21.09.2019
UK tanks. Tanks of Britain World Of Tanks. British tanks: an overview
Tanks of England
The development of British armored vehicles in the pre-war years was reflected in the conflict 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 must 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 capitulate, they insisted on the creation of “cruising” tanks - lightly armored, with increased speeds and with 40 mm caliber guns. To test their views on a future war, they achieved the creation of the first experimental mechanized unit in the British armed forces in 1927.
There was also a group of influential military men who relied on the headquarters ground forces England, who believed that the main purpose of tanks was direct support for advancing infantry. For this purpose, low-speed, heavily armored tanks with 40-75 mm caliber guns are used - the so-called “infantry” tanks. As a compromise, it was decided to have both cruiser and infantry tanks in service. Infantry tanks included tanks such as "Matilda", "Valentine" and "Churchill", and cruiser tanks - "Crusider", "Cromwell", "Comet". Thus, the inseparable combat qualities of a tank are armor protection and mobility were artificially divided between two types of machines. The fallacy of this concept was revealed quite quickly during the fighting, but during the war the British designers failed to create a single tank capable of performing direct infantry support tasks and operating as part of armored formations. That's why best tank English army became the American M4 Sherman.
Light tanks created in England before the war quickly disappeared from the battlefields, as their armor and weapons turned out to be unsatisfactory. Therefore, the British army widely used American light tanks M3 and M5. In 1943, production of its own light tank"Tetrarch", however, his combat characteristics were below specifications 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, produced by the English industry, was small and amounted to approximately 800 machines.
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 units based on tanks and cars;
- widespread use of the chassis of obsolete light tanks to create armored personnel carriers;
- the creation and widespread use of armored vehicles;
- use of outdated design solutions and technological methods: vertical arrangement armor plates, frame construction of tanks, connecting armor plates with bolts and rivets, the use of mainly carburetor engines, etc.
In total, during the Second World War, 25,116 tanks were produced in England, another 23,246 tanks and self-propelled guns came from the USA and Canada. The formation of armored formations in England occurred rather slowly. 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 regiments, as well as two motorcycle and rifle battalions, an artillery and a mixed anti-aircraft and anti-tank regiment. The division had about 300 tanks, but practically no motorized infantry. In addition, the division structure turned out to be cumbersome and did not allow for prompt command of units during the battle. Therefore, at the end of 1942, the divisions were reorganized. One armored brigade was excluded from them, but a motorized infantry brigade was introduced, there were two artillery regiments, a regiment was introduced anti-tank artillery. The 1942 model division consisted of 18 thousand personnel, 344 tanks and more than 150 guns.
For joint action with infantry divisions Separate armored brigades were formed consisting 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, but army corps, which included 2-3 armored divisions, participated at different stages of the war.
We continue to introduce you to 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 military, but it also made its weaknesses obvious. Among the military leadership of world powers, voices were heard claiming that the tank as a type of weapon was outdated, but no one was in a hurry to scrap the armored monsters. The war may have ended, 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 expected to play a key role in it. In addition to being a formidable weapon, they turned into a sign of military presence, an impressive symbol military power. Having your own tank and not depending on your 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 was hostile to the idea of a “universal” tank, and only last years During the war, it gradually gained recognition and began to be implemented. And after the end of World War II, the British Army reduced its 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.
Main tank british army became the Centurion, put into service in 1946. He showed himself brilliantly in the Korean War of 1950-1953. His fighting qualities were valued so highly that different time it was in service on 20 various countries who bought it directly or, like Denmark and the Netherlands, received it as part of the American military assistance. 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 Oliphant.
African "Oliphant" younger brother 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 respects. Thus, for the first time in the history of tank building, the driver was positioned in a reclining position, which made it possible to significantly reduce the height of the hull in the front part and at the same time increase the slope of the frontal armor. The engine, based on the German aircraft Junkers Jumo, was adapted to operate on various types fuels, from gasoline to diesel, a feature that has become a mandatory standard for NATO military equipment.
"Chieftain". 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. Thus, in the 60s, as part of the Project Prodigial program, a prototype of the FV4401 Contentious tank destroyer was created. Ultralight, with a crew of two, it was designed for air delivery and parachute into a conflict zone. To make the car lighter, the designers got rid of the turret. The 84-mm gun, located directly in the hull, had an extremely limited horizontal angle and zero vertical aiming angle: the gun was supposed to be aimed vertically using a hydraulic suspension, tilting it along with the hull.
FV4401 Contentious prototype.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 protection of the crew. Interest in turretless tanks was spurred by the Swedish Stridsvagn 103 - a vehicle with a unique layout, whose gun, rigidly mounted in the hull, was aimed, 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 a remote carriage.Crown copyright 1968
Until the end of the 70s, the Chieftain remained the leader among NATO tanks both in terms of protection and firepower. This was facilitated by continuous modernization. Although, despite hard work, it was not possible to significantly improve the weapon itself. The tank's combat power has increased noticeably thanks to the modernization of fire control systems: the tank received a laser range finder, an electronic ballistic computer, night vision devices, and a sight alignment system. Work was also carried out to improve the armor: the tank was equipped with Chobham combined armor with ceramic inserts. The modernized 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, it 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 the secret new generation Dorchester combined armor with the ability to install additional anti-cumulative shields. All this could not but affect the weight and mobility of the tank: the 62-ton Challenger 2 develops on the highway maximum speed 56 km/h.
Crown copyright 2014
“Challenger 2” performed well during the Iraq War, demonstrating excellent maneuverability and phenomenal survivability: in 2003, during an urban battle, one of these tanks withstood a dozen hits from rocket-propelled grenade launchers, keeping the crew unharmed. In the battle near Basra, a group of 14 Challengers destroyed an equal column of Iraqi T-55s without a single loss. To date, Challenger 2 remains one of the heaviest and most protected tanks in the world. However, in 2009, the corporation that produced it, BAE Systems, announced that it was curtailing 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.
Defeats in Europe and the disaster at Dunkirk
Before the start of the German offensive in the West, the British had 12 divisions and over 500 tanks in France, 9 of these 15 divisions were located in Belgium as part of the joint Anglo-French North-Eastern Front, which was supposed to cover this direction from a possible German attack. The English Expeditionary Force in France was armed with Matilda (Mark II), Cruiser (Mark IIA) and Cruiser (Mark IIIA) tanks armed with 40mm guns, more than half of which had excellent armor for 1940 and were difficult to hit by German tank guns. In addition, do not forget that many German tanks in the French campaign were still armed only with a machine gun (Pz.I and Pz.II)..jpg)
The French also had an impressive tank fleet (more than 3,000 vehicles) - among which were the Somua medium and B1 heavy tanks. Their armor and armament were also not inferior to the German ones. The only thing in which the Anglo-French tanks were inferior to the German ones was speed. As for tactics, operational leadership, crew training and the will to win, in this the Germans clearly prevailed over the Allies. On May 10, 1940, German troops began a rapid advance through Belgium. The attack of the German mobile formations was aimed at bypassing the French Maginot Line. The coordinated actions of German tanks, aviation, artillery and infantry led to the defeat and surrender of the Dutch army on May 14. After which the Germans quickly crossed the Meuse River and their tank groups rushed to the west. On May 21, they reached the English Channel and were surrounded by over 50 Anglo-French divisions in the Dunkirk area. The defeated Belgian army also surrendered on May 28. Having suffered heavy losses and abandoned all remaining equipment to the enemy, the Anglo-French troops evacuated to England in early June. See also:
British tanks in Africa
Initially, in Africa, the British were opposed by parts of the Italian army, the technical equipment of which left much to be desired - all Italian combat vehicles inferior to English models. When the first offensive of British troops in Africa against the Italian aggressors began in December 1940, the superiority of the British in technology made itself felt - the Italians retreated until the German command, which decided to help its ally, transferred a corps to Africa under the command of General Rommel. The counterattack of this corps, which has initial stage there were only 120 tanks, drove the British back to the Egyptian border and surrounded their base in Tobruk.
In November 1941, the British launched a retaliatory offensive, the goal of which was nothing less than the defeat of Rommel's entire tank group and a decisive turning point in the African campaign. Having twice more tanks than the enemy, the British failed to carry out their grandiose plan. Rommel maneuvered his tank formations, regrouped the scattered units and threw them into battle again, preventing the British from achieving a decisive advantage. Nevertheless, the Italo-German troops had to retreat further and further. In May 1942, Rommel decided to launch a powerful counterattack with all available forces, despite the lack of fuel and ammunition. The British command had approximately 900 tanks, which meant an almost threefold superiority over Rommel's advancing troops. Nevertheless, success initially accompanied Germany. Only at El Alamein was the German offensive decisively stopped. The German losses were enormous, Rommel had only about 50 tanks left, but despite critical situation With supplies, the Germans resisted for a long time. The British force in Africa was constantly growing, while German reserves were drying up, there were no reinforcements, and supplies were terrible. The number of tanks the British had by the end of the African campaign, which ended with the surrender of the Italo-German troops in May 1943, had already exceeded a thousand, while Germany, shackled by the war against the USSR, could not help the African corps in any way. Tank production in England during the war
The rate of tank production in the pre-war years in England was very low. In many sources, this is sometimes explained by the fact that in the British War Ministry there were many opponents of the development of tank forces. Some officials considered the development of tanks a waste of the budget. As a result, the British nevertheless came to the conclusion that it was necessary to produce tanks of two different options- infantry and cruising. By 1938, the British industry, according to the plan, was to produce over 600 cruisers and about 370 infantry tanks. However, it was actually possible to produce thirty cruising
and sixty infantry tanks, which was simply incredibly small considering the approaching war. A year later, the British replenished their tank fleet with just over 300 combat vehicles different types. And yet this was catastrophically not enough. Britain faced the war without even a thousand tanks. In addition, most of the available tanks were light. For almost the entire war, the British made tanks that were quite unsuccessful, both in terms of design and reliability. At the final stage of the war, the main enemy of the countries Anti-Hitler coalition- Germany already had such a serious superiority in tanks over Britain that it is not possible to name an English tank that could compare in combat value with the German Tigers or Panthers. During the war years, British industry produced 24 thousand tanks and approximately 4 thousand self-propelled guns. In the production of self-propelled guns and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, the chassis of outdated tanks was often used. Many British tanks, produced in 1939 - 1945, never made it to the front and only served in the rear as training vehicles for training crews and developing tank operating skills.
Hello, fellow tankers! Today we will look at British branch of tank development(V game World of Tanks), or rather, I will describe to you all its pros and cons in as much detail as possible from my point of view and, perhaps, help you decide on the choice of nation.
Popularity of British tanks in World of Tanks
Tanks for battle, gentlemen! For the queen! The following phrases have become firmly embedded in many people's thoughts about Britain. After the update with the introduction of British equipment, it became the most popular (which usually happens after the introduction of new tanks - their popularity increases sharply against the background of other equipment). Although the British tanks are not particularly different from other tanks, they still found their admirers (although there are a couple of vehicles that deserve attention and are very individual in the game). Top cars- the most popular, as well as many others, but the brightest of them are anti-tank self-propelled artillery mounts.Advantages and disadvantages of British tanks
At first glance, it may seem that British tanks do not have any features or significant differences from the equipment of other nations. This is not entirely true. There are features, but they are extremely poorly balanced due to the historical purpose of tanks in England. The most striking advantage of the technology is its “English” accuracy. To find out the pros and cons of the technology, let’s dive into the history of British tank building and why they were needed in the first place.A little history
The navy in England was the best developed (due to geographical location of this state), and besides the fleet, few areas were developed. Then the British command thought about developing heavy vehicles to cover infantry in battle (back during the First World War). Having built the first tanks and successfully used them in battle, it was decided to develop this industry. The first tanks of the Second World War had a narrow purpose: breaking through fortifications and attacking behind enemy lines. Therefore, tanks with high armor were used for a breakthrough, and for “rear wars” they were used "cruising" tanks. Cavalry (cruising) tanks are fast tanks with light armor and small guns, designed to quickly penetrate enemy lines and cause damage through surprise attacks. The most typical representatives of this class tanks can be called a branch of light tanks of Britain.Now let's return to the advantages and disadvantages, based on historical significance.
- A definite plus we can say that in the “cruising” sense the British achieved their goal: Covenanter, Crusader, Cromwell, Comet are ideal for entering the rear at speed and cutting out enemy artillery. The advantages include frontal armor some vehicles (such as Black Prince, Matilda, Valentine and almost all British anti-tank self-propelled guns). Medium tanks have worse armor, but some tilt gives a chance of not being penetrated, and the turret can traditionally take a good hit. The British also have good guns: They have good armor penetration, fast aiming and a not too long reload. Some machines have mobility, speed and maneuverability. British tanks have good visibility.
- On to the cons applies one-time damage per shot, because it is very small (except for high explosives and the top tank destroyer FV215b (183)). Some of the equipment has poor hull armor. The huge disadvantages of heavily armored British tanks are speed, maneuverability and extensive “soft” points that are easily accessible for penetration.
General
The technique is divided into 4 initial branches WoT development: tank destroyers, light tanks (full high-speed “cruising” line), light tanks (up to heavy tanks) and medium tanks (up to heavy tanks).Fri-Sau
British anti-tank installations famous for their armor, as well as good rapid-fire and penetrating guns. You can get a lot of pleasure from breaking through them and armoring them at any level of battles, but be very indignant at their speed. In general, it can be said that the British tank builders achieved their goals when they built these vehicles as indestructible fortification destroyers. They are difficult to penetrate and have rapid-fire guns, so dealing with such machines in close combat will be problematic for many players, and at long distances it will be difficult to target weak spots. However, with their low speed, British anti-tank installations become a tasty target for enemy artillery. The most interesting and popular models are AT 2, Valentine AT, Alecto and FV215b (183)."Cruising" light tanks
Light tanks of Britain of initial levels (and all tanks of Britain up to level 4 are real cardboard). Light tanks of the initial levels are completely similar to each other on both branches. They are lightly armored, have the same equipment and the same guns. Despite their armor, light tanks have penetrating cannons and also have a Pom-Pom cannon, which fires two shells, each of which comes in a doublet. "Cruising" light tanks reach Cromwell, and starting from there are medium tanks. The Cromwell has excellent dynamics and a good gun, extremely weak armor, and after it come less agile vehicles with better guns. The worst tank on this line is probably the Comet, which has neither armor nor normal speed, not a good gun (disgusting penetration of 148 units).Light tanks (up to heavy tanks)
In general, they are very similar to “cruising” light tanks, i.e. they are also “cruising”, but they lead to heavy vehicles. They have worse armor compared to the first branch of light tanks, but otherwise they are exactly the same. At the fourth level, the Valentine comes across on the way (which many do not stay for long) and from the fifth level the branch of British heavy tanks begins. It starts with the Churchill I heavy tank. The tank has a good gun. It is accurate, penetrating, quite rapid-fire and deals good damage. The tank has good armor(in no way comparable to Lend-Lease Churchills), but low speed.Medium tanks
Although they are average, they are still poorly armored. These tanks have mediocre dynamics, slanting, but penetrating and damaging guns. They are only interesting in everything because of their guns. At the fourth level we get a well-armored Matilda tank, which is too tough for even some fifth levels. Matilda has two good guns to choose from. One is a high explosive, and the other is a rapid fire hole puncher. At the fifth level we again come to heavy tank Churchill I.Heavy tanks of Britain are well armored in the front, have good guns (except for the Black Prince) and feel good in battles with same-level “classmates”.
