Churchill Mark I to Churchill Mark VIII
Type: infantry tank.
Crew: 5 men.
Armament: Churchill I:one 2-pounder gun, one 7.92 mm BESA machine gun, one 3-inch howitzer under casemate; Churchill II:a 2 pounder gun and 2 BESA of 7.92 mm; Churchill a 6-pounder gun and 2 BESA of 7.92 mm; Churchill IV NA 75:one 75mm cannon, one Browning 30 machine gun and one 7.92mm BESA; Churchill V and VIII:a 95 mm howitzer and 2 BESA of 7.92 mm; Churchill VI and VII:a 75 mm gun and 2 BESA of 7.92 mm; Churchill I CS:2 howitzers of 3 inches and a BESA of 7.92 mm.
Armour:
Churchill I-VI: minimum 16 mm and maximum 102 mm;
Churchill VII and VIII: minimum 25mm and maximum 152mm.
Dimensions:
length: 7.44m;
width: 3.25 m;
height: 2.49 m.
Weight in combat order: 39.5t (Churchill III).
Engine: Bedford 12 cyl. in-line water-cooled, developing 350 hp.
Performance:
road speed: 24.8 km/h;
off-road speed: 12.8 km/h;
range: 144km;
vertical obstacle: 0.812m;
straight cut: 3,048 m.
Service time: in the British Army from 1941 to 1952. Also employed by Eire, India and Jordan.
The program of this tank was clearly affected by the designs inherited from the First World War. The official specifications were for a heavily armored and armed machine, but slow and unwieldy. As soon as the prototype was defined, these directives were modified in the direction of a reduction in mass and volume. The danger of a German invasion prompted the British to hasten its production, which was accompanied by incessant technical difficulties, overcome thanks to the adoption of a whole series of modifications. By the end of 1942, it was at the point
of considering the possibility of suspending production of the Churchill. But the excellent results recorded in the African theater made it continue to be manufactured.
The chassis of this tank proved capable of adapting to a large number of special missions:flamethrowers, bridge laying, runway opening, demining, destruction, etc.
In September 1939, the British General Staff issued a program sheet for a heavy infantry tank capable of penetrating the defenses of the Sigfried Line. Baptized A.20, this tank was to have, among other things, 60 mm frontal armor and a speed of 15 km/h, and be armed either with a 40 mm anti-tank gun, or with a 95 mm lower initial speed.
Various solutions were considered for the installation of the planned armament (casemate, turret, nacelles). The final decision was made in favor of adopting the Matilda's turret, a second 40mm gun under the frontal casemate and two Besa machine guns in side pods.
The four prototypes of the new tank were ordered as the Infantry Tank Mk.IV (A.20) from Harland and Wolff Ltd, Belfast, which managed to deliver the first in mid-1940.
Still devoid of its armament, the prototype proved to be of dubious mechanical reliability, especially with regard to the engine and the gearbox, and it was requested from Vauxhall Motors Ltd. to propose a new engine. In the meantime, program A.20 had become A.22. It endorsed the new engine and further provided for Vauxhall to become the prime contractor, not only of the mechanical part but of the whole tank.
The new prototype was completed at the end of 1940 and the first 14 production examples were delivered by Vauxhall in June 1941, barely a year after the program was launched. Mass production once decided, eleven British manufacturers were associated with it, with Vauxhall as prime contractor.
Total orders for the Mk.IV infantry tank amounted to 5,640 copies at the end of the war. In June 1941 he was baptized. perhaps not quite by chance, named after Prime Minister Winston Churchill. of powerful stature and squat too.
The technique
The Churchill was characterized by its enveloping tracks. whose suspension included eleven small rollers on each side, each with an independent coil-spring suspension.
The engine and its accessories had been mounted as far back as possible to allow the before the maximum place for the service of arms. Above the hull was a relatively small
turret with good optics and slots in the top. Two side hatches facilitated direct access to the central part of the crew compartment. Still on the side, we could make out the engine ventilation intake.
Among the technical innovations, we should point out the MerrittBrown steering system already tested on the A.6 tank ten years earlier . This system allowed the pilot, while significantly reducing the loss of energy when turning, to vary the radius according to the gear engaged. The lower this was, the shorter the radius of the bend. In neutral, the tank could turn around practically on the spot.
Beside this gearbox, the Churchill had hydraulic controls which significantly reduced pilot fatigue. It also had the advantage of independent suspension for each of the track rollers. This formula probably did not offer excessive comfort in all terrain, but it guaranteed mobility and stability even with a certain number of pebbles damaged by enemy shells.
The armament finally adopted included an anti-tank gun under turret (40 mm, then 57 and finally 76) and a 76 mm gun under casemate. The turret also housed a 7.92 mm Besa machine gun coupled to the gun. For counter-aircraft fire, a Lakeman mount allowed the installation of a 7.7 mm Bren machine gun. The Mk.II CS version had a 95 mm piece for close support in the turret, plus the 40 mm anti-tank under casemate.
The first examples of the Churchill were equipped with tracks comprising 70 pads cast iron and devoid of mudguards. Then, from the Mk.III version, all were equipped with them, including the versions I and II already in service, and the original tracks were replaced by other lighter ones but with 72 pads of a new shape. , always in cast iron at the beginning, then in manganese steel. The first examples also had raised air intakes and exhaust pipes, for use as an amphibious tank.
Evolution
The first variant of the Churchill, called Mk. IA then Churchill II, was armed with a Besa machine gun instead of the 76 piece. Then came the Churchill III armed with a
anti-tank 57 mm under welded turret and a single machine gun in the chassis. On the Churchill IV, the turret was made of cast iron and on the V the 57 gun was replaced by a 95 mortar for close support. On the Mk.VI, still with a molded turret, the armament marked progress with the adoption of a 75 muzzle brake gun. The Mk.VII appeared in 1944, with a renovated chassis and turret. It remained in service after the end of the war.
Also note the version made in North Africa (Churchill IV NA) whose turret had the armament of the Sherman, armament recovered from tanks out of action. This last model was mainly engaged on the Italian front.
Two operational variants of the Churchill deserve special mention, both of which were produced in large numbers. The first, called AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers - Engin Blindé du Génie), was intended for teams of engineers to enable them to carry out destruction using a Petard mortar mounted in a turret, to take place on board with their equipment and to benefit from the support of its fires during the execution of their missions in the open.
These were versions III and IV transformed in the military establishments of the R.E.M.E. (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) and at M.G. The Petard mortar, with a caliber of 290 mm, launched an 18 kg projectile, including 12 of explosive, at a distance of 72 m at a rate of 2 to 3 shots/ minute. It was attached to the mask of the 57 mm piece. Of course, the interior layout was modified accordingly. The Besa machine gun was retained but the second pilot's hinged hatch doors were replaced by a welded plate in which a sliding-covered hole was made for mortar loading.
At full load the mass of this machine reached 36 tons, with on board a tank commander, a pilot, an artificer, the radio, the mortar gunner and his loader who also acted as second pilot.
The other special version, the Churchill Crocodile, was the only flamethrower tank regularly used by the British during the war. Its principle was that of the Italian L35/flamethrower:on a Churchill VII chassis, the chassis machine gun was replaced by a flamethrower connected, by a pipe which passed under the chassis in an armored conduit, to an armored trailer with two wheels that contained the flammable liquid and pressurizing nitrogen cylinders.
The trailer was attached to the tank by an articulated hitch that allowed the assembly to adapt to the roughness of the terrain. The density of the flammable liquid had been increased for the stability of the jet in direction (except irregular crosswind) and the 1,810 liters could be launched either in bursts, or in a single projection, at a maximum range of the order of 110 meters. A device allowed. to control from inside the tank the unhooking of the trailer, either that it was touched, or that its contents were exhausted.
There were many other special versions of the Churchill for bridge laying, runway opening, mine clearance, etc. all more or less derived from the AVRE which, thanks to its
hooking and lifting possibilities, could be easily retrofitted in the desired configuration.
Employment
Assigned as a unit in 1941, the first Churchills I, II and III received their baptism of fire on August 18, 1942 during the unsuccessful attempt to land in Dieppe. Of the 28 tanks engaged by the 14th Canadian Armored Regiment, all were to remain in the field, and some fell into German hands in good condition.
One of these Churchills from Dieppe was a Mk.III armed with the new 57 mm gun, a variant that was to be found on the African front from October 1942, where a few examples took part in the battle of El Alamein, and in increasing numbers, at all the fights to Tunisia. Thanks to the quality of its shielding (from 90 to 180 mm) and the versatility of its armament, thanks also to its excellent Bedford engine with 12 opposed cylinders, the Churchill represented a certain progress on the first British tanks. br class='autobr' />He took part in all the operations on the European continent from 1943 to 1945, particularly in Italy, where he notably supported the Italian units of the Cremona Group in the last phases of the War of Liberation.
There are still a number of them in Europe and the United States.