Author Topic: British AFV question (NOT an AH request) (Read 520 times)

Treize69 · « **on:** February 24, 2008, 08:33:37 AM »

Does anyone know of a list of British names for tanks, or a list of the different marks of Cruiser, Infantry, and Light tanks they used and what they were called (preferably with info on them)? Or a good online resource for the British Tanks of WWII?

I'm reading through Churchill's 5-volume series on the war, and its getting maddeningly frustrating that he keeps only referring to the tanks used in battle as "Infantry" "Cruiser" and "Light" tanks, occasionally with a mark number (like "Cruiser Mk.VI") and no other info on them. Its rather hard to visualise the massive tank battles of the Middle East, Greece, Crete, etc. (I'm not even up to the end of 1941 yet) without knowing which AFVs hes talking about! He refers to aircraft by their nickname, constantly talks about the ships and describes and explains them, but gives no explanation of the AFVs used, their sizes or armaments, etc. Its irritating.

And the internet isn't really helping, I just Googled "Cruiser Tank Mark IV" and got returns on the Cromwell, Matilda, Churchill, Sentinel, Crusader, and the WWI Mark IV tank. Oh, and just as many hits on Jaguars- not the tank, the car.

MiloMorai · « **Reply #1 on:** February 24, 2008, 08:43:41 AM »

Is this of some help?
http://www.onwar.com/tanks/uk/index.htm

ps http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/1975/g_tnkuk.htm

Neil Stirling · « **Reply #2 on:** February 24, 2008, 09:02:29 AM »

Or here http://www.wwiiequipment.com/default.aspx

Neil.

E25280 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 24, 2008, 12:34:35 PM »

Generally speaking, the Brit references to cruiser vs. infantry tanks are what most others would refer to as medium vs. heavy tanks, i.e. Light, Medium, Heavy = Light, Cruiser, Infantry.

Churchill likely had no idea what the differences were in any of the tanks, and the Brit "Mark-everything" designations are to me on par with the US "M-everything" designations, and often equally useless.

Try http://www.tarrif.net/cgi/production/all_vehicles_adv.php . Someone posted it on these boards a while back, and I have found it to be a great "one-stop-shop" for most of the common vehicles used in WWII.

B3YT · « **Reply #4 on:** February 24, 2008, 01:09:31 PM »

*taps fore head*
we brits don't "Mk" every thing like the US prefix "M" .
Mk. is used for a sub catigory of a vehicle. E.g The challnger tank Mk.I was the first production model the Challenger Mk.II is the secound production model with upgrades at production level.
we tend to use names more than a prefix .
example offical name for the Churchill tank was erm....the churchill tank. That came in 7 diffrent Mk's for diffrent load outs and armour and engine ratings.

P.S churchill would have know exactly what tanks were fighting as he was in the armed forces before politics, he liked to know what his men wer flying/driving as much as they did,

humble · « **Reply #5 on:** February 24, 2008, 07:34:23 PM »

You'll need a seperate reference for most of the campaigns. Sounds like your getting a "big picture" overview. Just looking at North Africa its almost impossible to know whats being used where...The crusader, valentine and Matilda were all used around the same time in various configuration along with the lendlease Grant. In addition the 7th armoured was still using the earlier cruiser mkIII (A13's) in north africa.

Treize69 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 24, 2008, 08:10:58 PM »

Yeah, great books, but that part of it is extremely aggrevating. As I'm reading through them, I keep thinking that they need to publish a newer edition for those of us who hadn't lived through the era and had all that stuff fresh in our ninds (the first book was published in '48). You know, footnotes and a few photos showing the people and equipment he talks about. I'm sure the people reading them when they were new, especially in Britain, would have known what he was talking about, but for those of us from two generations later, some of the stuff he refers to and talks about are pretty obscure.

E25280 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 24, 2008, 10:31:29 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by B3YT
*taps fore head*
we brits don't "Mk" every thing like the US prefix "M" .
Mk. is used for a sub catigory of a vehicle. E.g The challnger tank Mk.I was the first production model the Challenger Mk.II is the secound production model with upgrades at production level.
we tend to use names more than a prefix .
example offical name for the Churchill tank was erm....the churchill tank. That came in 7 diffrent Mk's for diffrent load outs and armour and engine ratings.

P.S churchill would have know exactly what tanks were fighting as he was in the armed forces before politics, he liked to know what his men wer flying/driving as much as they did,

To use your example, the churchill tanks were also called infantry tank mark IV, which may confuse someone who is not familiar with British designations. If the book says infantry tank mark IV one place and Churchill mark III in a different place, the reader may not realize both passages could be referring to the same tank.

You also make reference to a Challenger . . . which was a cruiser tank, and very well may be referred to as such in Treize's book (I don't know, I am going by the confusion evidenced in his original post).