Tanks of England

On the development of English armored vehicles in prewar years reflected the struggle of opinions regarding the nature of the future war. Supporters of the creation of mechanized armies, who believed that the second World War with their participation should end quickly, with a single strategic strike, which within a few days and even hours will decide the outcome of the battles and force the enemy to surrender, they insisted on creating "cruising" tanks - lightly armored, with increased speeds movement and with guns of 40 mm caliber. To test their views on a future war, they achieved the creation in the British armed forces in 1927 of the first experimental mechanized unit.

There was also a group of influential military men who relied on the headquarters ground forces England, who believed that the main destiny of tanks was the direct support of the advancing infantry. For this, low-speed, heavily armored tanks with 40-75 mm caliber guns - the so-called "infantry" tanks - serve. As a compromise, it was decided to have both cruising and infantry tanks in service. Infantry tanks included tanks like "Matilda", "Valentine" and "Churchill", cruising - "Crusider", "Cromwell", "Comet". Thus, the inseparable combat qualities of the tank - armor protection and mobility were artificially divided between the two types of vehicles. The fallacy of this concept was revealed in the course of hostilities quite quickly, but during the war the British designers failed to create a single tank capable of performing the tasks of direct infantry support and operating as part of armored formations. That's why best tank The American M4 Sherman became the British army.

Created in England before the war, light tanks quickly disappeared from the battlefield, as their armor and weapons were unsatisfactory. Therefore, the American light tanks M3 and M5 were widely used in the British army. In 1943, the production of its own light tank "Tetrarch" was started, but its combat characteristics were below the characteristics of German tanks. Self-propelled artillery, as in the US Army, was divided into field, anti-tank and anti-aircraft. However, the quantity self-propelled units, issued by the industry of England, was small and amounted to approximately 800 cars.

The characteristic features of British armored vehicles were:

• large overall dimensions and weight, low firepower and mobility of tanks;
• creation of field, anti-tank and anti-aircraft self-propelled installations based on tanks and vehicles;
• widespread use of the chassis of obsolete light tanks to create armored personnel carriers;
• the creation and widespread use of armored vehicles;
• use of obsolete constructive solutions and technological methods: the vertical arrangement of armor plates, the frame construction of tanks, the connection of armor plates with bolts and rivets, the use of mainly carburetor engines, etc.

In total, during the Second World War, 25116 tanks were produced in England, another 23246 tanks and self-propelled guns came from the USA and Canada. The formation of armored formations in England was rather slow. By the end of the second year of the war, five armored divisions and five separate brigades.
The armored division consisted of two armored brigades, each of which had three tank regiment, as well as two motorcycle-rifle battalions, artillery and mixed anti-aircraft and anti-tank regiments. The division had about 300 tanks, but there was practically no motorized infantry. In addition, the structure of the division turned out to be cumbersome and did not allow for the operational management of units during the battle. Therefore, at the end of 1942, the divisions were reorganized. Of these, one armored brigade was excluded, but a brigade of motorized infantry was introduced, there were two artillery regiments, a regiment was introduced anti-tank artillery. The division of the 1942 model consisted of 18 thousand people. personnel, 344 tanks and over 150 guns.

For joint action with infantry divisions separate armored brigades were formed as part of three regiments. Each brigade had 260 tanks. In total, during the Second World War, 11 armored divisions and 30 armored brigades were formed in Great Britain. Tank corps and armies were not created, however, different stages The war involved army corps, which included 2-3 armored divisions.

We continue to acquaint you with the whole variety of armored vehicles that can be found in Armored Warfare: Project Armata. Today we will talk about British tanks from the Cold War to the present day.

The Second World War firmly established the role of the tank as the basis of an independent branch of the armed forces, but it also made its weaknesses obvious. Among the military leadership of the world powers, voices were heard claiming that the tank as a type of weapon was outdated, but no one was in a hurry to hand over the armored monsters for scrap. Let the war end, but it was too early to talk about peace: World War II was replaced by cold war, threatening to develop into a nuclear one, and tanks were preparing a key role in it. In addition to formidable weapons, they have become a sign of military presence, an impressive symbol of military power. To have your own tank and not depend on the allies has always been a matter of prestige for the great powers. Tank building continued to develop - but in each country in its own way.

The Ministry of Defense hostilely accepted the idea of ​​a "universal" tank, and only in last years war, it gradually gained recognition and began to be put into practice. And after the end of World War II, the British army reduced the tank forces to one division, placing it in Germany as an unambiguous hint Soviet Union. By this time, the shortcomings of the British military doctrine, which strictly divided tanks into "infantry" and "cruising", which led to a cripplingly narrow specialization.

"Centurions" in the Negev desert. Photo by Fritz Cohen (1913-1981); licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The main tank of the British army was the Centurion, put into service in 1946. He brilliantly showed himself in the Korean War of 1950-1953. His fighting qualities were valued so highly that in different time he was in service 20 various countries who bought it directly or, like Denmark and the Netherlands, received it under the American military aid. More than half of the 4423 tanks produced were exported. Discontinued in 1962, in some places it is still in service, if not the Centurion itself, then its derivatives, for example, the South African Olifant.

African "Oliphant", the younger brother of the British "Centurion".Photo by Danie van der Merwe; licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

In Britain itself, since 1966, the Centurion has been replaced by the Chieftain, a tank that is innovative in many ways. So, for the first time in the history of tank building, the driver was reclining, which made it possible to significantly reduce the height of the hull in the front and at the same time increase the slope of the frontal armor. The engine, based on the German aviation "Junkers Humo", was adapted to work on various types fuel, from gasoline to diesel, a feature that has become a mandatory standard for NATO military equipment.

"Chieften". Photo by Peeteekayy; licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

In parallel with the Chieftain, another, much more unusual armored vehicle was being developed. So, in the 60s, as part of the Project Prodigial program, a prototype of the FV4401 Contentious tank destroyer was created. Ultralight, with a team of two, it was designed for air delivery and parachuting into the conflict zone. To lighten the car, the designers got rid of the tower. The 84-mm gun, placed directly in the hull, had an extremely limited horizontal angle and zero vertical aiming angle: the gun was supposed to be guided vertically using a hydraulic suspension, tilting it along with the hull.

Prototype FV4401 Contentious.Photo by Simon Q from United Kingdom; licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Another experimental vehicle, COMRES 75, was created as part of the Anglo-German project "Main Battle Tank of the Future" and also did not have a turret: the gun was mounted on an external carriage, which reduced the weight of the vehicle and increased the crew's security. Interest in turretless tanks was sparked by the Swedish Stridsvagn 103 - a vehicle with a unique layout, whose gun, rigidly fixed in the hull, was induced, like the Contentious, by turning the tank and tilting the hull on the suspension. In the end, however, the command of the British Army spoke out against turretless tanks, preferring the classic layout of armored vehicles.

Experimental COMRES 75 with an 83.8 mm cannon on an outrigger carriage.Crown copyright 1968

Until the end of the 70s, the Chieftain remained the leader among NATO tanks both in terms of security and firepower. This was facilitated by continuous modernization. Although it was not possible to noticeably improve the instrument itself, despite hard work. The combat power of the tank has grown significantly due to the modernization of fire control systems: the tank received a laser rangefinder, an electronic ballistic computer, night vision devices, and a sight alignment system. Work was also underway to improve the armor: the tank was equipped with combined Chobham armor with ceramic inserts. The upgraded model of the Chieftain, released in 1980, was called the Challenger. In parallel, Britain produced an export version of the Shir tank for Jordan, where it was put into service under the name Khalid.

In 1998, he entered service with the British Army. new tank- "Challenger 2", equipped with an improved 120-mm rifled gun (this is the only modern MBT with a rifled gun) and a secret combined armor of the new generation "Dorchester" with the possibility of installing additional anti-cumulative screens. All this could not but affect the mass and mobility of the tank: the 62-ton Challenger 2 is developing on the highway top speed 56 km/h.

Crown Copyright 2014

"Challenger 2" performed well during Iraqi war, demonstrating excellent cross-country ability and phenomenal survivability: in 2003, during an urban battle, one of these tanks withstood a dozen and a half hits from rocket-propelled grenade launchers, keeping the crew unscathed. In the battle near Basra, a group of 14 Challengers destroyed an equal Iraqi T-55 column without a single loss. To date, the Challenger 2 remains one of the heaviest and most protected tanks in the world. However, in 2009, BAE Systems Corporation, which produced it, announced that it was phasing out Challenger production and closing factories in Britain due to a lack of orders. Perhaps, when the time comes to rearm, the British army will have to master German or American armored vehicles.

That's all for today. Similar reviews will be published soon. military equipment France and Germany.

The pioneers in world tank building are the British, for this we must thank W. Churchill. As you know, it quickly developed into a positional war. To give it at least some dynamics, in October 1914, the Secretary of the Defense Committee, Colonel E. Swinton proposed to create an armored tracked vehicle that could break through defense lines: cross trenches, trenches and barbed wire. The Minister of War did not react to the idea in any way, but the First Lord of the Admiralty (Naval Minister) W. Churchill supported the idea, and after some time the Land Ships Committee was created under the Naval Department.

The history of the development of British tanks by models

The commander of the British troops in France, General J. French, impressed by the unfolding battles, formulated the basic requirements for the "land dreadnought":

• Relatively small dimensions.
• Bulletproof armor.
• Caterpillar mover.
• Ability to overcome funnels up to 4 m and wire fences.
• Speed ​​not less than 4 km/h.
• The presence of a cannon and two machine guns.

In fact, these were the world's first requirements for the characteristics of tanks. And in January 1916, the committee presented the world's first tank capable of taking part in battles. So with light hand Churchill began tank building in Britain, and a few years later all over the world.

The first tanks were created solely to break through the defenses and suppress enemy machine guns, which was facilitated by special shape corps. It was a parallelogram with tracks along the outer contour to overcome vertical obstacles. It was like that.

Even after tangible successes from tanks in battle, the British military leadership considered their use to be of little promise, and only thanks to the real successes of the high-speed French Renaults, the idea of ​​​​mass production of tanks captured the minds of military leaders. J. Fuller, later a well-known tank theorist, for example, advocated the mass creation of high-speed tanks.

English tanks of the First World War

There were several tank qualifications in the British forces of that time.

The first is weight: up to 10 tons - light, from 10-20 tons medium and about 30 tons heavy. As you know, preference was given mainly to heavy tanks.

The second qualification concerns weapons: tanks with exclusively machine-gun armament were called "females", with guns - "males". After the first oncoming battles with German tanks, which showed the failure of machine gun models, a combined type with cannons and machine guns, such tanks were called "hermaphrodites".

As for the doctrine of the use of tanks in battle, then the opinions of the military were divided into two halves. One half wanted to create and use purely "infantry" tanks, the second "cruising".

Infantry type - used for close support of infantry, had low mobility and was well armored.

The cruising type is a kind of "armored cavalry", quite fast, and in comparison with the infantry, lightly armored. On their shoulders, together with the cavalry, fell the task of quickly breaking through the defense, girths and raids on the rear of the enemy. The armament of both types was the same, mostly machine guns.

This concept of using tanks from the British survived until the start of World War II. If you delve deeper into it, you can see that tanks play an auxiliary role, the main tasks are solved by cavalry and infantry.

Until the end of World War I in England, after the heavy MK-I, its modifications were produced up to Mk VI and Mk IX and medium ones: Mk A (unofficially "Whippet"), Mk B and Mk C.

Of course, the quality of the first production tanks was pretty low.

in diaries German soldiers and there are many interesting facts in the official reports. For example, due to the gas content inside the tanks, there were frequent cases of strangulation of the entire crew. Through the primitiveness of the suspension, the tanks created such a rumble that, in order to mask the movement of tank units, the British accompanied them with artillery cannonade. Because of the narrow tracks, there were cases when the tanks got muddy in the ground right in front of the enemy trenches.

One case speaks about security.

In November 1917, in the battles near Cambrai, on the outskirts of the village of Flesquières, one German officer remained at the cannon abandoned by the servants; English tanks.

It seemed that even then it was necessary to think about strengthening the reservation, but not one of the tank manufacturers did this until the conflict in Spain.

Be that as it may, the British gave their tanks new round waging wars, they moved them to other speeds. Until the end of the war, they were the first in the world to create amphibious tanks and communication tanks.

Tanks between the great wars

England finished World War I as the leader in tank building, but very soon all the advantages came to naught.

Firstly, due to the fact that the types of tanks and their use were strictly separated: the British continued to build "infantry" and "cruising" types.

Secondly, due to its geographical location, the command gave priority to the development of the fleet, rather than the land army.

The implementation of one of the tactical ideas of J. Fuller, by the way, almost all countries “got sick” with it, was the creation of mechanized infantry. For these purposes, the Cardin-Lloyd MkVI tankette was ideal. She, in her mass, according to the plan of the strategist, was supposed to play the role of an "armored skirmisher". Despite the fact that the tankette did not receive recognition in its homeland, although reconnaissance tanks and tractors, it was purchased by 16 countries, and Poland, Italy, France, Czechoslovakia and Japan acquired licenses for their production. In the USSR, it was produced as the T-27.

Another tank that was not appreciated by compatriots was the Vickers - 6 tons. In world tank building, he played no less a role than Renault FT at one time. Lightweight and cheap to manufacture, with a machine gun in one turret and a cannon in the other, it was the epitome of the idea of ​​World War I tanks: machine gun tanks act against manpower, while cannon tanks support them.

Among the tanks put into service in the late 20s and early 30s were:

• medium Mk I "Vickers-12 tons",
• heavy A1E1 "Independent",
• various modifications of the Vickers-Karden-Loyd Mk VII and Mk VIII.

In anticipation of a big war, headquarters ground forces back in the late 20s, insisted on the creation and production of infantry tanks, but due to the economic crisis in the country, funding was not allocated.
After the conflict in Spain and the Italian attack on Ethiopia, the British leadership, anticipating the approach of the "big conflict" and understanding the inconsistencies in the time of the technology they had previously created, in urgently finances the creation and production of new tanks.

Appear: “cruising Mk I (A9), Mk II (A10), Mk III, Mk IV and Mk VI Crusader (A15).

Mk IV and Mk VI implemented on the well-known wheel-tracked base of the American inventor Christie, but using one propulsion unit.

In 1939, the production of the first (!) Tank with anti-shell armor began - the infantry A11 Mk I Matilda, later another tank would be called this name. The speed of 13 km / h and machine gun armament made him a laughingstock. In general, during the period between the "great" wars, the designers of England created more than 50 real models of tanks, 10 of which were put into service.

British tanks of World War II

At the time of the start, the armored vehicles of England were noticeably outdated. Neither in quality nor quantity could it equal the technology of the USSR and Germany. The total number of all tanks in the army of England was about 1000 pieces, in a larger mass of light ones. The lion's share of which was lost in the battles for France.

During the war, British manufacturers were never able to satisfy the demands of the army, for the period 1939-1945 only 25 thousand units of armored vehicles were produced, the same amount came from the USA and Canada.

All new technology was rather mediocre, she was one step behind the German and Russian.

Mostly cruising and infantry tanks were produced, and a small number of light airborne ones.

After the famous post-war phrase of Churchill, the tanks of the whole world joined the arms race, and their development, in general, is similar to each other. Conqueror is being created to counter our IS. After the adoption in the world of the concept of the main battle tank released "Chieften". The third generation tank in England is the Challenger.

In addition to the main long break, in 1972 they began to produce light tanks "Scorpion".

TANK VICKERS MARK E

This light tank, also known as the "Vickers-six-ton", is an exceptional case in the history of tanks, since it was a development private company. Between 1920 and 1933, the best strategists of the most powerful powers thought carefully about the lessons of the First World War. The appearance of armored tanks on the battlefield completely turned the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe usual battle tactics used before. In addition, countries that did not develop this type of weapon between the wars risked losing very soon. The conclusions from the lessons learned from the First World War were obvious: countries capable of creating worthy armored troops, had to invest in research and development, as well as in the creation of a system for the production of armored vehicles. But in 1920, the production of tanks was very expensive. People survived a four-year bloody war, a period of disarmament began, the state public finance in different countries was depressing. Military budgets were insignificant, and the need for weapons immediately fell into the zone special attention in case of mass production order. The defense industry was looking for ways to develop inexpensive but reliable weapons and equipment without attracting attention. The British company Vickers-Armstrong took a big risk when, on its own initiative, it decided to design a new tank without any ministerial support and without an advance payment for development costs. The famous engineers and tank designers John Valentine Cardin and Vivian Lloyd took up the development of the "six-ton ​​tank". An experimental model appeared in 1928 and received the name "Mark E". The car seemed impressive: the thickness of the frontal armor was 25 mm, and on the tower, in the rear and on the sides - 19 mm; gasoline engine power 98 l. With.; excellent tracks, on which the tank could travel up to 5000 km. Two versions of the Vickers Mark E tanks were produced: model "A" with two turrets, each of which was equipped with a Vickers machine gun, and model "B" with one double turret equipped with a 47-mm cannon and one machine gun. But after various stages of testing, in the end, the British army abandoned the tank due to the insufficient reliability of the suspension. Although the hopes of the Vickers company did not materialize, she did not leave her project and tried her luck on the international market. This decision paid off. In the late 1920s, the Vickers tank became the main weapon of many tank armies in Europe and around the world. These tanks were in service with the armies of Bolivia, Bulgaria, China, Greece, Finland, Portugal and Thailand. In addition, the light tank was quickly copied by foreign engineers. The characteristics of the tank made such a deep impression on the Soviet military that they bought a license from the Vickers company to produce their own version - the T-26 tank, which was slightly different in armament and armor. In the period from 1931 to 1941, from the conveyors of Soviet factories at least 12 T-26 LLC of all modifications left.

The symbol of British tank building in the years between the two world wars was the heavy five-turret tank A T Independent. This machine became the object of close attention of specialists from many countries and, no doubt, served as a prototype for the creation of the Soviet heavy tank T-35 and German Nb.Fz

As you know, the British began building tanks during the First World War. By the end of it, they had numerous and institutionalized tank troops - the Royal Armored Corps (RAC) - the Royal Tank Corps.

In the next 20 years, British tank building was almost at the "freezing point". There were several reasons for this. First of all, in the UK, a discussion has dragged on about the role and place of tanks in modern war. The uncertainty on this issue among the military hampered the development of appropriate tactical and technical requirements and the issuance of orders to industry. Played my part and geographical feature states - the British were not going to attack anyone, but they had a real enemy in Europe for a long time did not have.
This situation led to the fact that during this period of time the British industry produced only a few hundred tanks, the design of which can hardly be called innovative. The most interesting ideas their creators either embodied in prototypes and experimental models that remained unclaimed, or simply did not find application in their homeland.

The end of the disputes in the USSR and Germany about the role of tanks and the mass deployment that followed tank troops in these countries forced the British military to come out of hibernation. Starting around 1934, the development of armored vehicles in the UK intensified dramatically.

By this time, the views of the military leadership on tactical application tanks. In accordance with them in England, tanks were divided into three classes: light, infantry and cruising. Moreover, the concept of cruising tanks was formed later than others. At first, their functions were to be performed by the lungs. combat vehicles- fast and agile. The main task of the infantry tanks was the direct support of the infantry on the battlefield. These vehicles had limited speed and powerful armor. Sometimes it reached the point of absurdity: the gearbox of the Matilda I infantry tank, for example, had only one speed - it was believed that this was enough.

In 1936, the British considered it sufficient to arm tanks only with machine guns. Common sense, however, soon triumphed, and first a 2-pound gun appeared on cruising, and then on infantry vehicles. Its capabilities, however, were very limited - there were no high-explosive fragmentation shells in the ammunition load.

The Dunkirk disaster forced the British to reconsider their views somewhat. Light tanks were now assigned only reconnaissance functions, and even then they were gradually transferred to armored vehicles during the war. The role of infantry tanks, the only ones that proved themselves well in battles on the continent, remained practically unchanged, and efforts to improve them were reduced to increasing the power of weapons and armor protection.

At the same time, unfolding fighting in North Africa revealed the huge need of the army for a reliable and full-fledged tank for independent armored formations. HVi, one of the cruiser tanks then in service with the British Army, did not fully meet these requirements. One can only be surprised that a country that built excellent ships, aircraft and cars could not achieve the necessary operational reliability of tank engines and chassis components for several years. The British were able to resolve these issues only by 1944. By this time, the importance of infantry tanks and their share in tank units. The cruising tank, on the other hand, was increasingly acquiring the features of a universal one. Shortly after the end of World War II, the British abandoned the division of tanks into classes according to their purpose.

For the 1940s, the design and assembly technology of British tanks cannot be considered progressive. Hulls and turrets (if the latter were not cast in one piece) were assembled using bolts on frames or using a frameless method ("Valentine"). Welding was used extremely limited. Armor plates, as a rule, were located vertically, without any angles of inclination. British tanks, especially in the second half of the war, could not compete with German tanks either in terms of armor protection or firepower.

Lagged behind the real needs and the pace of tank production on the eve and during the Second World War. For example, by December 1938, the industry was supposed to supply the army with more than 600 cruising and about 370 infantry tanks. However, only 30 of the first were produced, and 60 of the second. A year later, only 314 tanks of all types entered the army. As a result, Britain entered the war with just over 600 tanks, of which more than half were light. In total, during the war years, the British produced 25,116 tanks, about 4,000 self-propelled guns and SPAAGs. Moreover, a significant part of the latter was manufactured using the chassis of obsolete and decommissioned vehicles. Speaking about the production of tanks in the United Kingdom, it should be borne in mind that a significant part of the combat vehicles produced during the war period never made it to the front" and was used for training purposes.