Churchill Infantry Tank

by David Fletcher, Henry Morshead (Illustrator)

Overview

David Fletcher's history of the most important British-made tank of World War II.

The NVG covers all seven Marks of Churchill gun tank with variations and the curious self-propelled gun of 1941/42, but not the so-called "Funnies" or the armored recovery vehicle variants.

It will begin with the prototype tank A20, which has not been covered in any detail before, then go on to look at all seven Marks of Churchill, in particular their different guns. The book will also look at the tank's service in Russia and later with the Irish, Jordanian and Australian Armies. It will also feature the disastrous Dieppe raid of August 1942, ending with a brief look at the Black Prince or super Churchill which was only developed up to the prototype stage at the end of World War II.


The Churchill is an interesting tank, quite different from any other British tank of World War II, built outside the normal process of British tanks and the Department of Tank Design. It was built under the watchful eye of the Prime Minister, after whom it was named, by a firm with no previous experience of tank production. Despite being condemned as unsuitable and more than once being scheduled to be replaced by a better design this never actually happened. It remained in production and ultimately vindicated itself since, although it was slow and noisy it was found to have superior climbing ability and thicker frontal armor than the vaunted German Tiger.


Its classification as an Infantry Tank has been extensively criticised although recently one or two authors, notably Americans, seem to have revised their views on this and even Field Marshal Montgomery, who advocated a Universal Tank to fulfil all roles, found the Churchill a useful tank on many occasions, particularly considering its ability to absorb punishment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472837349
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	08/20/2019
Series:	New Vanguard , #272
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

David Fletcher MBE was born in 1942. He has written many books and articles on military subjects and until his retirement was the historian at the Tank Museum, Bovington, UK. He has spent over 40 years studying the development of British armored vehicles during the two World Wars and in 2012 was awarded an MBE for services to the history of armored warfare.

Table of Contents

A20 Char de Fortresse Heavy Tank 4

The birth of the Churchill

The Churchill Tank Mark I (A22) and Mark II (A22A) 12

A22B: The Churchill Tank Mark III 18

Dieppe

Kingforce and Tunisia

The rework programme

A22C: The Churchill Marks IV and V with Cast Turrets 26

The 75mm gun in Churchill tanks

A22D: The Churchill 3in Gun Carrier 29

A22E: The Churchill Mark VI 34

A22F: The Churchill Marks VII and VIII 37

Churchill Marks IX, X and XI 44

A43 Black Prince 45

Index 48