Matilda tank
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tank, Infantry, Mk II, Matilda II (A12) | |
|---|---|
 Matilda displaying a captured Italian flag (British Crown copyright). |
|
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 27 tonnes |
| Length | 6.0 m |
| Width | 2.6 m |
| Height | 3.5 m |
| Crew | 4 (Driver, gunner, loader, commander) |
|
|
|
| Armour | 78 mm |
| Primary armament |
QF 2 pdr (40 mm)
93 rounds |
| Secondary armament |
7.92 mm BESA mg
2,925 rounds |
| Engine | 2 x diesel, AEC or Leyland 6 Cylinder 180 hp (134 kW) |
| Power/weight | hp/tonne |
| Suspension | Horizontal coil spring |
| Operational range |
80 km |
| Speed | 24 km/h (road) 15 km/h (off-road) |
The Tank, Infantry, Mk II, Matilda II (A12) (sometimes referred to as Senior Matilda) was a British tank of World War II. In a somewhat unorthodox move, it shared the same name as the Tank, Infantry, Mk I (A11). The name Matilda itself comes from a cartoon duck[citation needed]. Matilda is also an old Teutonic female name meaning ‘mighty battle maid’.
When the A11 was removed from service the A12's name of Matilda II was dropped, and it was then known as just the Matilda.
Contents |
[edit] Development history
The Tank, Infantry, Mk II was designed at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, and built by Vulcan Foundry, as an improvement on the Mk I which was a two man tank with only machine guns for armament. The Senior Matilda weighed 27 metric tons, more than twice as much as its predecessor, and was armed with a QF 2-pounder tank gun in a three-man turret. Like other infantry tanks it was heavily armoured; the armour thickness at the front reached 7.8 cm, much more than most contemporaries. The weight of the armour, together with the relatively weak twin-engine power unit (adapted from a bus) and troublesome suspension severely limited the speed of the vehicle. For example, in the deserts of North Africa the Matilda could average only about 9.5 km/h. This was not thought to be a problem because the Matilda was specifically designed in accordance with the British doctrine of infantry tanks, that is, slow-moving, heavily-armoured vehicles designed to provide support to infantry. Under this thinking, a speed equal to the walking speed of a man was considered sufficient. Only combat would prove that the doctrine was flawed. The heavy armour of the Matilda's cast turret became legendary; for a time in 1940-41 the Matilda earned the nickname "Queen of the Desert".
[edit] Production history
The first Matilda was produced in 1937 but only two were in service when war broke out in September 1939. Some 2,987 tanks were produced by John Fowler & Co., Ruston & Hornsby, and later London, Midland and Scottish Railway, Harland and Wolff, and the North British Locomotive Company. Production was stopped in August 1943.
[edit] Variants
- Matilda I (Infantry Tank Mk II)
- First production model.
- Matilda II (Infantry Tank Mk IIA)
- Vickers machine gun replaced by Besa MG.
- Matilda III (Infantry Tank Mk IIA*)
- New Leyland diesel engine.
- Matilda III CS (for Close Support)
- Variant with 3 inch (75 mm) howitzer.
- Matilda IV (Infantry Tank Mk IIA**)
- With improved engines.
- Matilda V
- Improved gear box and gear shift.
- Baron I, II, III, IIIA
- Matilda chassis with mine flail.
- Matilda Scorpion I / II
- Matilda chassis with a mine flail.
- Matilda II CDL / Matilda V CDL (Canal Defence Light)
- The normal turret was replaced by a cylindrical one containing a searchlight (projected through a vertical slit) and a BESA machine gun.
Australian variants:
- Matilda Frog (25)
- Flame-thrower tank.
- Murray and Murray FT
- Flame-thrower tank.
- Matilda Hedgehog (6)
- A naval Hedgehog 7-barrel spigot mortar was mounted in an armoured box on the rear hull of several Australian Matilda tanks. The mortars were hydraulically elevated and electrically fired either individually or in a salvo of six, the fifth tube could not be fired until the turret was traversed to move the radio antenna out of the bomb's path. Each bomb weighed 30 kg and containd 14 kg of high explosive, the range of the bombs was up to 400 metres and aiming accomplished by pointing the entire tank as the mortars had no traverse independent of the hull of the tank.[1]
[edit] Combat History
The Matilda was first used in combat by the 4th and 7th Royal Tank Regiments in France in 1940. Due to the thickness of its armour, it was largely immune to the guns of the German tanks and anti-tank guns in France. In some desperation, the famous 88 mm anti-aircraft guns were pressed into the anti-tank role as the only effective counter.
In the early days of the war in North Africa, the Matilda again proved highly effective against Italian and German tanks, although vulnerable again to the larger calibre anti-tank guns. Its 2-pounder gun was comparable to other tank guns in the 37 to 45 mm range. However, in the rapid manoeuvre warfare practiced by the Afrika Korps the tank's low speed and unreliable steering mechanism became major problems. Another problem was the lack of high-explosive capability (the appropriate shell existed but was not issued).
As the German army received new tanks with more powerful guns, the Matilda proved less and less effective. Due to the small size of its turret ring, it could not be up-gunned sufficiently. The tank was also somewhat expensive to produce. Vickers proposed an alternative, the Valentine tank, which had the same gun, a similar level of armour protection, but on a faster and cheaper chassis. With the arrival of the Valentine, American Lee/Grant and Sherman tanks, the Matilda was phased out by the British Army. By the time of the battle of El Alamein few Matildas were still in service.
Over 1,000 Matildas were sent to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Matildas saw action as early as the Battle of Moscow and became fairly common during 1942, especially on the southern fronts closest to the Persian supply route. Unsurprisingly, the tank was found to be too slow and unreliable. Crews often complained that snow and dirt were accumulating behind the "skirt" panels, clogging the suspension. The slow speed and heavy armour made them comparable to the Red Army's Kliment Voroshilov heavy tanks, but the Matilda had nowhere near the firepower of the KV. Most Soviet Matildas were expended during 1942, but a few served on as late as 1944.
In the Pacific, however, Japanese forces were lacking in heavy anti-tank guns and the Matilda remained in service with several Australian regiments in the Australian 4th Armoured Brigade, in the South West Pacific Area. They first saw active service in the Huon Peninsula campaign in October 1943. Matilda II tanks remained in action until the last day of the war in the Wewak, Bougainville and Borneo campaigns, which made the Matilda the only British tank to remain in service throughout the entire war.
[edit] See also
[edit] Reference
- ^ Paul Handel - Dust, Sand and Jungle, 2003 RAAC Memorial and Army Tank Museum, ISBN 1-876439-75-0.
- David Fletcher, Peter Sarson - Matilda Infantry Tank 1938-45, 1994 Osprey Publishing (New Vanguard 8), ISBN 1-85532-457-1.
[edit] External links
| Light tanks | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vickers 6-Ton | Mk II | Mk III | Mk IV | Mk V | Mk VI | Mk VII Tetrarch | ||
| Cruiser tanks | ||
| Mk I | Mk II | Mk III | Mk IV | Mk V Covenanter | Mk VI Crusader | Mk VII Cavalier Mk VIII Centaur | Mk VIII Cromwell | Challenger | Comet | Sherman Firefly | Ram (Canada) | Sentinel (Australia) | ||
| Infantry tanks | ||
| Mk I Matilda | Mk II Matilda | Mk III Valentine | Mk IV Churchill | ||
| Scout Cars |
|---|
| Daimler Dingo | Dingo Scout Car (Australia) | Humber Scout Car | Lynx Scout Car (Canada) | S1 Scout Car (Australia) |
| Light Reconnaissance Cars |
| Humber LRC | Morris LRC | Otter LRC (Canada) |
| Armoured Cars |
| AEC Armoured Car | Coventry Armoured Car | Daimler Armoured Car | Fox Armoured Car (Canada) Guy Armoured Car | Humber Armoured Car | Lanchester Armoured Car Marmon-Herrington Armoured Car (South Africa) | Morris CS9 | Rhino Heavy Armoured Car (Australia) | Rolls-Royce Armoured Car | Rover Light Armoured Car (Australia) | Standard Beaverette | Armoured Carrier Wheeled Indian Pattern (India) |
| Armoured Trucks |
| Bedford OXA | C15TA Armoured Truck (Canada) |
| Armoured Command Vehicles |
| AEC ACV | Guy Lizard ACV |
| Avenger | Black Prince | Centurion | Excelsior | TOG 1 | TOG 2 Tortoise | Valiant | Harry Hopkins | Alecto | Thornycroft Bison |
| Unarmoured vehicles |
|---|
| British armoured fighting vehicle production during World War II |
|---|
