Early Tanks of the North African Campaign

Now largely forgotten, Medium Tank Mk.II was actually used in combat at Mersa Matruh and Tobruk. Not the most impressive tank with its 3pdr gun and 8mm of armour.





The Cruiser Tanks Mk.I and Mk.II ( A9 and A10 ). The lineage to the Valentine is obvious. Both saw service in the Western Desert well into 1941. Both armed with the 2pdr. Armour thickness : 6-14mm ( A9 ) and 6-30mm ( A10 ).

Cruiser Tank Mk.I ( A9 ) :



Cruiser Tank Mk.II ( A10 ) :



Pictures are from the website TANKS! http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/

 

Weren't they mostly dug in & used as pillboxes?

 

Perhaps, but my source ( "British and American Tanks of World War Two" by Chamberlain/Ellis ) presents them as "training vehicles from Egypt pressed into service to make up front line strenght".

 

I thought the Bright Idea suspension was invented specifically for the Valentine. Surprise surprise!

 

No, that suspension pre dates the Valentine.

I have always had a soft spot for those early cruisers. I think they look great even though they perfomed poorly on the whole.

The Vickers Medium is an interesting beast, good to see it getting some "daylight"

Any info on the performance/ammunition of the 3pdr would be good. I don't even know what calibre it was.

 

I couldn´t agree with you more, David.

I wondered about that one myself. I´m not sure, but I think it is a 47mm gun. Vickers produced some 47mm guns for their 6-ton tank, but I don´t know if it´s the same.

 

The 3 pdr was a 47mm, it was available in two barrel lengths and the better of them (L40) fired a 3.25 lb APHE shell at 1,840 fps (1.47 kg at 560 m/s). It was capable of penetrating 25mm/1,000 yards/60 degrees.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and Discussion forum

 

Now largely forgotten, Medium Tank Mk.II was actually used in combat at Mersa Matruh and Tobruk. Not the most impressive tank with its 3pdr gun and 8mm of armour.
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Skua, consider what the other side had to oppose the Medium Mk. II: ..L.3s and M11/39.... it could probably do very well against those tin cans..It all depends on the circumstances-In the Pacific the M3 "Stuart" proved a tough nut to crack for the Japanese..

P.S.: great pictures.by the way..

 

There was one a few miles west of where I live. In a cove known as Arish Mell. It was put there in 1940 at the height of the invasion threat.

 

Hello.
One of the Medium Tank Mk.II used in Tobrouk,maybe as mobile pillbox.

 

They were certainly still being used for training at Caterick in the early war years. I think Maj Gen Percy Hobart's forces in Egypt also used them for training in the late 30s but they must have been pretty worn out by the Western desert campaigns. From what I remember the 3pdr/47mm tank gun was inferior to the 2pdr in armour penetration, despite the former's larger calibre.

Captured Italian tanks were used by Commonwealth forces in the desert. There hasn't been much interest in Italian tanks (probably because they were inferior to most allied tanks and not as 'sexy' as Panzers). Does anyone know of any accounts of Italian tanks in action?

 

There are some reports about a visit by the US Ordnance expert, cnel Jarret to North Africa-c. 1942 reportedly he salvaged some Italian L.3s tankettes from an 8th Army captured weapons dump and these were used in perimeter patrol around British camps ...that's all l know on the subject-

 

Hello.
Some Italian M11/39 and M13/40 were used by the 6th Australian Cavalry for the defense of Tobruk in April 1941.
On this pictures a group of these Australian M11/39 and in third place a M13/40.

 

Great photo, understated Ausie markings!

 

Beats the hell out of getting shelled by 25Pdrs!!

 

I can't imagine any captured tanks had a very long life span. First major break down and they were junk. Unless you captured enough to make producing spare parts worth the bother or had enough to cannibalize a few into service.

 

Plus you had to stick HUGE recognition markings on.
If you do not have them, your own side shoot you!
If you do have them, the enemy can see you better!

 

Here's a desert oddity that I came across while looking for something else. A prize of smug satisfaction to anyone who can identify it.

 

A modest topic on captured tanks:
http://www.fun-online.sk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=945

 

Hello shearwater, it is a Australian Carrier 2 pdr Tanck Attack
A Carrier with a lengthened chassis and with the engine moved from the center to the left front.