British Tanks in Panzer Grenadier
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
March 2012

Britain invented the tank, named it, and first used it in battle. Like many first adopters, the British Army fell behind the technological race, and with some notable exceptions remained behind the curve through most of World War II. Sheer stolid bravery could only make up for that in part. Here’s a look at some of the British vehicles present in Beyond Normandy.

Although his attempts as First Sea Lord to name a battleship for his regicidal hero failed repeatedly, Winston Churchill as prime minister finally got Oliver Cromwell’s name on a chunk of British iron in 1944. Part of a long line of British cruiser tanks, these continually improved from the introduction of the A13 in 1939, a type widely used in our games Afrika Korps and Desert Rats. Armor and armament improved with the A27 Centaur, a type not used widely in combat. With the introduction of the Meteor engine the tank received a new name, but it retained the A27 designation. Some Centaurs were re-fitted with the Meteor and also christened “Cromwell.”

Bad day for a Cromwell crew,
near Hill 112 in Normandy, June 1944

Early models of the Cromwell carried a 6-pounder gun, eventually receiving a 75mm gun in its place. The pieces found in Beyond Normandy are Cromwell VII vehicles, with a 75 mm and welded hulls. The Cromwell was the most numerous British tank at the time of the Normandy invasion, but not as good a vehicle as the German PzKw IVH or even the much-maligned American-made Sherman.

The A22 Churchill went through a comparatively long design and development phase, being ordered in 1939 as a heavy “infantry tank.” The early version had a 2-pounder gun in the turret and a 3-inch howitzer in the hull, a concept very similar to the American M3 Grant or French Char-B but with a much narrower field of fire for the heavy gun. Initial tests were highly unfavorable, and as Winston himself said, “this tank carrying my name has more drawbacks than me.” It had a reliable engine, but the high tracks proved vulnerable to enemy fire and when damaged blown tracks would sometimes jam the turret.

The Churchill III and IV were sent to the Mediterranean theater with a new turret carrying a 6-pounder gun and only a machine gun in the hull. During the invasion of Italy, ordnance troops replaced the 6-pounder with 75mm guns salvaged from wrecked Shermans, making a very successful makeshift conversion. This became official with the Mark VII, and many of the earlier marks would be re-fitted to the same standard. This did not carry the same 75mm gun as the Sherman, but rather a 6-pounder re-bored to accept the same ammunition.

Despite astonishingly slow speed, the Churchill’s thick armor made it a favorite with the troops, and it served throughout World War II and in Korea as well. Just over 300 were sent to the Soviet Union and the last Churchill left the Irish Army’s service in 1969.

During the course of World War II, Britain received thousands of American-made tanks through the Lend-Lease program. Although the Sherman’s 75mm gun was much better than the British 6-pounder (57mm), it was never truly adequate as a tank’s main weapon. During the design of the M3 Grant, bureaucrats of the U.S. Army’s artillery branch insisted that the new tank’s main armament meet artillery performance standards. The 75mm M2 tank gun had to be able to fire 4,000 rounds before the tube’s replacement, just like a field gun, despite the fact that no tank could be expected to last in combat long enough to fire a fraction of that volume. Thanks to this turf battle, the M3 and the following M4 Sherman went into action with a low-velocity gun.

Dissatisfied with the weapon, but not under the thumb of the American War Department, the British modified a number of their Shermans to a new standard. They replaced the 75mm with their own high-velocity 17-pounder anti-tank gun, a 76mm weapon but with a much longer barrel and therefore muzzle velocity, and firing a far larger round. To accomplish this, they had to cut out the rear wall of the Sherman’s turret and add an armored box, add a new hatch for the loader and mount the cannon sideways. To carry a reasonable number of the big 17-pounder rounds, they also removed the bow machine gun and gunner.

Re-christened “Firefly,” this re-built vehicle proved far more effective against German armor. Almost as fast as a standard Sherman, it was not quite as good as a German PzKwIVH but at least the gap had been narrowed.

In 1940, Maj. Gen. Percy Hobart ran afoul of higher authority and was forced into retirement. Hobart joined his local Home Guard unit as a corporal, but soon gained Churchill’s favor and jumped from that post to command the 7th Armoured Division in North Africa. From there, he received the assignment in 1943 to create the 79th Armoured Division, a unit dedicated to use of unusual armored engineering vehicles known as “Funnies.”

In theory, the 79th would operate as a modern siege train, using its odd assortment of tanks to support attacks against German fortifications. The 79th never operated together as a division, instead lending its assets where needed. It saw extensive action in the battles around Hill 112 in Normandy, as depicted in our Beyond Normandy game.

These specialized tanks included the Crocodile, a Churchill tank that traded its 75mm gun for a flamethrower and towed a trailer loaded with 400 gallons of fuel behind it. Other oddities included the AVRE (Armored Vehicle, Royal Engineers), sporting a massive “Petard” siege mortar in place of its gun, and the “Crab,” a Sherman tank pushing a huge drum with chains attached, to explode mines.

The U.S. Army rejected this route, believing the effort expended was not worth the expense. However, the British Army seems to have been very pleased with its return on investment and greatly missed the “funny” tanks during the Market Garden operation in September 1944.

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