Sentinal: External Fuel Tank

I seen picutres of a Sentinal tank with an external fuel tank. The questions I have are in WWII did they use external fuel tanks on teh sentinal? If so could they and would they take it off when entering combat? If so could you assume the Russians had similair approach with external fuel tanks on their tank?
Edit: http://www.armourinfocus.co.uk/sentinel/index.htm
added link to the place I seen the pic.

 

I imagine they would have surely jettisoned the external fuel tanks if they were entering combat. This was standard practise for Russian tankers. One of the last things any crew wanted was to have a giant molotov cocktail explode on their rear end.

 

These British guys picked the wrong name for this tank. The word Setinel is supposed to describe something powerful, and yet now it;s being used to talk about a tank armed with only a 2 pdr gun and protected by only 40-60mm or so of armor.

 

The Sentinel had pretty much the same quick-release setup as used on the Crusader (to which it owes a great deal), Valentine, Matilda etc. It's around a 40 imp. gallon tank (I think) that can be dropped with out leaving the tank. I'm not too sure how it works, probably some sort of siphon that tops of the main tanks so the drop tank is emptied first. If you go to the AWM site http://www.awm.gov.au/ and click on "Search our collections" there are several good photos of the Australian Cruisers, most without the external tank, the Sentinel had a fairly good range even on just it's internal tanks.

Blaster, the Sentinel is Australian not British, and a Sentinel is simply "One that keeps guard; a sentry." which is fitting as it was in part to guard Australia from possible Japanese raids or invasion. Or at least that's what they thought at the time. And for a 1940 design 30mph, 65mm or armour and a 2 pounder gun is pretty respectable, especially for a country with no experience with tank production, and not even an automobile industry.

 

Gryle, you hit the nail on the head. Blaster, start doing some research before saying things like that. There was also a version armed with the 17 pdr FYI, a fabulous gun.