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Posted on 03/09/2004 12:04:50 AM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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(A22 Infantry Tank)  With the majority of their armoured vehicles abandoned or destroyed in France, the British had very few tanks left to defend themselves from Germany's presumed next move against their island kingdom. For that reason a number of new and untested weapons systems were quickly rushed into production, including a new heavily armoured, but slow moving, infantry tank known as the A22. This new tank arrived at training camps in June of 1941 with little in the way of field testing. Due to the hurried construction schedule there were many unfortunate mechanical problems with these vehicles. Luckily for the using troops, most of these problems would be solved by the time the tank saw its first action in 1942. In the end, the Churchill in all its different forms (there would eventually be eleven Marks) was destined to become one of the most important British tanks in WWII. The 9th Battalion Royal Tank Regiment had been allocated the role of a heavy tank unit, and would therefore be armed with heavy, or infantry tanks. The British Army's policy in the late 1930's was to have three broad categories of tank, namely: light, lightly armed and armoured, to serve as scouts; cruiser, with high velocity two pounder guns, that could use their speed and range to carry out long distance strikes; and the infantry tank, slow, heavily armoured, working alongside the infantry and having a tough hide to absorb punishment.  Britain began the war with two infantry tanks, the Mark I and the Mark II. Mark I was a small two man tank equipped with one machine gun; although heavily armoured and reliable it was out of context almost as soon as it was produced. Mark II, the Matilda, was by contrast a classic for a limited period. In the years 1939 to 1941 it was one of the best protected and best armed tanks in any army, but it was not easy to produce and did not appear in the right quantities until it had been outclassed. Mark III Infantry tank was the Valentine, so called because its design was submitted to the War Office on St. Valentine's Day 1938. Production was not authorized until July 1939 and the production deliveries were made in late 1940. More than 8,000 Valentines were produced, but by late 1942 it was largely obsolete because of its low speed and small turret. In September 1939 the General Staff requested the engineering firm Harland and Wolff in Belfast to design an extra large infantry tank based on World War I principles; this was designated the A20. The first prototypes were delivered in June 1940, at a time when the British Army was desperately short of every type of fighting vehicle. To speed up production the A20 was scaled down to a design designated A22, which was given the name "Churchill". The re-design was done by the Director of Tank Design, Dr. H.E. Merritt, and a team of engineers from Vauxhall Motors. Vauxhall Motors were then instructed to have the tank in production by June 1941, a time schedule so tight that it allowed no time for user or development trials.  Vauxhall succeeded in making the schedule, but were so conscious of the vehicle's deficiencies that they included in the user's handbook a disclaimer, which is here partly quoted and partly paraphrased: "All those things which we know are not as they should be will be put right. In nearly every case the cure has already been found, and it will be introduced as soon as the new materials or parts become available. We are aware of defects, but basically the Churchill is a good tank. In these abnormal times it is thought better to produce the tank as it is, and to carry out the modifications we know to be necessary in the field units". The first Churchills certainly met the expectations of Vauxhall Motors in proving extremely unreliable. To combat the mechanical problems and the deficiencies in armour and armament, various changes were made in 1941 and 1942. These resulted in Churchills Marks I to IV. Subsequent developments were the Mark V, which had as its main armament a 95mm close support howitzer; the Mark VI, which had a 75mm gun as its main armament; and the Mark VII (same as Mark VI but with thicker armour) and Mark VIII (same as Mark V but with thicker armour). The specifications of each Mark are given in brief in Table V-1.  Features common to all Marks:
The hull of the Churchill was in the shape of a long, low box with a step at the front. The layout of the tank was in four compartments. The driving compartment housed the driver and hull gunner. Behind this was the fighting compartment which contained the completely rotatable turret; the turret housed the vehicle commander, gunner, and loader-operator, making a total crew of five for each tank. The engine compartment contained the engine, radiators, and petrol tanks, and on the outside of this compartment were bolted on each side the air intakes or louvres. The rear compartment contained the gearbox, steering and main brakes, air compressor and the auxiliary and power traverse generators.  One of the peculiarities of the design was the configuration of the air intakes. There was one intake on each side of the hull, and there had to be a substantial aperture in the armour of the engine compartment to let the air in. But the designers could not allow the engine to be exposed through this aperture, and so developed the air louvres very evident in many illustrations. There were two significant features of this arrangement. One was the projection of the louvre by some 9 inches from the hull of the tank, giving the tank extra width occasionally forgotten or ignored by the commanders or drivers. The second was the presence of the "chocolate bar", a slab of armour to protect the aperture in the hull. This was bolted on to the outside of the air louvres, and occasionally had to be removed. It was made of 2½ inch armour plate, and bolting it back on was a task to generate swearing, damaged limbs, and hernias. The engine, as shown in Table V-1, was a twin-six 12-cylinder horizontally opposed Bedford of 120h.p. RAC rating developing 350 brake horse-power at 2,200rpm. It was reputed to have been brought into production status in 90 days, an amazing performance; this miracle was also said to have been wrought by the simple expedient of taking two Bedford lorry engines - for which Vauxhalls were renowned - laying them on their sides facing inwards and attaching them to a common crankshaft. The rest of the job was locating all the ancillary components where they were secure and reasonably accessible. It must be said that the engine itself was very reliable; there is a story, maybe apocryphal, that one tank had a shell penetrate one half of its engine but managed to hobble to safety on the other half. The Churchill had a Merritt-Brown 4-speed constant mesh epicyclic gear-box. The steering mechanism, which was part of the gearbox, consisted of two steering drums, either of which could be locked by pressure of its brake shoe. When one of the steering drums was locked the speed of one track was reduced and the speed of the other increased, thus causing the tank to turn. The lower the gear that the tank was in, the sharper the turn. The system generally was called controlled differential steering, and the Churchill was the first British tank to have such a system. One of its real peculiarities was that it allowed the tank to turn on its own axis when in neutral. The turn was particularly sharp and sudden when on a smooth surface, giving rise to a stern warning in the driver's handbook ("do not do it!") and occasionally to much shouting and abuse of the driver when he did it. Although to be fair, it was a very useful capability properly used.  Churchill Crocodile The theory of the Merritt-Brown gear-box was such that it was reputed to have driven one of its creators off his head. It was certainly not easy for the trainee tankman to understand, but just occasionally could result in a benefit. Freddie Smart (who was leader of 6 Troop in B Squadron for the battalion's first actions, and who was killed by an S-mine on 26 July 1944) was one such beneficiary. One afternoon when he was a trooper at 56 Training Regiment Freddie's troop was being trained in the mysteries of the Churchill gearbox. The corporal instructor was suddenly informed that the Commanding Officer was coming round to inspect the training. It would be a good thing, the corporal was told, to have one of the recruits demonstrating his knowledge. Any volunteers? said the corporal. Yes, said Freddie, ignoring the age-old military maxim "never volunteer". So when the Colonel came round Freddie was explaining how the Churchill gearbox worked - and he did, in fact, understand it quite well. The Colonel, who probably had no idea how it worked, was impressed. Is this man down for a selection board? Freddie heard him ask. The upshot was that Freddie went through the various selection boards, pre-OCTU and OCTU, and ended up as a troop leader with the 9th. One of the features of the Churchill was that it was a surprisingly roomy tank. This resulted largely from the suspension system, as is evident from the side views of the tank and the picture of the hull body. The bogie wheels (or bogies) that supported the tank were quite small. Their reduced height, and the way that the track went right round the outside of the hull, meant that there was substantial storage space in the sponsons between the main compartments and the outside walls of the tank. A resulting disadvantage of this was that there were twenty-two bogies, and they all had to be greased every day.  Churchill ARVE in La Breche, Normandy on June 6, 1944. Just off of Sword Beach with the 3rd Division The ratio between the power of the engine (350 b.h.p.) and the weight of the tank (between 39 and 43 tons, depending on the Mark) gave a maximum speed of 15 m.p.h. on road and 8 m.p.h. across country for Marks I to VI. The increased armour and thus weight for Marks VII and VIII reduced their speeds to 12 m.p.h. on road and 6 m.p.h. across country. But then it was intended to be an infantry tank and not move too fast. The crew of five manning the Churchill each had their specific roles. But because of the technical tank training they had all been through, and because of the team spirit inherent in small groups living in urgent situations, most people were multi-skilled - although it has to be said that not many tank commanders were good cooks. The gunner aimed and fired the main armament and the machine gun mounted alongside it; the machine gun, which was a 7.92mm Besa was "coaxially" mounted with the main gun, and was generally referred to as "the coax" (pronounced coe-axe). The gunner was also responsible for cleaning and maintaining the main gun and the coax, although he would need help from other members of the crew.  Armored Vehicle Royal Engineers. A Petard 29cm caliber mortar was fitted to turret. Fired 40lb bomb 80 yards. 180 available by D-Day. 1st Assault Brigade of 79th Armored Division. 574 more were converted. Some were equipped to care fascines and CIRD for mine-clearing. The wireless operator was responsible for maintaining communication with the outside world, both through the medium range "A" set and the short range "B" set. The A set could be adjusted to different frequencies and the regimental frequency was changed regularly to help ensure security. Every morning the wireless "op" made sure that his set was properly tuned to the regimental frequency, a process known as "netting in" - sometimes called in the words of coarser minds "getting netted". The wireless op was also responsible for loading the main gun and for feeding the ammunition belts through to the coax. The co-driver, alternatively called the hull gunner, acted as a spare driver and fired and maintained the hull gun. This was a 7.92mm Besa machine gun, identical to the coax. The co-driver's direct personal duties were less onerous than those of the other members of the crew, but he acted as a helper to all other members of the crew, and in action he was in by far the most convenient position to make a brew of tea.  Churchill ARVE towing a trailer, and a Churchill fascine carrier behind. The man on top of the fascine is passing directions to the commander who in turns passes it on to the driver. The tank commander had total responsibility for his tank. In action this meant that it was always capable of fighting, and was fought well. As far as possible the tank commander kept the tank and its crew fit to move and fight by using his own resources, but should problems arise that he could not deal with, such as mechanical breakdown, he was responsible both for reporting the condition, and applying for the resources to correct it - for example the squadron fitters. He was responsible for instructing the crew over the intercom regarding start up, the route to take, gun control etc., all to a laid down set of instructions. The survival of tank and crew were very dependent on his keen observation and assessment of the situation. The tank commander was generally promoted from having been a crew member, and thus had experience of the duties of at least one crew position. But all crew members helped each other, and many tasks were naturally shared, such as replenishing the petrol or ammunition, cleaning the main gun, mending and adjusting the tracks, and tasks of maintenance and living.  The driver drove the tank, and made sure that it was fit to drive. It had to be full of petrol, all systems working properly as shown on the instrument panel, tracks properly adjusted, engine compartment as clean as possible, air louvres kept clear, periscopes kept clean, and so on. The driver had to follow a specific routine in starting the tank; this consisted of actions
These were all itemised in the driver's handbook. As an example, the procedure for starting a Churchill is given below. It shows that unlike most vehicles the Churchill required four people to participate in starting up.
After starting the engine, the driver had to check that all systems were working properly. He could then drive off. The drivers handbook describes the main features of driving a Churchill, particularly the process of changing gear. It reads very much like a book on golf, giving you so many points to remember that a satisfactory performance comes only by instinct or luck. Three examples are taken from the handbook to show the number of points that had to be remembered. Before reading them, however, we should bear in mind that:
"To engage gear when stationary, depress the clutch pedal onto the clutch stop firmly but not too hard and listen for the compressor to die down. Just before the compressor stops (which means that the clutch is also just stopping) push the gear lever firmly into the gear required. Pressing the clutch pedal on to the clutch stop very hard stops the clutch immediately and more than likely the gear will not engage. If this should happen return the gear lever to neutral and start again allowing the clutch to stop gradually".  "To change from second to third on the level or uphill with a rolling speed of less than 5 m.p.h., slow down in second until the tachometer is at 1500/1600 r.p.m. Make a fast racing change, using three fingers only with full use of clutch stop but no force. Flick the gear lever across from second to third quickly but lightly. Open the throttle immediately third gear is engaged. Never use both hands to make engagement and use the slow double declutch change whenever possible to save gearbox strain". "General advice: learn the corresponding engine revolutions for each mile per hour in the different gears. Accurate gear changing is quite simple providing the tachometer and speedometer are watched. Do not change up on slopes steep enough to cause the tank to accelerate and never change down on a down-hill gradient. If a lower gear has not already been engaged for safety reasons on a steep hill and the gradient becomes steeper, turn slowly to the left and stop, get into second gear and re-start." Surely to remember all these instructions a driver deserved extra money? And he got it! Cyril Rees recalls: "As a result of the experience I had gained I was successful in passing a trade test and being upgraded to a Driver Mechanic Class 2. This meant a pay increase to 6s 6d per day - what riches, and all found to boot!" The mechanical performance of the Churchill was initially abysmal, as described in this Appendix and the main body of the text. It gradually improved, and by 1944 and 1945 it was reasonably reliable.  The Churchill was always a good cross-country performer. In particular, it was good at climbing, and, considering its weight, it was very good at making its way across sodden and muddy country. The climbing skill was very evident in the battle of Steamroller Hill in North Africa (28 Feb 1943). The capability in mud was experienced by the 9th in Holland in October 1944 and again in the Reichswald in February 1945. In the initial stages of the Reichswald battle, prior to entering the forest, the gun tank Churchills were one of the very few vehicles that could keep going. From the very beginning the armour of the Churchill was good at absorbing punishment. This has been described in almost every action where Churchills were engaged; Dieppe, North Africa, Italy, Normandy, and all the other battles of NW Europe.  Compared with most of its opponents the main armament of the Churchill was always pathetic. In "Tank versus Tank" Kenneth Macksey tables that:
Churchills could and did knock out Tigers and Panthers by attacking from the side or the back, by breaking the tracks or by damaging the turret ring. But it took a lot of courage, skill and luck to get into the right position to do this. The under-gunning of allied tanks was an outrageously criminal lack of concern by the War Office. It resulted in what was in effect the murder of thousands of tank crewmen, a series of acts for which the War Office seems incapable of accepting responsibility.
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Which is something like being the best ice hockey player on Guam, but a nice statement nonetheless. :)
The Crocodile is the notable exception to this, of course. Just plain cool, there.
Your Treadhead Tuesday excellence continues!
Yep. Seize the moment!
G'day Snips!
Military bicycles.
Lee’s order of June 23rd to Stuart says that in exercise of the discretion given him (Stuart) would pass around the rear of the Federal army with three brigades and cross the Potomac between it and Washington. Both Lee and Stuart believed that Stuart would be able, by this route, to place himself on the Confederate right flank and to keep Lee properly advised on the enemy’s movement. Lee set Stuart's final destination as York, PA where he would join up with General Early.
On June 24th, Stuart, along with the brigades of Wade Hampton, Fitz Lee, and Rooney Lee (under the command of Colonel Chambliss) began their movements. Stuart left Robertson’s and Jones’ brigades to provide a screen for the army, to protect the passes, and to be the “eyes and ears” of Lee’s army. This gave Lee over 3,000 cavalry members to accompany him into Pennsylvania. 3,800 cavalry members went with Stuart.
By the night of the 24th, Stuart found Hancock’s Corp, marching northward, and occupying the road that Stuart had planned to use. After a brief skirmish, Stuart captured some prisoners, interrogated them, and discovered that Hancock was moving north in the “great pursuit.”
Stuart sent word to Lee, by courier, that the Union Army was now in pursuit. This courier was captured.
Stuart’s original plan was now in disarray. He decided to continue his mission by taking an alternative route. To swing wide of Hancock’s Corp, Stuart had to retreat 60 miles. Of course, hindsight being perfect, Stuart had a wide-open route to Gettysburg. But, let’s be honest. Gettysburg wasn’t Stuart’s objective. Stuart expected to find Early not in Gettysburg, but in York.
Stuart did his job very well. He was to distract the Yankees from knowing where the Confederate Army was headed. Among the direct results of Stuart’s movements was that Meade was deprived of the services of all his cavalry units except Buford’s division until noon on July 2nd. And on the 2nd day of battle, Buford’s division was withdrawn to protect the supply wagons because Meade knew that Stuart was behind him. This left the Sickles’ flank unguarded. The failure to roll up Sickles’ flank cannot be attributed to Stuart.
A portion of French’s command was diverted eastward to protect communication with Washington. If you read the dispatches between Meade and Hillock from June 28th to July 1st, they were confused to where Lee was. They could not figure out why Stuart was so far east. Meade dispatched his largest Corp – the 6th - to guard against Stuart’s sudden advance.
What is strange is why Lee did not use Robertson and Jones for the purposes of scouting. In the daily communication between Lee and Robertson, Lee asks nothing from Robertson. It wasn’t until July 1st that Robertson was summoned. Yet, Lee knew exactly where Robertson was. Robertson had 3,000 men. If Lee was really concerned about being blind in enemy territory, he had 6,000 pair of eyes idling at Berryville.
Let’s be clear… It was not the want of cavalry that General Lee bewailed, for he enough of it had it been properly used. It was the absence of Stuart himself that he felt so keenly; for on Stuart had Lee learned to rely to such an extent that it seemed as if his cavalry were concentrated in Stuart’s person, and from Stuart alone could information be expected.
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