with a major role for mechanized infantry. Fuller, Broad, and other officers were more interested in a pure-tank role. The Experimental Mechanized Force formed by the British demonstrated a mobile force with its own self-propelled guns.
Both advocates and opponents of mechanization often used the term “tank” loosely to mean not only an armoured, tracked, turreted, gun-carrying fighting vehicle, but also any form of armoured vehicle or mechanized unit. British armoured vehicles tended to maximize either mobility or protection. Both the cavalry and the Royal Tank Corps wanted fast, lightly armoured, mobile vehicles for reconnaissance and raiding - the light and medium (or “cruiser”) tanks. In practice the “light tanks” were often small armoured personnel carriers. On the other hand, the army tank battalions performing the traditional infantry-support role required extremely heavy armoured protection. As a consequence of these two doctrinal roles, firepower was neglected in tank design.
Among the German proponents of mechanization, General Heinz Guderian was probably the most influential. Guderian‘s 1914 service with radiotelegraphs in support of cavalry units led him to insist on a radio in every armoured vehicle. By 1929, when many British students of armour were tending towards a pure armour formation, Guderian had become convinced that it was useless to develop just tanks, or even to mechanize parts of the traditional arms. What was needed was an entirely new mechanized formation of all arms that would maximize the effects of the tank.[14]
The Canadian Army had learned a great deal about the use of armour in the Great War, but with cost reductions needed, the Canadian Machine Gun Corps was disbanded in 1922. The Canadian Department of Militia and Defence began to look into the acquisition of armoured vehicles again in 1927, and in 1930 purchased six Carden Loyd Machine Gun Carrier Mk VI from the Vickers Company in the UK, followed by the purchase of six more in 1931. These tanks were distributed among the three Permanent Force infantry regiments, including two to the R22eR in Quebec City, four to the RCR in London, Ontario, and six to the PPCLI in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They served as training vehicles taking part in experimental cold weather exercises at Fort Osbourne, Manitoba. These early tracked vehicles formed the basis of what eventually became the Canadian Armoured Corps, and they were used at the Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicle School at Camp Borden, Ontario.[15]
Canadian Carden Loyd Machine Gun Carrier Mk VIa, Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicle School, Camp Borden, Ontario. (DND Photo)
Carden Loyd Machine Gun Carrier Mk VI
The Carden Loyd MG Carriers were a series of British pre-Second World War tankettes, the most successful of which was the Mark VI, the only version built in significant numbers. It became a classic tankette design worldwide, was license-built by several countries and became the basis of several designs produced in several different countries.
Considered a reconnaissance vehicle and a mobile machine gun position, the Mark VI was the final stage of development of Carden Loyd series of tankettes. (Vickers Armstrong bought out Carden Loyd in 1930, continuing to develop AFVs eventually producing the Universal Carrier, for which the Carden Loyd tankette had been the prototype).
Production started in 1927 and lasted until 1935. From 1933 to 1935 production was by the Royal Ordnance Factories. Some 450 were made in all. The British Army used at least 325 mark VI tankettes (other data: 348) in several variants, mostly as machine gun carriers, but also as light gun tractors, mortar carriers or smoke projector vehicles. 12 Carden Lloyd tankettes were supplied to Canada between 1930 and 1931, remaining in service until 1938. None are on display in Canada, but the Bovington Tank Museum in the UK has two.[16]
In 1937, Canada purchased the Light Dragon Mk III, another member of the Carden Loyd AFV family, for use as an artillery tractor. The Light Dragon was similar in appearance to the Universal Carrier, which Canada opted to produce instead.
1935 Armoured Cars
During the 1930s, the USA, UK, and Germany were dabbling with new armoured vehicle designs, the French were determining the direction in which they wanted to move, and only the USSR was ploughing away full steam on developing and building armoured vehicles. Canada too decided to dip its toe into the waters of modern armoured combat, and the option they chose was the creation of a heavy armoured car. It must be noted that it was proposed in 1927, but it was 1932 before any action was taken on that proposal. Mechanization had begun in 1929, and the natural place to turn was to Ford (Canada) and GM (Canada) as they had both the expertise in mechanicals and the production capability to carry this out.
Between 1932 and 1935, both companies proceeded to work on candidate vehicles to meet the proposal for a 6 x 4 heavy armoured car armed with two .303 machine guns, and in 1935 prototype designs emerged. Based on a 1931 Crossley 6 x 4 Light Armoured Car design, the chassis chosen were the Ford BB 4 x 4 truck chassis and the Chevrolet Maple Leaf 4 x 4, both of which had a 131” wheelbase. Input was received from the War Office in London as to designs of some components, specifically the turrets, but the rest was of Canadian design.
While the Ford prototype had no problems in conversion to the dual rear axle (similar to the Ford Model AAA truck design, but using a Sussex bogie modified to become what was called the Warford axle bogie) GM (Canada) did not have a bogie unit, and had to purchase one from Leyland to meet the specifications. Most of the haggling was over price and not technicalities, and the vehicles were delivered to Petawawa, Ontario, for testing in May 1935.
Both were similar, but the Ford design wound up being a 10 wheel design whereas the GM one used six large “balloon” tires. Both used stub axles with free rolling mounts located between the front wheels and the first bogie axle. Both underwent two years of mechanical testing before their machine guns showed up in 1937, one mounted in the armoured windscreen in front of the co-driver and one in the rotating UK designed turret. Both provided valuable information, but were deemed obsolete by 1939. While kept around for training, once the units they were attached to deployed to the UK for wartime service, they seem to have vanished from Canadian service and appear to have been scrapped after 1941.[17]
1935 Chevrolet Armoured Car. (DND Photo)
The Ford differed from the Chevrolet in that it had dual wheels on the second and third axles, an eight cylinder gasoline engine, and the armour plating was welded rather than riveted and bolted. Both armoured cars had a maximum speed of 30 mph and the Ford was able to do 8 mph in reverse. Plans called for arming the vehicles with the Vickers Mk. VI medium machine gun but these were delayed as the feed mechanisms were on the wrong side, having been originally designed by the British for right hand drive vehicles. The cars underwent testing at Petawawa, Ontario with the Royal Canadian Dragoons where it was found that both performed satisfactorily.
1935 Ford Armoured Car, Camp Petawawa, Ontario. (DND Photo)
The ten-wheel Ford performed the best in off-road tests and the six-wheel Chevrolet excelled on roads. Orders for further cars failed to materialize due to budgetary limitations and the Ford experimental car was shipped to Winnipeg for use by the Lord Strathcona’s Horse. The Chevrolet remained with the RCD. Other than the handful of Carden Loyd Machine Gun Carrier Mk VIs obtained in the early 1930s, these two armoured cars were the only armoured vehicle procurements by the Canadian Permanent Force until the acquisition of a number of British Vickers Mk VIb Light Tank in 1938.[18]
Tank Acquisition
A long acquisition process began in which Canadian-built wheeled armoured cars were developed. The Canadian Militia (as the Army was known until 1940) was slow to mechanize, and the value of horses versus the value of tanks was hotly debated between the wars. Horsed cavalry units stayed in existence until after the Second World War began in 1939.
Six infantry regiments were designated (Tank) units in 1936, but remained part of the infantry branch. Initially, no tanks were available for training. A Canadian Tank School was established in Camp Borden that year, becoming the Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicle School (CAFVS) in 1938. As mentioned above, a handful of Carden Loyd Machine Gun Carrier Mk VIs had been purchased in the early 1930s for training, and some British Vickers Mk VIb Light Tanks arrived in Canada in 1938. Still, no tanks were available for the six Tank regiments, nor at the school - all part-time units of the Non-Permanent Active Militia - to train with. The first large delivery of modern tanks arrived in the summer of 1939. The CAFVS became the Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicle Training Centre (CAFVTC) after the outbreak of war.
(York Sunbury Historical Society, Fredericton Region Museum Collection, Author Photo)
1997.28.12
Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicle Training Centre (CAFVTC)
Vickers Mk VIb Light Tank
Vickers Mk VIb Light tank in the Base Borden Military Museum, CFB Borden, Ontario. (JustSomePics Photo)
The Tank, Light, Mk VIb was a British light tank, produced by Vickers-Armstrongs in the late 1930s, which saw service during Second World War. Canada purchased two in 1937, five in 1938 and seven in 1939 for a total of 14, (plus one British Infantry Tank example).
The Vickers Mk VIb Light Tank was the sixth in the line of light tanks built by Vickers-Armstrongs for the British Army during the interwar period. The company had achieved a degree of standardization with their previous five models, and the Mark VIb was identical in all but a few respects. The turret, which had been expanded in the Mk V to allow a three-man crew to operate the tank, was further expanded to give room in its rear for a wireless set. The weight of the tank was increased to 10,800 pounds (4,900 kg), which although heavier than previous models actually improved its handling characteristics, and an 88 horsepower (66 kW) engine was added to the model to increase its maximum speed to 35 miles per hour (56 km/h). It had the Horstmann coil-spring suspension system which was found to be durable and reliable, although the fact that the tank was short in relation to its width and that it pitched violently on rough ground made accurate gunnery whilst moving exceptionally difficult. The Mk VI possessed a crew of three consisting of a driver, gunner and commander who also doubled as the radio operator, between 4-mm (0.16-inch) and 14-mm (0.55-inch) of armour, which could resist rifle and machine gun bullets, and its armament consisted of one water-cooled .303 inch and one .50 inch Vickers machine gun.
Production of the Mk VIb began in 1936 and ended in 1940 with approximately 1,000 mark VI tanks having been built. Many of those produced were actually variants designed to solve problems found with the original design. The Mk VIa had a return roller removed from the top of the leading bogey and attached to the hull sides instead, and also possessed a faceted cupola. The Mk VIb was mechanically identical to the Mk VIa but with a few minor differences to make production simpler, including a one-piece armoured louver over the radiator instead of a two-piece louver, and a plain circular cupola instead of the faceted type.
The Mk VIc, which was the last in the MK VI series, had the commanders cupola removed and had wider bogies and three carburettors to improve engine performance; it was also more powerfully armed than the other models, replacing the .303 and .50 Vickers machine guns with co-axial 15-millimetre (0.59 inch) and 7.92-millimetre (0.312 inch) Besa machine guns. A small number of specialized variations were also built based on the Mk VI chassis.
The Tank, Light, AA Mk I was built in the aftermath of the Battle of France and was intended to act as a counter-measure against attacks by German aircraft. It featured a power-operated turret fitted with four 7.92-mm Besa machine guns; a Mk II was produced which was mechanically similar but had improvements, such as better quality sights for the machine guns and a larger turret for easier access. A variant on the Mk VIb was produced for service with the British Indian Army, in which the commander’s cupola was removed and replaced with a hatch in the turret roof.
When the Mk VI was first produced in 1936, the Imperial General Staff considered the tank to be superior to any light tank produced by other nations, and well suited to the dual roles of reconnaissance and colonial warfare. Like many of its predecessors, the Mark VI was used by the British Army to perform imperial policing duties in British India and other colonies in the British Empire, a role for which it and the other Vickers-Armstrongs light tanks were found to be well suited.
When the British government began its rearmament process in 1937, the Mk VI was the only tank with which the War Office was ready to proceed with manufacturing; the development of a medium tank for the Army had hit severe problems after the cancellation of the proposed “Sixteen Tonner” medium tank in 1932 due to the costs involved, and cheaper models only existed as prototypes with a number of mechanical problems. As a result of this, when the Second World War began in September 1939, the vast majority of the tanks available to the British Army were Mk VIs; there were 1,002 Mk VI Light Tanks, seventy-nine Mk I and Mk II Cruiser Tanks and sixty-seven Mk I Infantry Tanks. Of these tanks, only 196 light tanks and fifty Infantry Tanks were in use by operational units of the Army.
When the Battle of France began in May 1940, the majority of the tanks possessed by the British Expeditionary Force were Mark VI variants; the seven Royal Armoured Corps divisional cavalry regiments, the principal armoured formations of the BEF, were each equipped with twenty-eight Mk IVs. The 1st Armoured Division, elements of which landed in France in April, was equipped with 257 tanks, of which a large number were Mk VIb and Mk VIcs. The 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, which formed part of the division’s 3rd Armoured Brigade, possessed by this time twenty-one Mark VI light tanks.
The Mk VIb was also in action in North Africa against the Italians late in 1940 with the 3rd Hussars and the 7th Armoured Division. Late in 1940, the British had 200 light tanks (presumably the Vickers Mk VIb) along with 75 medium tanks (A9, A10, A13) and 45 Matildas. An attack by the 3rd Hussars on 12 December 1940 resulted in them getting bogged down in salt pans and severely mauled. The 7th Armoured Division had 100 left on 3 January 1941 and 120 tanks on 21 January at which time they were used in flanking far into the rear and gathering up scattered Italian troops, sometimes joining or leaving the main attacks to the Cruiser and Matilda tanks. 2nd RTR continued to battle the Italians with light tanks as late as 6 February 1941.
Being widely used by the British Army, the tank participated in several other important battles. The Mk VIb made up a significant amount of the tanks sent over to the Battle of Greece in 1941, mostly with the 4th Hussars. Ten Mk VIb tanks fought with the 3rd The King’s Own Hussars during the Battle of Crete. The same armoured unit had previously embarked three MK VIb tanks for the Norwegian Campaign but they were lost in transit to a German aircraft attack.[20]
The Second World War
The Second World War officially began on 1 September 1939, with the German invasion of Poland. Britain and France declared war on the Nazi Third Reich on 3 September 1939. Seven days later, on 10 September 1939, the Parliament of Canada likewise declared war on Germany, the country’s first independent declaration of war and the beginning of Canada’s participation in the largest combined national effort in its history. By the end of the war, one million Canadian citizens had served in military uniform, and Canada possessed the fourth largest air force and third largest surface fleet in the world. Canada later also declared war on Italy on 10 September 1940, and Japan on 7 December 1941, and other Axis powers. Wikipedia.
Before its armoured divisions could go into action, considerable training was required. In order to train, equipment, including tanks, was needed, and at the time there was a severely short supply in Canada. Procurement officers began to make inquiries into the American tank situation, and a number of sources were found for “used” equipment to fill the gap.
Military Cooperation between Canada and the United States officially began in 1940, when “the Prime Minister and the President met to discuss their mutual problems of defence in relation to the safety of Canada and the United States. The two leaders agreed to set up a Permanent Joint Board on Defence“ (PJBD).[21] Following this agreement, the US agreed to sell surplus equipment to Canada for use in continental defence. This included 236 M1917 Light Tanks and a number of First World War era Mk VIII heavy tanks. The Canadian Army had purchased the 236 surplus M1917s at scrap value (about $240 each) and the Armoured Corps gained valuable experience and training on them before going to Europe and using more modern equipment. Wikipedia.
By 8 October 1940, the first vehicles were being issued to units of the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade at Camp Borden. The M1917tanks remained in service until 1943. One is in the Canadian War Museum and one is on display in the CFB Borden Military Museum.
M1917 Light Tank
M1917 Light tank, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario. (Author Photo)
On 14 June 1940, General Worthington advised NDHQ of the existence of a number of surplus First World War tanks in the USA. The Six Ton Tank (or Special Tractor) M1917 was America’s first important mass produced tank. The M1917 was a license built copy of the French Renault FT 17, and was accepted by the American Army in October 1918. (They were commonly called “Renaults” in Canadian service). The US Army ordered approximately 4,440 M1917s between 1918 and 1919, receiving about 950 tanks before cancelling the contract. No US manufactured tank reached Europe in time to participate in First World War.
Thirty-one M1917 tanks were built during First World War and ten were sent to Europe. After the war Van Dorn Iron Works created 950 more. 374 had cannons and 526 had machine guns and 50 were signal tanks. The American version of the M1917A1 was a lengthened, rebuilt updated version compared to the French one with a 100 hp Franklin engine and an electric self-starter rather than a crank starter. The crew, mainly a driver and gunner, were separated from the engine by a bulkhead. The M1917 was armed with one 37-mm cannon or one Colt 7.62-mm machine-gun. All steel wheels were fitted as well as a turret, which were found on some French examples. It had a range of 48 km and a maximum speed of 8kph. Wikipedia.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3325256)
Colonel F.F. Worthington inspecting one of the American-built M1917 tanks on arrival at Camp Borden, Oct 1940.
US M1917 tanks were purchased by the Canadian government at $20 a ton plus a 100% mark up which means that each tank actually sold for $240. The 236 tanks were shipped to Camp Borden where for nearly 2 years they proved a useful training vehicle. They were known to break down often, catch fire, and gave a bone jarring ride due to the lack of a suspension, but the soldiers learned maintenance and endurance. Since there was no onboard radio, the soldiers learned hand and flag signals and became proficient dealing with poor communications while still maintaining and executing formations.[22]
The M1917s were described by the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise’s) Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) as “low-slung things with a sort of pillbox cab for the men.” They had no suspension tracks and consequently the men were given a pretty rough and jarring ride. There was very little room for two people inside the tank, but the second man was needed as things were “always catching fire and a bucket of water or sand had to be kept handy to put the fire out.” Although the M1917 could go 10-15 kph, they seldom got very far, due to mechanical breakdown.[23]
Mark VIII Liberty Tank
Allied Mark VIII Liberty Tank. (US Army Photo)
The Tank Mark VIII or Liberty was an Anglo-American tank design of the First World War. Initially intended to be a collaborative effort to equip France, the UK and the US with a single tank design, it did not come to fruition before the end of the war and only a few were produced. Wikipedia.
A rhomboid shaped Anglo-American Tank, it was also known as the International Tank, the Mark VIII Heavy Tank, and the Liberty Tank. In the summer of 1917, the United States decided to establish a “Tank Corps” to aid in the Allied efforts. Planners were immediately drawn to the qualities of the British Mark IV tank. The problem was that the Mark IV was, at that time, barely beyond the design phase. The Allies agreed that in order to standardize equipment that a new design was needed. So began the birth of the Mark VIII tank.[24]
The Mark VIII kept many of the general features of the Mark I-V series: it had their typical high track run and no revolving turret but two sponsons, one on each side of the tank, armed with a 6-pounder (57-mm) gun. But it also resembled the Mark VI-project in that it had more rounded and wider tracks and a large superstructure on top directly beneath the front of which the driver was seated. An innovative feature was the departure from the concept of the box tank with its single space into which all accessories were crammed. The Mark VIII was compartmentalised with a separate engine room at the back. This vastly improved fighting conditions as a bulkhead protected the crew against the deafening engine noise, noxious fumes and heat.
There were no machine guns in the sponsons, only the 6-pounders each manned by a gunner and loader. The side machine guns were to the rear of the sponsons mounted in the hull doors. Under the direction of Major Alden the sponsons were designed to be retractable (they could be swung in at the rear by the crew, being pivoted at the front), to reduce the width of the vehicle if enemy obstacles were encountered. Five more machine guns were mounted in the superstructure: two at the front - left and right next to the driver - and one on each of the other sides. As there was no machine gun position covering the back of the tank there was a dead angle vulnerable to infantry attack. To solve this problem a triangular steel deflector plate was attached. The rear superstructure machine gunner could use it to deflect his fire down into that area behind the tank. The tank carried 208 shells and 13,848 machine gun rounds, mostly in a large ammunition locker in the centre which formed a platform on which the commander stood behind the driver observing the battlefield through a cupola with four vision slits.
The twelfth crew member was the mechanic, seated next to the 300 hp V-12 Liberty engine. Three armoured fuel tanks at the rear held 200 Imperial gallons (909 litres) of fuel giving a range of 89 km. The transmission used a planetary gearbox giving two speeds in either forward or reverse. Top speed was 5.25 mph (8 km/h).
To improve its trench crossing ability to 4.88 m the vehicle had a very elongated shape. The track length was 34 ft 2 in (10.42 m) but even though the hull width was an impressive nominal 3.76 m, the actual length-width ratio of the tracks was very poor as that width included the sponsons. Combined with wide tracks it proved difficult to turn the tank. During testing many tracks twisted and broke in a turn and it was decided to use longer, stronger 13.25-inch (337-mm) links made of hardened cast armour plate, stiffened by webs formed by recesses in the track plate.
Another effect of the narrow hull was that the fighting compartment was also very narrow. This was made worse by the fact that now the gap between the double track frames at each side was very wide; earlier types had only the tracks themselves widened. Nevertheless the tank was supposed to accommodate another twenty infantry men in full gear if necessary. In absolute terms the vehicle was very large: at 3.13 m tall the Mark VIII was the second largest operational tank in history, after the French Char 2C. However its weight was only 37.6 metric tons as the armour plate was thin with a thickness of 16-mm - a slight improvement over the Mark V but very thin by later standards. The roof and bottom of the hull were protected by only 6-mm thick armour plate, so the tank was very vulnerable to mortar shells and landmines. Wikipedia.
The Mark VIII remained in service in the USA until at least 1934, undergoing various upgrades during its life to improve and extend its service capabilities. Soldiers of the United States Army Infantry (Tank) Regiment were the primary users. By 1939, all Mark VIII units were in storage at Aberdeen Proving Ground until sent north to Canada in 1940.[25]
A Liberty tank survives at Fort Meade in Maryland. The tank is displayed in the Post Museum and was made in 1920 at the Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois. It was assigned to the 301st Tank Battalion (Heavy), later redesignated the 17th Tank Battalion (Heavy). Throughout most of 1921-1922, Major Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded this unit. A second American vehicle is on display at the National Armor and Cavalry Museum at Fort Benning, Georgia as of 2010. Wikipedia.
Battle Tanks
The fall of France and the loss of most of Britain’s armour at Dunkirk put new life into negotiations to produce tanks in Canada. In June 1940, an order was placed for the production of 488 Valentine Infantry Tanks Mk III by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Angus Shops in Montreal. The earliest examples were sent to the Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicles Training Centre at Camp Borden, Ontario.[26]
Valentine Mk VII Infantry Tank
Valentine Mk VII Infantry Tank, Main Hangar, Base Borden Borden Military Museum, CFB Borden, Ontario. (Balcer Photo)
The Tank, Infantry, Mk III, Valentine was an infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. More than 8,000 of the type were produced in 11 different marks plus various purpose-built variants, accounting for approximately a quarter of wartime British tank production. Over its lifetime it went from a riveted construction to entirely welded, and from a petrol powerplant to a two stroke diesel engine produced by GMC which was less likely to catch fire. It was supplied to the USSR and built under license in Canada. Developed by Vickers, it proved to be both strong and reliable. Wikipedia.
Based on the A10 Cruiser Tank, the Valentine was privately designed by Vickers-Armstrongs (hence its lack of a General Staff “A” designation) and was submitted to the War Office on 10 February 1938. The development team tried to match the lower weight of a Cruiser Tank - allowing the suspension and transmission parts of the A10 heavy cruiser to be used - with the greater armour of an infantry tank. The result is a very compact vehicle with a cramped interior and two-man turret. Its armour was weaker than the Matilda Infantry Tank, but, due to a weaker engine, the lighter tank had the same top speed; however, the new design was easier to produce and much less expensive.
The British War Office was initially deterred by the size of the turret since they considered a turret crew of three necessary to free the vehicle commander from direct involvement in operating the gun. Concerned by the situation in Europe, however, it finally approved the design in April 1939. The vehicle reached trials in May 1940, which coincided with the loss of much of Britain’s materiel in France during the evacuation at Dunkirk. The trials were successful and the vehicle was rushed into production as the Infantry Tank Mk III Valentine; no pilot models were required as much of the mechanics had been proven on the A10, and it entered service from July 1940.
The first Valentines used a petrol engine with conventional steering. The Mark II used a diesel version of the engine and the Mark IV a GMC diesel; these were the majority of those used in the North African desert campaigns. Improved tracks were added and the No. 19 Wireless replaced the No. 11.
The Valentine remained in production until April 1944, becoming Britain’s most-produced tank during the war with 6,855 units manufactured in the UK (by Vickers, Metropolitan-Casmell Carriage and Wagon and Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon), and a further 1,420 in Canada. They were the Commonwealth’s main export to the Soviet Union under the Lend-lease Act, with 2,394 of the British models being sent and 1,388 of the Canadian Pacific built models, and the remaining 30 being kept for training.
The tank first served in Operation Crusader in the North African desert, when it began to replace the Matilda Tank. It was extensively used in the North African Campaign, earning a reputation as a reliable and well-protected vehicle. The Valentine shared the common weakness of the British tanks of the period: its 2-pounder gun lacked high-explosive (anti-personnel) capability, and soon became outdated as an anti-tank weapon too. The small size of the turret and of the turret ring made mounting larger guns a difficult task. Although versions with the 6-pounder and then with the Ordnance QF 75-mm gun were developed, by the time they were available in significant numbers better tanks had reached the battlefield. Another weakness was the small crew compartment and the turret for only two men. A larger turret with a loader position added was used in some of the 2-pounder versions, but the position had to be removed again in variants with larger guns.
By 1944 the Valentine had been almost completely replaced in front-line units of the European Theatre by the Churchill Infantry Tank and the US-made Sherman. In the Pacific the tank was employed in limited numbers at least until May 1945. It was used in New Zealand service, some with the main armament replaced by the 3 inch howitzer taken from Australian Matilda CS tanks, on the Solomons in 1943.
In Soviet service the Valentine was used from the Battle of Moscow until the end of the war. Although criticized for its low speed and weak gun, the Valentine was liked due to its small size, reliability, and generally good armour protection. Wikipedia.
Variants:
Valentine Mk III
A larger turret was installed, allowing the addition of a dedicated loader to ease the duties of the commander. The side armour was reduced from 60-mm to 50-mm to save weight.
Valentine Mk IV
A Mark II using an American 138 hp GMC 6004 diesel engine and US-made transmission. Though it had slightly shorter range, it was quieter and more reliable.
Valentine Mk V
Valentine III with the GMC 6004 diesel engine and US-made transmission.
Valentine Mk VI
Canadian-built version of IV. It used some Canadian and American mechanical parts. Late production vehicles had cast glacis detail. First few produced with a 7.92-mm Besa coaxial machinegun, soon replaced by a 0.30 inch Browning coaxial machinegun.
Valentine Mk VII
Valentine Mk VII, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario. (Author Photo)
Another Canadian version, it was essentially the Mk VI with internal changes and a different radio set. Of the 1,420 Canadian produced Valentines most were sent to Russia. 30 remained in Canada. Two of these tanks survive. Valentine Mk VIIA Infantry Tank, No. 838, built May 1943, was a Lend-Lease tank shipped to the Soviet Union. It fell through the ice of a boggy river near Telepino (Telepyne, Ukraine), during a Soviet counter-offensive on 25 January 1944. In 1990 a 74-year old villager helped locate the tank, and it was recovered and offered as a Glasnost-era gift to Canada. It was presented to the Canadian War Museum by independent Ukraine in 1992, and stands on display in the LeBreton Gallery. Wikipedia. One is on display in the Main Hangar of the CFB Borden Military Museum.
Canadian Armour Overseas
As the Canadian black hats moved to England they began training on American and British equipment. The 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise’s) went to Ogbourne St. George, an 800-year old village near Marlborough, England. Shortly afterwards, they were introduced to their first new tank, an M2A4, which arrived on 11 November 1941. It soon broke down. The eight M2A4 tanks initially used by the Canadians were replaced with two older model M3 General Lee Medium Tanks, the number of which eventually increased to 47.
M2A4 Light Tank
American M2A4 Light Tank. (US Army Photo)
The Light Tank M2 was an American pre-Second World War light tank. The M2A4 was the immediate predecessor of the M3 Stuart light tank. As the Light Tank T2E1, the M2 was developed in 1935 by Rock Island Arsenal for the infantry branch of the US Army and went through a series of modifications and variants. After conversion, it was re-designated as the M2A4.
The new light tank was equipped with an M5 37-mm main gun, 1 inch (25-mm) thick armour, and a 7 cylinder gasoline engine. Production of the M2A4 began in May 1940, and continued through March 1941; an additional ten M2A4s were assembled in April 1942, for a total production run of 375 M2A4 light tanks.
In March 1941, the ½-inch thicker (1½-inch total thickness) armour, and Continental W-670 gasoline engined M3 Stuart light tanks replaced the M2A3 on the assembly lines. The original riveted M3s closely resembled the M2A4, and indeed the two types occasionally served in the same units; the easiest recognition feature is the aft (rear) idler wheel. On the M2A4, the idler is raised; on the M3 it trails on the ground, increasing the flotation of the heavier vehicle.
The M2’s importance lies in the sound basis it provided for US M3-series light tanks early in Second World War. The M3’s high speed and mechanical reliability were legacies of the M2 program. By December 1941, the M2A1, M2A2 and M2A3 were used for training only. Approximately 50 M2A4s were deployed during the Battle of Guadalcanal while assigned to the US Marine Corps 1st Tank Battalion, and remained in service in some areas of Pacific until 1943.
Britain ordered 100 M2A4s in early 1941. After 36 of them were delivered, the order was cancelled in favour of an improved M3 Stuart. Canadians trained on these tanks in the UK early in the war. Wikipedia.
M3A1/M5A1 Stuart Light Tank
M3A1 Stuart light tank in service, ca. 1941. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607530)
M5A1 Stuart light tank, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario. (Author Photo)
The M3 Stuart, formally Light Tank M3, was an American light tank of Second World War and supplied to British and Commonwealth forces under lend-lease prior to the entry of the US into the war - and used thereafter by US and Allied forces until the end of the war.
The name General Stuart or Stuart given by the British comes from the American Civil War Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and was used for both the M3 and the derivative M5 Light Tank. In British service, it also had the unofficial nickname of Honey after a tank driver remarked “She’s a honey”. To the United States Army, the tanks were officially known only as “Light Tank M3” and “Light Tank M5”. The M3 Stuarts were the first American-manned tanks in Second World War to engage the enemy in tank versus tank combat.
Observing events in Europe, American tank designers realized that the Light Tank M2 was becoming obsolete and set about improving it. The upgraded design, with thicker armour, modified suspension and new gun recoil system was called “Light Tank M3”. Production of the vehicle started in March 1941 and continued until October 1943. Like its direct predecessor, the M2A4, the M3 was armed with a 37-mm M5 gun and five .30-06 Browning M1919A4 machine guns: coaxial with the gun, on top of the turret in an M20 anti-aircraft mount, in a ball mount in right bow, in the right and left hull sponsons.
Internally, the radial engine was at the rear and the transmission to the driving sprockets at the front. The prop shaft connecting the two ran through the middle of the fighting compartment. The radial engine compounded the problem having its crankshaft high off the hull bottom. When a turret floor was introduced the crew had less room.
To relieve the demand for the radial aero-engines used in the M3, a new version was developed using twin Cadillac V-8 automobile engines and twin Hydra-Matic transmissions operating through a transfer case. Such installation produced a quieter, cooler and roomier variant and was easier to train on the automatic version. The new model (initially called M4 but redesignated M5 to avoid confusion with the M4 Sherman) also featured a redesigned hull with sloped glacis plate and driver’s hatches moved to the top. Although the main criticism from the units using it was that the Stuarts lacked firepower, the improved M5 series kept the same 37-mm gun. The M5 gradually replaced the M3 in production from 1942 and was in turn succeeded by the Light Tank M24 in 1944.
The British Army was the first to use the Light Tank M3 as the “General Stuart” in combat. From mid-November 1941 to the end of the year, about 170 Stuarts (in a total force of over 700 tanks) took part in Operation Crusader during the North Africa Campaign, with poor results. Although the high losses suffered by Stuart-equipped units during the operation had more to do with better tactics and training of the Afrika Korps than the apparent superiority of German armoured fighting vehicles used in the North African campaign, the operation revealed that the M3 had several technical faults. Mentioned in the British complaints were the 37-mm M5 gun and poor internal layout. The two-man turret crew was a significant weakness, and some British units tried to fight with three-man turret crews. The Stuart also had a limited range, which was a severe problem in the highly mobile desert warfare as units often outpaced their supplies and were stranded when they ran out of fuel. On the positive side, crews liked its relatively high speed and mechanical reliability. The high reliability distinguished the Stuart from Cruiser Tanks of the period, in particular the Crusader, which composed a large portion of the British tank force in Africa up until 1942.
Stuart recce tank, LdSH (RC) at a crossroads in Italy, ca 1944. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4166584)
Stuart recce tank, 1st Tp, C Sqn, Governor General's Horse Guards, Cervia, Italy, 19 Jan 1945. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3240406)
In the summer of 1942, when enough US medium tanks had been received, the British usually kept Stuarts out of tank-to-tank combat, using them primarily for reconnaissance. The turret was removed from some examples to save weight and improve speed and range. These became known as “Stuart Recce”. Some others were converted to armoured personnel carriers and were known as “Stuart Kangaroo", and some were converted command vehicles and known as “Stuart Command”. M3s, M3A3s, and M5s continued in British service until the end of the war, but British units had a smaller proportion of these light tanks than US units.
The other major Lend-Lease recipient of the M3, the Soviet Union, was even less happy with the tank, considering it undergunned, underarmoured, likely to catch fire, and too sensitive to fuel quality. The narrow tracks were highly unsuited to operation in winter conditions, as they resulted in high ground pressures under which the tank sank into the snow. Further, the M3’s radial aircraft engine required high-octane fuel, which complicated Soviet logistics as most of their tanks used diesel. However, the M3 was superior to early-war Soviet light tanks such as the T-60, which were often underpowered and possessed even lighter armament than the Stuart. In 1943, the Red Army tried out the M5 and decided that the upgraded design was not much better than the M3. Being less desperate than in 1941, the Soviets turned down an American offer to supply the M5. M3s continued in Red Army service at least until 1944.
Though the Stuart was to be completely replaced by the newer M24 Chaffee, the number of M3s/M5s produced was so great (over 25,000 including the 75-mm HMC M8) that the tank remained in service until the end of the war and well after. In addition to the US, UK and Soviet Union, who were the primary users, it was also used by France, China (M3A3s and, immediately post-war, M5A1s) and Josip Broz Tito’s Partisans in Yugoslavia (M3A3s and few M3A1).
The Stuart Kangaroo armoured personnel carrier was a variant used by the British Army, based on a turretless Stuart. Additional seats were installed. Wikipedia.
Matilda Mk II Infantry Tank
Matilda Infantry Light Tank, Base Borden Military Museum, CFB Borden, Ontario. (Balcer Photo)
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 British 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 Valentine Mk III Infantry Tank. 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. Wikipedia.
Matildas served in regiments of the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade from July through October 1941 until replaced by Churchill Infantry Tanks. One is on display in the main Hangar of the CFB Borden Military Museum.
The Churchill Infantry Tank Mk II was designed at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich to General Staff specification A.12 and built by the Vulcan Foundry. The design was based on the A7 (which had started development in 1929) rather than on the Infantry Tank Mk I, which was a two man tank with a single machine gun for armament. When war was recognised as imminent, production of the Matilda II was ordered and that of the Matilda I curtailed. The first order was placed shortly after trials were completed with 140 ordered from the Vulcan Foundry in mid 1938.
The Matilda Senior weighed around 27 tons, more than twice as much as its predecessor, and was armed with a QF 2-pounder (40-mm) tank gun in a three-man turret. The turret traversed by hydraulic motor or by hand through 360 degrees; the gun itself could be elevated through an arc from -15 to +20 degrees. One of the most serious weaknesses of the Matilda II was the lack of a high explosive round for its main gun. A high explosive shell was designed for the 2-pounder but for reasons never explained it was never placed in production. With its heavy armour the Matilda II was an excellent infantry support tank, but had to rely on its machine gun when operating with infantry units.
Like other infantry tanks it was heavily armoured; from 20-mm at the thinnest it was 78-mm (3.1 inch) at the front, much more than most contemporaries. The turret armour was 75-mm (3.0 inch) all round, the hull side armour was 65 to 70-mm (2.6 to 2.8 inch), and the rear armour, covering the engine, was 55-mm (2.2 inch). The frontal armour was 75-mm (3.0 inch), although the nose plates top and bottom were thinner but angled. The turret roof was the same thickness as the hull roof and engine deck: 20-mm (0.79 inch).
Tank crew of the Three Rivers Regiment with a German PanzerIV tank they destroyed, Termoli, Italy, 9 October 1943. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3397568)
The German Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks, of the same period, had 30 to 50-mm (1.2 to 2.0 inch) thick hull armour. The shape of the nose armour was based on the US Christie design, and came to a narrow point with storage lockers added on either side.
The heavy armour of the Matilda’s cast turret became legendary; for a time in 1940–41 the Matilda earned the nickname “Queen of the Desert” although its weaknesses made this nickname difficult to justify. At the time it was designed, this armour protection was impervious to the 37-mm and 50-mm calibre anti-tank guns employed by the German forces, as well as the 47-mm used by the Italians in North Africa; only the 75-mm PAK 40 could tackle it although having to fire at dangerously close range, as well as the scarce 88-mm anti-aircraft gun used as an anti-tank gun.
The weight of the armour, together with the relatively weak twin-engine power unit (the engine was adapted from that of a bus) and complex, troublesome suspension severely limited the speed of the vehicle. In the desert terrain of North Africa the Matilda could average only about 10 km/h. This was not thought to be a problem because the Matilda was specifically designed in accordance with the British doctrine of infantry tanks, that is, heavily-armoured but slow-moving vehicles designed to provide support to infantry; a speed equal to the walking speed of a man was considered sufficient.
Each engine had a coolant and lubrication system. The radiators were to the rear of the engine compartment over the transmission. The twin engine design doubled the maintenance effort for crews and often resulting in uneven wear and tear of components. The twin engines gave some redundancy. If one engine broke down, the tank could “limp along” on the other.
The tank was carried by 5 double wheel bogies on each side. Four of the bogies were paired on a common coil spring. The fifth, rearmost, bogie was sprung against a hull bracket. Between the first bogie and the idler wheel was a “jockey wheel”. The first Matildas had return rollers, these were replaced in later models with track skids which were far easier to manufacture.
The turret carried the main armament with the machine gun to the right in a rotating internal mantlet. Two smoke grenade launchers were carried on the right side of the turret. The grenade launcher mechanisms were cut down Lee-Enfield rifles, each firing a single smoke grenade.
The first Matilda was produced in 1937 but only two were in service when war broke out in September 1939. Some 2,987 tanks were produced with the last delivered in August 1943. Peak production was 1,330 in 1942, the most common model being the Mark IV.
The Matilda was difficult to manufacture. For example, the pointed nose was a single casting that, upon initial release from the mould, was thicker than required in some areas. To avoid a needless addition to the tank’s weight, the thick areas were ground away. This process required highly skilled workers and additional time. The complex suspension and multi-piece hull side coverings also added time to manufacturing.
Up to early 1942, in the war in North Africa, the Matilda proved highly effective against Italian and German tanks, although vulnerable to the larger calibre and medium calibre anti-tank guns. In late 1940, during Operation Compass, Matildas of the British 7th Armoured Division wreaked havoc among the Italian forces in Egypt. The Italians were equipped with L3 tankettes and M11/39 medium tanks, neither of which had any chance against the Matildas. Italian gunners were to discover that the Matildas were impervious to a wide assortment of artillery. Matildas continued to confound the Italians as the British pushed them out of Egypt and entered Libya to take Bardia and Tobruk. Even as late as November 1941, German infantry combat reports show the impotence of ill-equipped infantry against the Matilda.
Ultimately, in the rapid manoeuvre warfare often practiced in the open desert of North Africa, the Matilda’s low speed and unreliable steering mechanism became major problems. Another problem was the lack of a high-explosive shell (the appropriate shell existed but was not issued). When the German Afrika Korps arrived in North Africa, the 88-mm anti-aircraft gun was again pressed into service against the Matilda, causing heavy losses during Operation Battleaxe, when sixty-four Matildas were lost. The arrival of the more powerful 50-mm Pak 38 anti-tank gun also provided a means for the German infantry to engage Matilda tanks at combat ranges. Nevertheless, during Operation Crusader, Matilda tanks of 1st and 32nd Army Tank Brigades were instrumental in the breakout from Tobruk and the capture of the Axis fortress of Bardia. The operation was decided by the infantry tanks after the failure of the Cruiser Tank equipped 7th Armoured Division to overcome the Axis tank forces in the open desert.
As the German army received new tanks with more powerful guns, as well as more powerful anti-tank guns and ammunition, the Matilda proved less and less effective. Firing tests conducted by the Afrikakorps showed that the Matilda had become vulnerable to a number of German weapons at ordinary combat ranges. Due to the “painfully small” size of its turret ring - 54 inches (1.37 m) - the tank could not be up-gunned sufficiently to continue to be effective against more heavily armoured enemy tanks. It was also somewhat expensive to produce. Vickers proposed an alternative the Valentine tank, which had the same gun and a similar level of armour protection but on a faster and cheaper chassis derived from that of their “heavy cruiser” tank. With the arrival of the Valentine in autumn 1941, the Matilda was phased out by the British Army through attrition, with lost vehicles no longer replaced. By the time of the battle of El Alamein (October 1942), few Matildas were in service, with many having been lost during Operation Crusader and then the Gazala battles in early summer of 1942. Around twenty-five took part in the battle as mine-clearing, Matilda Scorpion mine flail tanks.
In early 1941, a small number of Matildas were used during the East Africa Campaign at the Battle of Keren. However, the mountainous terrain of East Africa did not allow the tanks of B Squadron 4th Royal Tank Regiment to be as effective as the tanks of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment had been in Egypt and Libya. A few Matildas of the 7th RTR were present on Crete during the German invasion, and all of them were lost
The Red Army received 1,084 Matildas. The Soviet Matildas saw action as early as the Battle of Moscow and became fairly common during 1942. Unsurprisingly, the tank was found to be too slow and unreliable. Crews often complained that snow and dirt were accumulating behind the “skirt” panels, clogging the suspension. The slowness and heavy armour made them comparable to the Red Army’s KV-1 Heavy Tanks, but the Matilda had nowhere near the fire-power of the KV. Most Soviet Matildas were expended during 1942 but a few served on as late as 1944. The Soviets modified the tanks with the addition of sections of steel welded to the tracks to give better grip.
Following Operation Battleaxe a dozen Matildas left behind the Axis lines were repaired and put into service by the Germans. The Matildas were well regarded by their German users although their use in battle caused confusion to both sides, despite extra-prominent German markings. Wikipedia.
Canadian Mobilization and Deployment
While Canada’s response to the war was initially intended to be limited, resources were mobilized quickly. The Convoy HX-1 departed Halifax just six days after the nation declared war, escorted by HMCS St. Laurent and HMCS Saguenay. The 1st Canadian Infantry Division arrived in Britain on 1 January 1940. By 13 June 1940, the 1st Battalion of The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment was deployed to France in an attempt to secure the southern flank of the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium. By the time the battalion arrived, the British and allies were cut off at Dunkirk, Paris had fallen, and after penetrating 200 km inland, the battalion returned to Brest and then to Britain.
After Dunkirk, the defence of the British Isles was left in disarray. There were only two fully armed and mobilized divisions ready to defend against invasion: the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, and the Scottish 52nd. Consequently, the bulk of the Canadian army overseas did not engage in sustained combat until mid-1943. Many of the young soldiers of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, overseas since December 1939, could claim, by 1943, to have spent more of their adult lives in England than in Canada. Nevertheless, this guard duty served as a bulwark, along with British counterparts, in combating the threat from German-occupied Europe during the time when the threat of invasion was at its greatest.
The Dieppe Raid
The Dieppe Raid (Operation Jubilee) of 19 August 1942, landed nearly 5,000 soldiers of the 2nd Canadian Division and 1,000 British commandos on the coast of occupied France, in the only major combined forces assault on France prior to the Normandy invasion of June 1944. Despite air support from Allied fighters and bombers and a naval fleet of 237 ships and landing barges, the raid was a disaster. While Dieppe did provide valuable information on the absolute necessity of close communications in combined operations, of nearly 6,000 troops (composed mainly of Canadians) landed over a thousand were killed and another 2,340 were captured. Churchill Infantry Tanks were used in action by Canadians at Dieppe.
Dingo Scout Car abandoned on the beaches of Dieppe, post-raid. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3194752)
Churchill tank from the Calgary Regiment being examined by German soldiers after the raid on Dieppe, 19 Aug 1942. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 319473)
Two Canadians were recognized with the Victoria Cross for actions at Dieppe; Lieutenant Colonel “Cec” Merritt of the South Saskatchewan Regiment and Honorary Captain John Foote of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry. The value of the Dieppe Raid is a matter of some controversy; some historians feel that it was largely because of Dieppe that the Allies decided not to attempt an assault on a seaport in their first invasion of occupied western Europe, others would point to the large number of amphibious operations before and after Dieppe as evidence that nothing new was learned there.
Churchill Infantry Tank
Churchill tanks on exercise in the UK, July 1942. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3404613)
The Churchill Infantry Tank was a heavy British infantry tank 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. This series of tanks was named after Winston Churchill, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Minister of Defence at the time, and had been involved with the development of the tank as a weapon during the First World War.
Initially specified before the outbreak of the Second World War the (General Staff designation) A20 was to be the replacement for the Matilda Mk II and Valentine infantry tanks. In accordance with British infantry tank doctrine and based on the expected needs of First World War-style trench warfare, the tank was required to be capable of navigating shell-cratered ground, demolishing infantry obstacles such as barbed wire, and attacking fixed enemy defences; for these purposes, great speed and heavy armament was not required.
The tank was specified initially to be armed with two QF 2-pounder guns each located in a side sponson, with a coaxial BESA machine gun. A third BESA and a smoke projector would be fitted in the front hull. The specification was revised to prefer a turret with 60-mm of armour to protect against ordinary shells from the German 37-mm gun. Outline drawings were produced based on using the A12 Matilda turret and the engine of the Covenanter tank. Detail design and construction of the A20 was given to the Belfast shipbuilders Harland and Wolff who completed four prototypes by June 1940. During the construction period the armament was reconsidered which including fitting either a 6-pounder or a French 75-mm gun in the forward hull. In the end a 3 inch howitzer was chosen. The A20 designs were short-lived however, as at roughly the same time the emergency evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk occurred.
At 43 tons, with a 300 hp Meadows engine, the A20 had limited power. Vauxhall were approached to see if they could build the A20 and one example was sent to Vauxhall at Luton to see if they could provide an alternative engine. To this end they developed a flat 12 petrol engine.
With France conquered, the scenario of trench warfare in Northern Europe was no longer applicable and the design was revised by Dr. H.E. Merritt, Director of Tank Design at Woolwich Arsenal, based on the combat witnessed in Poland and France. These new specifications, for the A22 or Infantry Tank Mark IV, were given to Vauxhall in June 1940.
With German invasion looking imminent and the United Kingdom having lost most of its military vehicles in the evacuation from France, the War Office specified that the A22 had to enter production within the year. By July 1940 the design was complete and by December of that year the first prototypes were completed; in June 1941, almost exactly a year as specified, the first Churchill tanks began rolling off the production line. A leaflet from the manufacturer was added to the User Handbook which stated that it had great confidence in the fundamental design of the tank but that the model had been put into production without time for proper honing and that improvements would be made in time. The document then covered for each area of the tank affected, the fault, precautions to avoid the fault and what was being done to correct the problem.
Churchill tank of the Three Rivers Regiment taking part in Exercise Spartan, England, 8 March 1943. (Library and Archives Canada, MIKAN No. 3209253)
Canadian infantry riding on a Churchill III tank during Exercise Spartan, England, 9 March 1943. (IWM Photo H27924)
Canadian Churchill tanks during Exercise Spartan, 9 March 1943. (IWM Photo H27922)
This hasty development had not come without cost though, as there had been little in the way of testing and the Churchill was plagued with mechanical faults. Most apparent was that the Churchill’s engine was underpowered and unreliable, and difficult to access for servicing. Another serious shortcoming was the tank’s weak armament, the 2-pounder (40-mm) gun, which was improved by the addition of a 3 inch howitzer in the hull (the Mk IICS had the howitzer in the turret) to deliver an HE shell albeit not on a howitzers usual high trajectory. These flaws contributed to the tank’s poor performance in its first use in combat, the disastrous Dieppe Raid in August, 1942.
Churchill Infantry Tank, Base Borden Military Museum, CFB Borden, Ontario. (Author Photo)
Production of a turret to carry the QF 6-pounder gun began in 1941 but problems with the plate used in an all-welded design led to an alternative cast turret also being produced. These formed the distinction between the Mark III and the Mark IV.
The poor performance of the Churchill nearly caused production to be ceased in favour of the upcoming Cromwell Cruiser Tank; it was saved by the successful use of the Mk III at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942.
The second major improvement in the Churchill’s design, the Mk VII was first used in the Battle of Normandy in 1944. The Mk VII improved on the already heavy armour of the Churchill with a wider chassis and the 75-mm gun which had been introduced on the Mk VI. It was primarily this variant, the A22F, which served through the remainder of war and was re-designated as A42 in 1945.
The Churchill was notable for its versatility and was utilized in numerous specialist roles. The hull was made up of simple flat plates which were initially bolted together and welded in later models. The hull was split into four compartments: the driver’s position at the front, then the fighting compartment including the turret, the engine compartment, and the gearbox compartment. The suspension was fitted under the two large “panniers” on either side of the hull, the track running over the top. There were eleven bogies either side, each carrying two 10 inch wheels. Only nine of the bogies were taking the vehicle weight normally, the front coming into play when the vehicle nosed into the ground or against an obstacle, the rear acting in part as a track tensioner. Due to the number of wheels, the tank could survive losing several without much in the way of adverse affects as well as traversing steeper terrain obstacles. As the tracks ran around the panniers, escape hatches in the side could be incorporated into the design. These were retained throughout the revisions of the Churchill and were of particular use when the Churchill was adopted as the Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE).
The Bedford Vehicle's engine was effectively two engines in horizontally opposed configuration (“flat twelve”) on a common crankshaft. There were four Solex carburettors each on a separate manifold that fed three cylinders formed as a single cylinder head. The elements of the engine and ancillary components were laid out so they could be reached for maintenance through the engine deck covers. Air for the engine was drawn from the fighting compartment through air cleaners. Cooling air was drawn into the engine compartment through louvers on the sides, across the radiators and through the engine compartment by a fan driven by the clutch. This fan blew the air over the gearbox and out the rear of the hull. By opening a flap between the fighting compartment and the engine compartment this airflow could be used to remove fumes produced by firing the armament. The 1,296 cubic inch capacity engine was rated at 350 bhp at 2,000 rpm delivering 960 lb.ft over an engine speed range from 800 to 1,600 rpm.
The gearbox featured a regenerative steering system that was controlled by a tiller bar instead of the more commonplace brake levers or a steering wheel. The tiller was connected with servo assistance, hydraulically to the steering brakes. The Churchill was also the first tank to utilise the Merritt-Brown gearbox, which allowed the tank to be steered by changing the relative speeds of the two tracks; this effect became more pronounced with each lower gear, ultimately allowing the tank to perform a “neutral turn” when no gear was engaged where it could fully turn on its own axis. There were final reduction gears, of the planetary type, in the driving wheels.
The first turrets were of cast construction and were rounded in shape, providing sufficient space to accommodate the relatively small 2-pounder gun. To fulfil its role as an infantry support vehicle the first models were equipped with a 3 inch howitzer in the hull in a layout very similar to the French Char B. This enabled the tank to deliver a useful high-explosive capability while retaining the antitank capabilities of the 2-pounder. However, like other multi-gun tanks, it was limited by a poor fire arc - the entire tank had to be turned to change the aim of the hull gun. The Mk II dispensed with the howitzer and replaced it with a bow machine gun and on the Mk III; the 2-pounder was replaced with the 6-pounder, significantly increasing the tank’s anti-tank capabilities. The tank underwent field modification in North Africa with several Churchills being fitted with the 75-mm gun of destroyed M4 Shermans. These “NA75” variants were used in Italy. The use of the 75-mm, which was inferior as an anti-tank weapon to the 6-pounder but better as an all-around gun was soon made standard on successive versions.
Churchills made use of the Vickers Tank Periscope Mk IV. In the Mark VII, the driver had two periscopes as well as a vision port in the hull front that could be opened. The hull gunner had a single periscope as well as the sighting telescope on the BESA mounting. In the turret the gunner and loader each had single periscope and the commander had two fitted in his hatch cupola.
The armour on the Churchill Infantry Tank, often considered its most important trait, was originally specified to a minimum of 16-mm (0.63 inch) and a maximum of 102-mm (4.0 inch); this was increased with the Mk VII to a range from 25-mm (0.98 inch) to 152-mm (6.0 inch). Though this armour was considerably thicker than its rivals (including the German Panzer VI Tiger I tank, but not the Tiger II) it was not sloped, reducing its effectiveness. Earlier models were given extra armour by the expedient of welding extra plates on.
On the Mark VII, the hull front armour was made up of a lower angled piece of 5.5 in (140-mm), a nearly flat 2.25 in (57-mm) plate and a vertical 6 in plate. The hull sides were for the most part, 3.75 in (95-mm). The rear was 2 in (51-mm) and the hull top 0.525 in (13.3-mm). The turret of the Mark VII was 6 in (150-mm) to the front and 3.75 in (95-mm) for the other sides. The turret roof was 0.79 (20-mm) thick. Plate was specified as IT 80, the cast sections as IT 90.
The A22F, also known as “Heavy Churchill” was a major revision of the design. The most significant part was the use of welding instead of riveted construction. Welding had been considered earlier for the Churchill but until its future was assured this was no more than testing techniques and hulls at the firing ranges. What welding reduced in the overall weight (estimates were around 4%), the thicker armour of the A22F made up for. Welding was also required fewer man-hours in construction. The hull doors changed from square to round which reduced stresses. A new turret went with the new hull. The sides, which included a flared base to protect the turret ring, were a single casting while the roof which did not need to be so thick was a plate fitted to the top.
Since the engines on the Churchill Infantry Tank were never upgraded, the tank became increasingly slower as additional armour and armament was equipped and weight increased; while the Mk I weighed 39,118 kg (40 long tons) and the Mk III weighed 39,626 kg, the Mk VII weighed 40,643 kg. This caused a reduction in maximum speed of the tank from its original 26 kilometres per hour (16 mph) down to 20.5 kilometres per hour (12.7 mph). The engines also suffered from many mechanical problems.
Another problem was the tank’s relatively small turret that prevented the use of powerful weapons; definitive versions of the tank were armed with either the QF 6-pounder or the derivative QF 75-mm gun, both having reasonable powers against armoured and soft targets respectively but with limited performance against the other. Although earlier Churchills could out-gun many contemporary German medium tanks, like the Panzer IV with the short-barrel 75-mm gun and the Panzer III‘s 50-mm gun, with its 6-pounder, and the thick armour of all Churchill models could usually withstand several hits from any German anti-tank gun, in late war Germans had 75-mm High-velocity cannons as their main armament and increased protection, against which the Churchills’ own guns often lacked sufficient armour penetration to fight back effectively.
The Churchill had many variations, including many specialised modifications. The most significant change to the Churchill was that it was up-gunned from 2-pounder to 6-pounder and then 75-mm guns over the course of the war. By the war’s end, the late model Churchill Mk VII had exceptional amounts of armour - considerably more than the German Tiger tank. However, the firepower weakness was never fully addressed. The Mark VII turret that was designed for the 75-mm gun was of composite construction - cast with top and bottom plates welded into position.
It is important to note that, despite its weaknesses, the Churchill had a significant advantage that was apparent throughout its career. Due to its multiple bogie suspension, it could cross terrain obstacles that most other tanks of its era could not. This feat served well, especially during the fighting in Normandy particularly the capture of Hill 309 between the 30 and 31 July 1944 in operation Bluecoat conducted by VIII Corps.
A few Churchills were in use for the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. The six Mk III tanks (with the 6-pounder gun) of “KingForce” went into battle in support of the 7th Motor Brigade. Although all were heavily shelled by German anti-tank guns, only one received more than light damage; one tank was said to have been hit up to 80 times. KingForce was disbanded afterwards - the Churchills had been sent to Africa to see if they could operate there - but a Tank Brigade (three tank regiments) was sent to Africa going into action in February.
In one encounter a Churchill Infantry Tank Mk IV tank got the better of a German heavy tank, Tiger I, when a shot lodged between the Tiger’s turret and turret ring. The crew abandoned the Tiger, which was subsequently captured by the British. As the first Tiger captured by the Western Allies it was particularly useful, and is now on display at Bovington Tank Museum in the United Kingdom.
As the mainstay of the Tank Brigades, which operated in support of the infantry, Churchill units were in operation more often than other tank units.
The “NA75” conversions of Churchill Mk III to carry the US 75-mm gun were used in Italy. As the Churchill proved to be a better gun platform, the effective range of the 75-mm was increased.
Churchills saw widespread action in Normandy as well as subsequent operations in the Low Countries and into Germany such as the fighting in Reichswald during Operation Veritable.
In tests conducted in the Madang by the Australian Army in mid-1944, at the request of Britain’s War Office, the Churchill was tested against the M4 Sherman and found it to be, overall, a superior tank for jungle warfare. However the Churchill was not used in the Far East.
In late 1950, a Churchill Crocodile squadron was sent to Korea. In action against the Chinese they mostly fought as gun tanks. These were the last use of the Churchill in action by the British. The tank remained in the service of the British Army until 1952 with one, a bridge-layer, remaining in service well into the 1970s.
The Soviet Union received a total of 301 Churchill Mk III and Mk IV types as part of the Lend-Lease programme. Wikipedia
Variants and numbers built:
Churchill Mk I (303)
Equipped with a 2-pounder gun in the turret (150 rounds), and a coaxial Besa machine gun. There was a 3 inch howitzer in the hull (58 rounds). It was a tank that was noted for poor mechanical reliability. It was the main tank issued to the Canadian forces at Dieppe.
Churchill Mk II (1,127)
Replaced the hull howitzer for another machine gun to reduce cost and complexity. Sometimes referred to as Churchill Mk Ia.
Churchill Mk IICS (Close Support)
Placed the gun in the hull and the howitzer in the turret, available in very limited numbers. Sometimes called Churchill Mk II.
Churchill Mk III (675)
The Mk III was the first major armament overhaul of the series, eliminating the hull howitzer and equipping the tank with a more powerful 6-pounder gun (84 rounds). Unlike early versions, it had a welded turret.
Churchill Mk IV (1,622)
The Mk IV was the most numerous Churchill produced, and was virtually identical to the Mk III, the largest change being a return to the less costly cast turret.
Churchill Mk V (241)
A Churchill Mk III/IV which was equipped with a close support 95-mm Howitzer in place of the main gun (47 rounds).
Churchill Mk VI (200)
Along with several minor improvements, it was produced as standard with the 75-mm Mk V gun. Few were built due to the near release of the Mk VII and current upgunning of the Mk III/IV.
Churchill Mk VII (A22F) (1,600 with Mk VIII)
The second major redesign from previous models, the Mk VII used the 75-mm gun, was wider and had much more armour. It is sometimes called the Heavy Churchill. This version of the Churchill first saw service in the Battle of Normandy, and was re-designated A42 in 1945.
Churchill Mk VIII
A Churchill Mk VII which replaced the main gun with a 95-mm Howitzer (47 rounds).
Refitted previous versions:
Churchill Mk IX
Churchill Mk III/IV upgraded with turret of the Mk VII. Extra armour added along with gearbox and suspension modifications. I f the old 6-pounder had been retained, it would have had the additional designation of LT (Light Turret).
Churchill Mk X
The same improvements as for the Mk IX applied to a Mk VI.
Churchill Mk XI
Churchill Mk V with extra armour and Mk VIII turret.
Churchill NA75 (200)
Churchill Mk III/IV with upgraded weaponry using the turret and mantlet from a destroyed or scrapped Sherman (known as NA 75 from North Africa where the conversions took place), or having their current gun re-bored to 75-mm (III/ IV (75-mm)) (84 rounds). More Mk IVs were modified than Mk IIIs, and their performance is virtually identical to the Mk VI. To fit the Sherman mantlet required cutting away the front of the Churchill turret before it was welded in place, then the mantlet slot had to be cut away to give sufficient elevation. The Sherman 75-mm gun was designed for a left hand loader and the Churchill in common with British practice had a right hand loader. The gun was therefore turned upside down and the firing controls adapted. The conversion of about 200 tanks was carried out between March – June 1944 and the conversion project earned the officer in charge an MBE as well as promotion.
Churchill Infantry Tank, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario. (Author Photo)
Churchill Oke (3)
A Churchill Mk II or Mk III with a flamethrower. The Oke flamethrowing tank was named after its designer, Major J.M. Oke. The design was basically for a Churchill tank fitted with the Ronson flamethrower equipment. A tank containing the flame fuel was fitted at the rear, with a pipe from it leading to the mounting on the front hull to the left, leaving the hull machine gun unobstructed. There were three (named “Boar”, “Beetle” and “Bull”) present, in the first wave, at Dieppe which were quickly lost, and abandoned.
Churchill AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers)
A Churchill Mk III or Mk IV equipped with the Petard, a 290-mm Spigot mortar, throwing the 40 lb (18 kg) “Flying dustbin” with its 28 pound high explosive warhead; a weapon designed for the quick levelling of fortifications developed by MD1. The AVRE was designed after the Canadian Dieppe Raid, and could also be equipped with numerous other attachments, such as mine flails, fascine rollers, explosive placers etc. Post war the Churchill AVRE was re-armed with a breech-loaded low velocity 165-mm demolition gun which was less dangerous for the loader (the hull gunner) as he previously had to stick his head and torso out of the Spigot Mortar armed AVRE to load the Mortar. The crew of six were drawn from the Royal Engineers, except for the driver who came from the Royal Armoured Corps. One of the RE crew was a demolitions NCO sapper responsible for priming the “Flying dustbin” and who led the crew when they dismounted from the tank to place demolition charges (“Wade” charges).
Churchill ARV (Armoured Recovery Vehicle)
Mk I - A turretless Mk I with a jib. Mk II - A Churchill with a fixed turret/ superstructure with a dummy gun. It was equipped for recovering other tanks from the battlefield. Mounted a front jib with a 7.5 ton capacity, a rear jib rated for 15 ton and winch that could pull 25 ton. Crew was 3 with enough room to carry the crew of the tank being recovered. Armament was single Besa machine gun.
Churchill ARK (Armoured Ramp Carrier)
A turretless Churchill with ramps at either end and along the body to form a mobile bridge. The Mark 1 had trackways over the tracks for vehicles to drive along. The Mark 2 was an improvised version and crossing vehicles drove directly on the Churchill’s tracks. The Link Ark (or “Twin Ark”) was two ARKs used side-by-side to give a wide crossing. The ramps on these were folding types giving a longer - 65 ft (20 m) - crossing. This was used for the post war Conqueror heavy tank.
Churchill Great Eastern Armoured Ramp Tank
Churchill Great Eastern Armoured Ramp Tank, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario. (Author Photo)
The Churchill Great Eastern was a ramp tank designed to overcome much greater obstacles (both horizontal and vertical) than could be bridged by the ARK. The tank carried a long ramp which sloped upwards from rear to a height of some 20 feet at the front. A second “flying” ramp was hinged to the first at the front and was stowed folded back a top the lower ramp. Hinged to the rear of the lower ramp was a third short ramp that reached the ground. This would usually be held raised at a near 45 degree angle whilst stowed. The Great Eastern was deployed by first driving as close as possible to the obstacle, and then the upper ramp was propelled upwards and over by two groups of 3 inch rockets. The Great Eastern could provide a span of some 60 feet being able to cross a 12’ high 5’ wide wall.
Development of the Great Eastern was by MD1, an experimental establishment. The prototype was built on a Churchill Mk I hull and when initial trials were successful a further 10 vehicles were built using Churchill Mk IV chassis with the heavier Mk VII suspension units fitted to take the 48 ton weight. Two vehicles were delivered to the 79th Armoured Division in early 1945 but they were never used in action.
The Great Eastern at the Canadian War Museum‘s Vimy House has the ramp in the stowed state and is missing the support brackets which when operational would mount the ramp at an angle from rear to back. The rear ramp has been detached from its hinges and laid flat on top of the “flying” ramp.
Churchill Crocodile (no more than 800)
Churchill Mk. VII Crocodile, Military Museums, Calgary. (Author Photo)
The Crocodile was a Churchill Mk VII which was converted by replacing the hull machine gun with a flamethrower. The fuel was in an armoured wheeled trailer towed behind. It could fire several 1 second bursts over 150 yards. The Crocodile was one of “Hobart’s Funnies“, another vehicle used by the 79th Armoured Division.
Gun Carrier, 3in, Mk I, Churchill (A22D) (50)
This variant had a fixed 88-mm (3.5-inch) thick superstructure with the gun in a ball mount. The gun was an otherwise obsolete 3 inch anti-aircraft gun. Fifty were built in 1942 but none are known to have been used - the 17-pounder anti-tank gun gave the British the necessary firepower.
Churchill Flail FV3902 or Toad
A post-war (1950s) mine-clearing flail tank built on a Churchill chassis.
Churchill Goat
A chargelayer like the Double Onion device.
Churchill Kangaroo
Churchill hull converted to an APC.
Black Prince A43
In 1943 an attempt was made to up-gun the Churchill by using Heavy Churchill tanks modified to take a 17-pounder gun, as was done with the Sherman Firefly. This resulted in the Tank, Infantry, Black Prince A43 in May 1945. Six prototypes were built, but the project was cancelled due to the emergence of the new and less complicated Centurion Mk 1 which offered the same armament and armour and had just entered production. Wikipedia
Canadians Training in England, 1940-1943
After the Dieppe Raid, the frustrated Canadian Army fought no significant engagement in the European theatre of operations until the invasion of Sicily in the summer of 1943. With the Sicily Campaign, the Canadians had the opportunity to enter combat and later were among the first to enter Rome. Until then, armour played a major role in the intense training underway.
Between the fall of France in June 1940 and the German invasion of the USSR in June 1941, Canada supplied Britain with urgently needed food, weapons, and war materials by naval convoys and airlifts, as well as pilots and planes that fought in the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. If the planned German invasion of Britain had taken place in 1941, units of the formation later known as I Canadian Corps were already deployed between the English Channel and London to meet them. Wikipedia.
M3 Lee Medium Tank
Lee tanks, BCD, Headley Down, UK, 12 Mar 1942. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3223022)
M3 Lee Medium tanks on a railway flatcar. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3285353 and 3285354)
M3 Lee Medium Tank, Canadian War Museum. (Author Photo)
The Medium Tank M3 Lee was an American tank used during Second World War. In Britain the tank was called “General Lee”, named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and the modified version built with a new turret was called the “General Grant”, named after US General Ulysses S. Grant.
Design commenced in July 1940, and the first “Lees” were operational in late 1941. The US Army needed a good tank and coupled with Great Britain’s demand for 3,650 medium tanks immediately, the Lee began production by late 1940. The M3 was well armed and armoured for the period, but due to design flaws (high silhouette, archaic sponson mounting of the main gun, below average off-road performance) it was not satisfactory and was withdrawn from front line duty as soon as the M4 Sherman became available in large numbers.
German Panzer IV tank, examined by Lance-Bombardier T. Hallam and Signalman A.H. Wharf, HQ, RCA, 5th Canadian Armoured Division, near Pontecorvo, Italy, 26 May 1944. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3405800)
The Panzer III and Panzer IV‘s success in the French campaign in 1940 led the US Army to order a new medium tank armed with a 75-mm gun in a turret. This would be the M4 Sherman. However, until the Sherman was in production, an interim design with a 75-mm gun was urgently needed.
The M3 was the solution. The design was unusual because the main weapon - a larger calibre, low-velocity 75-mm gun - was in an offset sponson mounted in the hull with limited traverse. A small turret with a lighter, high-velocity 37-mm gun sat on the tall hull. A small cupola on top of the turret held a machine gun. The use of two main guns was seen on the French Char B, the Soviet T-35, and the Mark I version of the British Churchill tank. In each case, two weapons were mounted to give the tanks adequate capability in firing both anti-personnel high explosive ammunition and armour-piercing ammunition for anti-tank combat. The M3 differed slightly from this pattern having a main gun which could fire an armour-piercing projectile at a velocity high enough for efficiently piercing armour, as well as deliver a high-explosive shell that was large enough to be effective. Using a hull mounted gun, the M3 design was produced quicker than if a turret mount gun had been manufactured. It was understood that the M3 design was flawed, but Britain urgently needed tanks.
The M3 was tall and roomy: the power transmission ran through the crew compartment under the turret cage to the gearbox driving the front sprockets. Steering was by differential braking, with a turning circle of 11 m. The vertical volute suspension units included a return roller made with self-contained and readily replaced units bolted to the chassis. The turret was power-traversed by an electro-hydraulic system - an electric motor providing the pressure for the hydraulic motor. This rotated the turret fully in 15 seconds. Control was from a spade grip on the gun. The same motor provided pressure for the gun stabilizing system.
The 75-mm was operated by a gunner and a loader. Sighting the 75-mm gun used a M1 periscope - with an integral telescope - on the top of the sponson. The periscope rotated with the gun. The sight was marked from zero to 3,000 yd (2,700 m) with vertical markings to aid deflection shooting at a moving target. The gunner laid the gun on target through geared handwheels for traverse and elevation.
The 37-mm was aimed through the M2 periscope, though this was mounted in the mantlet to the side of the gun. It also sighted the coaxial machine gun. Two range scales were provided: 1,400 m for the 37-mm and 0-1,000 yd (910 m) for the machine gun.
The British ordered the M3 when they were refused permission to have their tank designs (the Matilda infantry tank and Crusader Cruiser Tank) made by American factories. British experts had viewed the mock-up in 1940 and identified several flaws - the high profile, the hull mounted gun, radio in the hull, smooth tracks, the amount of armour with insufficient attention to splash-proofing the joints. The British agreed to order 1,250 m3, to be modified to their requirements - the order was subsequently increased with the expectation that when a superior tank was available it could replace part of the order. Contracts were arranged with three US companies, but the total cost was approximately 240 million US dollars. This sum was all of the British funds in the US and it took the Lend-Lease act to solve the financial problems.
The prototype was completed in March 1941 and production models followed with the first British specification tanks in July. The British cast turret included a bustle at the back for the Wireless Set No. 19 radio. It had thicker armour than the US one and removed the US cupola for a simple hatch. Both American and British tanks had thicker armour than first planned. The British design required one fewer crew member than the US version due to the radio in the turret. The US eventually eliminated the full-time radio operator, assigning the task to the driver. The British realized that to meet their requirement for tanks both types would be needed.
The US military utilized the “M” (Model) letter to designate nearly all of their equipment. When the British Army received their new M3 medium tanks from the US, confusion immediately set in, as the M3 medium tank and the M3 light tank were identically named. The British army began naming their American tanks, although the US Army never used those terms until after the war. The M3 tanks with the new turret and radio setup received the name “General Grant”, while the original M3s were called “General Lee”, or more usually just “Grant” and “Lee”. The M3 brought much-needed firepower to British forces in the African desert campaign.
The chassis and running gear of the M3 design was adapted by the Canadians for their Ram tank. The hull of the M3 was also used for self-propelled artillery and recovery vehicles.
Of the 6,258 M3s produced by the US, 2,855 M3s were supplied to the British army, and about 1,368 to the Soviet Union. Consequently, one of the American M3 medium tank’s first actions during the war was in 1942, during the North African Campaign. British Lees and Grants were in action against Rommel’s forces at the disastrous Battle of Gazala on 27 May that year. They continued to serve in North Africa until the end of that campaign. A regiment of M3 Mediums was also used by the US 1st Armoured Division in North Africa. In the North African campaign, the M3 was generally appreciated for its mechanical reliability, good armour and heavy firepower.
In all three areas, it outclassed the available British tanks and was able to fight German tanks and towed anti-tank guns. The tall silhouette and low, hull-mounted 75-mm were severe tactical drawbacks. Since they prevented the tank from fighting from hull-down firing positions. The use of riveted armour led to a problem called “spalling,” whereby the impact of enemy shells would cause the rivets to break off and become projectiles inside the tank. Later models were welded to eliminate this problem. The M3 was replaced by the M4 Sherman as soon as these were available, though several M3s saw limited action in the battle for Normandy as armoured recovery vehicles with dummy guns.
Over 1,300 diesel-engined M3A3 and M3A5s were supplied to the USSR via lend-lease in 1942-1943. All were the Lee variants, although they are sometimes referred to generically as Grants. The M3 was unpopular in the Red Army, where its faults were shown up in engagements with enemy armour and anti-tank weapons, with the Soviets bestowing it the nickname of “coffin for seven brothers.” Few were seen in combat after about mid-1943, though some M3s were used on the Arctic Front in the Red Army’s offensive on the Litsa front towards Kirkenes in October 1944. On this front the Germans had only a relatively few obsolete French Hotchkiss tanks that they had acquired during occupation, consequently the M3’s inferior tank-to-tank capabilities were of limited importance.
Overall, the M3 was able to cope with the battlefield of 1942. Its armour and firepower was the equal or superior to most of the threats it faced. Long-range, high velocity guns were not yet common on German tanks. However, the rapid pace of tank development meant that the M3 was very quickly outclassed. By mid-1943, with the introduction of the German Panthers and Tigers, the up-gunning of the Panzer IV to a long 75-mm gun, and the availability of large numbers of Shermans, the M3 was withdrawn from service in the European Theatre. Wikipedia.
Ram Cruiser Tank
Ram II tanks on manouevres in the UK, ca. 1943. (Library and Archives Canada Mikan No. 4233146)
The Ram Cruiser Tank was a tank designed and built by Canada in the Second World War, based on the US M3 Medium tank. It was used exclusively for training purposes and was never used in combat.
Tank production in the UK at the start of the war was insufficient to supply Canada as well, so it was decided to manufacture locally. The Montreal Locomotive Works, which was a subsidiary of the American Locomotive Company, was designated the Canadian Tank Arsenal. Initial production was of Valentine tanks, many of which would be supplied to the USSR. Although the Valentine used a number of US produced parts, limitations in the availability of armour plate affected Valentine production. The Canadians were interested in production of the M3 Medium, and the British Tank Mission contributed a tank expert to design a new hull that could take a larger turret while retaining the lower hull of the M3. The new hull was cast rather than welded or riveted and lower than that of the M3
Although the ability to mount a large 75-mm gun was suggested, the turret was built to take the QF 6-pounder. As it was not immediately available, early production (55 tanks) were fitted with the two pounder gun.
A prototype Ram I was completed in June 1941. General production of the Ram I began in November of the same year. This was fitted with side doors in the hull and an auxiliary machine gun turret in the front - these features would be discarded in later modifications. By February 1942, production had switched to the Ram II model with a 6-pounder gun and continued until July 1943, when a decision was made to adopt the Sherman tank for all British and Canadian units. By that point 1,948 vehicles, including 84 artillery observation post vehicles, had been completed.
As built, the Ram was never used in combat as a tank, but served well for crew training in Great Britain up to mid 1944. The observation post vehicles and conversions of the Ram did see active service in Europe. The tanks were rebuilt in army workshops near the front line.
In 1945 the Royal Netherlands Army got permission from the Canadian government to take possession for free of all Ram tanks in army dumps on Dutch territory. Those not already converted into Kangaroos were used to equip the 1st and 2nd Tank Battalion (1e en 2e Bataljon Vechtwagens), the very first Dutch tank units. These had a nominal organic strength of 53 each. However it proved to be impossible to ready enough tanks to attain this strength, as the vehicles were in a very poor state of maintenance.
In 1947 the UK provided 44 Ram tanks from its stocks that were in a better condition. Forty of these had been rebuilt with the British 75-mm gun; four were OP/Command vehicles with a dummy gun. This brought the operational total for that year to just 73, including two Mark Is. In 1950 only fifty of these were listed as present. The Ram tanks (together with the Sherman tanks of the three other tank battalions, in part simply taken without permission) were replaced by Centurion Tanks leased by the US Government in 1952. Some Ram tanks were used in the fifties as static pillboxes in the Ijssel Line; their hulls dug in and embedded within two feet of concrete. One Dutch Ram tank, an OP/Command vehicle, survives at the Dutch Cavalry Museum in Amersfoort.
MGen F.F. Worthington with a Ram tank. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4232847)
Ram tanks can also be seen at the Canadian War Museum, in Worthington Park at Canadian Forces Base Borden, in front of the Beatty Street Armoury in Vancouver, and at the Bovington Tank Museum (Ram and Ram Kangaroo Armoured Personnel Carrier). Wikipedia
Ram Variants:
Ram I Cruiser Tank
First Ram I Cruiser Tank, Montreal Locomotive Works. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3554045)
Ram I tank crew, 5th Canadian Armoured Division, Aldershot, UK, 24 Dec 1942. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3525210)
The Ram I was armed with an Ordnance QF 2-pounder/40-mm gun (171 rounds).
Ram II Cruiser Tank
Ram II tank, turret swung right. (DND Photo)
Ram II tanks, Camp Borden, Ontario, ca 1943. Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4232610)
Ram II Tanks, ca 1943. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, Mikan No. 4232743)
Ram II Tanks in service at Camp Borden, ca. 1943. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4232758
Ram II Cruiser Tank, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario. (Author Photo)
The early production Ram Mk III was armed with a QF 6-pounder/57-mm gun (92 rounds). The late production Ram Mk V was also armed with a QF 6-pounder gun, but had the auxiliary turret and sponson door removed. A Browning .303 in (7.7-mm) machine gun was fitted in ball mount.
Badger Flamethrower Tank
A flamethrower equipped tank. The first Badgers were Ram Kangaroos with the Wasp II flamethrowing equipment (as used on the Universal Carrier) installed in place of the bow MG. Later models were turret rams with the equipment in place of the main gun.
Ram Kangaroo
Kangaroo APC with Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, Wertle, Germany, 11 Apr 1945. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3223906)
The Ram Kangaroo Armoured Personnel Carrier, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario. (Author Photo)
The Ram Kangaroo is an armoured personnel carrier for 11 men plus 2 crew.
Ram OP/Command (84)
An armoured vehicle to function as a mobile observation posts for the Forward Observation Officers (FOO) of Sexton self-propelled gun units, based on Ram II. The gun was replaced by a dummy, and two Wireless sets were fitted. Crew of 6. 84 were built in 1943
Ram GPO
Like the OP but with special equipment for gun position officers of SP artillery regiments. The vehicle had Tannoy loudspeakers mounted.
Sexton SP Gun
Sexton 25-pounder SP Gun ca. 1944. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3197576)
Sexton 25-pounder Self-Propelled Gun Howitzer, Museum, Ottawa, Ontario. (Author Photo)
The Sexton is a self-propelled artillery vehicle armed with a QF 25-pounder gun in an open-topped superstructure
Wallaby
Armoured ammunition supply vehicle, carried 25-pounder ammunition for the Sexton
Ram ARV Mk I
Armoured recovery vehicle based on Ram I. Winch added.
Ram ARV Mk II
ARV based on Ram II. Jib and earth spade added, turret replaced by dummy.
Ram Gun Tower
Armoured artillery tractor for use with Ordnance QF 17-pounder towed Anti-tank gun. Wikipedia.
M4A1 Grizzly Cruiser Tank
M4A1 Grizzly Cruzer Tank, Base Borden Military Museum, CFB Borden, Ontario. (Author Photo)
The Grizzly I was a Canadian built M4A1 Sherman tank with some modifications, it had thicker, more sloping armour, had a longer range, and, most notably was fitted with Canadian Dry Pin (CDP) tracks.
After the fall of France in 1940, it was decided that Canada should manufacture its own tanks, rather than be supplied from the UK or with US-built tanks, for the armoured divisions that were being formed. For speed of introduction, the native design would be based on the US M3 tank. The limitations of the M3 design led to extensive reworking of the design to give the Ram Cruiser Tank. This was produced at the new factory of Montreal Locomotive Works.
The Ram was suitable for training but the M4 Sherman which quickly followed the M3 design was superior and the Ram production line was switched over to Grizzly production in August 1943. Production of the Grizzly was halted as US tank production would be sufficient for all the Allies and the production line was switched instead to the Sexton self-propelled gun Mk II. The Sexton was designed after the US M7 Priest SP Gun which used the M3 and then M4 chassis. The Sexton Mk II used the Grizzly chassis, the upper hull modified to carry the Commonwealth standard QF 25-pounder gun instead.
Priest M-7 105-mm SP Gun, RCHA. (DND Photo)
The Grizzly differed in the suspension from the M4, having a 13, instead of 17, tooth idler and CDP tracks. Some were planned for conversion to the Skink anti-aircraft tank with a turret mounting four 20-mm cannon. Following the war, a number of Grizzly tanks and Sexton self-propelled guns were sold to Portugal as part of the NATO military assistance program where they served until finally being retired in the 1980s. Wikipedia.
Priest Kangaroo
Priest Kangaroo, 4th Cdn Armoured Division moving into Delden, Netherlands, 4 Apr 1945. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3194297)
Skink 20-mm Quad AA Tank
Skink 20-mm Quad AA Tank. (DND Photo courtesy of Clive Law)
The Tank AA, 20-mm Quad, Skink was a Canadian self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. It was also designated as “Project 47” by the Canadian Army. When Canadian Ram tank production ceased in 1943, the lines at the Montreal Locomotive Works were turned over to Grizzly Is. It was rapidly realized this was unnecessary, as US factories were more than able to meet the demand, and only 188 Grizzlys were built, most retained for training.
As the invasion of Europe was impending, and it was felt a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun able to keep up with armoured formations might be required, the Canadian Ministry of Defence (MOD) arranged with Waterloo Manufacturing Company for the design of a cast turret with four Hispano-Suiza 20-mm cannons (later changed to the simpler British Polsten, a derivative of the Oerlikon) capable of firing about thirty rounds per second combined. They were aimed by periscope or roof-mounted reflector sight via electro hydraulic joystick control.
Early in 1944, the first test models were ready. Plans to build these, as well as conversion kits for existing Grizzly and Sherman tanks, were quickly superseded by the realization that Allied air forces had achieved air supremacy over Normandy. Since the Skink was now redundant, the project was cancelled in April 1944 after only three vehicles and eight conversion kits were completed. The original program had planned for the production of 135 Skinks for the Canadian Army and 130 Skink turrets for the British forces.
Reportedly the sole Skink sent to Britain for evaluation actually saw action. After being transhipped to Antwerp on 24 January 1945, it reached the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade a few miles south of Nijmegen, Holland, on 4 February, and entered combat in support of the 6th Canadian Armoured Regiment (CAR) north of Nijmegen Bridge, later with 22nd CAR at the Battle of Hochwald Forest. The name Skink was also applied to a flamethrower tank based on the Sherman. Wikipedia.
Two stripped and shot-up Skink turrets are known to exist, with one in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa and another at CFB Shilo, Manitoba. Others are being searched for. The Skink was a very advanced design for its time. Its nearest equivalent was the German Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind, a 20-mm Quad AA Gun in an open topped powered turret on a Panzer IV chassis, some 100 of which were built and saw service with the German Army during Second World War.[27]
Crusader Cruiser Tank AA Mk III
The Tank, Cruiser, Mk VI Crusader was one of the primary British cruiser tanks of the Second World War and perhaps the most important British tank of the North African Campaign. However, due to its reputation for unreliability and relatively thin armour, it was replaced by American tanks for the invasion of Italy. Over 5,300 were built.
The Canadian Army did not have Crusader tanks but did use variants. At least one Anti-Aircraft unit of the British 7th Armoured Division equipped with Crusader AA Mk III tanks landed on Juno Beach on 7 June 1944 in support of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division during the invasion of Normandy. Others served with the 1st Polish Armoured Division, also in support of the Canadians. Documents indicate 27 were held by the 4th Canadian Armoured Division and 20 with the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade under 21 Army Group in June 1944. By 31 December 1944, these numbers had dropped with 10 still held by the 4th Canadian Armoured Division and 1 with the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade.[28]
The Crusader had five road wheels on each side to improve weight distribution. The 32 in (810-mm)-diameter wheels were of pressed steel with solid rubber tyres. Hull sides were of two separated plates with the suspension arms between them. A small hand-traversed auxiliary turret armed with a Besa machine gun was mounted at the left hand side of the front hull. The auxiliary turret was awkward to use and was often removed in the field or remained unoccupied. The turret was polygonal - with sides that sloped out then in again - to give maximum turret space on the limited turret diameter. Early production vehicles had a “semi-internal” cast gun mantlet, which was quickly replaced in production by better protected big cast mantlet with three vertical slits - for the main gun, for a coaxial Besa MG and for a sighting telescope. There was no cupola for the commander who had instead a flat hatch with the periscope mounted through it.
The main armament was balanced so the gunner could control its elevation by hand rather than using gearing. This fitted well with the British doctrine of firing on the move. When it was understood that there would be delays in the introduction of successor heavy cruiser tanks - what would become the Cavalier, Centaur and Cromwell - the Crusader was adapted to use the 6-pounder gun.
After the completion of the North African Campaign, the availability of better tanks such as the Sherman and Cromwell relegated the Crusader to secondary duties such as anti-aircraft mounts or gun tractors. In these roles it served for the remainder of the war.
The Crusader III, AA Mk II was armed with twin Oerlikon 20-mm guns for anti-aircraft use. The Mk III only differed from the Mk II by the position of the radio, which was moved to the hull in order to free some space inside the turret. A variation with triple Oerlikon guns was produced in very limited quantities. Due to Allied air superiority none of the AA versions saw much action. The Crusader anti-aircraft guns were designed for use in North West Europe. However with the Allied domination of the air they were largely unneeded and the AA troops were disbanded. The Crusader gun tractors operated with the Armoured Divisions, but were supplanted in part by the 17-pounder Archer self-propelled gun. Wikipedia.
Archer 17-pounder self-propelled gun. (Dennis Berkin Photo)
According to author Peter Brown,
“All the effort which went into designing, testing and building these vehicles, training crews, issuing them and taking them to France seems to have had little result. So far, no account of them bringing down any aircraft has come to light, and the AA Troops were disbanded in July/August 1944…A series of reports of AFV and RA Equipment State recorded on 21 Army Group Form 42 and marked TOP SECRET show(s)…the number of vehicles with the various Delivery Squadrons, for 256 ADS the number of vehicles rises from four on 2 August to 34 on 4 Aug and 52 on 10 Aug, which suggests that most withdrawalswere carried out at the start of August. 257 CDS also held 10 at this period, and most vehicles were classed as “unfit”. Numbers fell in these two units, but the other British and Canadian Delivery Squadrons had smaller numbers. By the end 15 at the end of September and down to 9 at the end of October, with none in the Canadian squadrons.”
“While most units handed over all or at least most of their vehicles, one regiment not only kept them, but also increased their stocks. The South Alberta Regiment, which was the Sherman-equipped Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division, acquired one extra vehicle to their original six - they appear to have operated on the War Establishment of an Armoured Regiment and not an Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment - to give them seven in all. This may have come from the Polish 10th Mounted Rifles, who were Recce for 1st Polish Armoured Division”[29]
Cromwell Cruiser Tank
Cromwell Tank moving into position for an attack south of Caen, France, June 1944. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4233175)
Canadian Cromwell Tank, Normandy, 1 July 1944. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No.)
Canadian Cromwell Tank, Normandy, July 1944. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN 4233766)
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 put into service by the British to combine a dual-purpose gun, high speed from the powerful and reliable Meteor engine, and reasonable armour, in a 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 (and the interim A24 Cavalier), the Cromwell had the significantly more powerful Meteor. Apart from the engine and associated transmission differences, the two tanks were the same and many Centaurs built were fitted with the Meteor to make them Cromwells. The Cromwell first saw action in the Battle of Normandy in June 1944.
Centaur (A27L)
Centaur (A27L) AA Mk II, Elbeuf, France, 28 August 1944, Canadian Grenadier Guards, 1st Canadian Composite Centaur Bty, one of 6. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3593377)
The Cromwell and Centaur differed in the engine used. While the Centaur had the Liberty engine of the predecessor cruiser tank, the Crusader (and the interim A24 Cavalier), the Cromwell had the significantly more powerful Meteor. Apart from the engine and associated transmission differences, the two tanks were the same and many Centaurs built were fitted with the Meteor to make them Cromwells. The Centaur, AA Mk II used a Crusader III, AA Mk III turret with twin 20 mm Polsten AA guns.
