Replies

General Characteristics Length 5.4 meter
Width 2.6 meter
Height 2.2 meter
Weight 16-17 tons
Suspension Coil sprung three wheel bogies
Speed 15 mph km/h road
8 mph km/h off-road
Range 90 km (road)
Primary armament 2pdr to 6 pdr
Secondary armament 1 x .303 machine gun
Armour 8 x 65mm
Power Plant 130 to 165 hp
Crew 3 to 4 Commander, Gunner, Driver (Loader)

The Valentine chassis was the basis for several variants.

Archer

With the development of the 17 Pounder gun, the need arose for it to be mounted on a combat vehicle. The Valentine chassis was soon chosen for this role, as it was in production but rapidly becoming obsolete as a tank. It was also one of the few chassis that could accommodate the large gun.

The Valentine had a relatively small hull and it was not possible to use a turret. Instead a simple armoured open-top box surrounded the gun. The gun was mounted facing over the rear of the hull which kept the overall vehicle length short.

The rear mounting at first seemed like a liability, but it was soon made into an advantage. Combined with its low silhouette, the Archer made an excellent ambush weapon, allowing its crew to fire off a few shots, then drive away without wasting time turning around.

Bishop

The Bishop was a British self-propelled artillery vehicle based on the Valentine II chassis.

A fixed metal box with large rear doors replaced the turret on top of a Valantine hull. Into this the 25 pounder gun was fitted. As a limitation of the 25 pounders mounting the resulting vehicle had a very high silhouette. At the same time the maximum elevation for the gun was limited, lowering the range considerably to about 6,400 yards (about half that of the gun on its wheeled carriage). In order to compensate, its crews would often build large ramps out of the earth - running the Bishop onto these tilted the whole vehicle back effectively gaining extra elevation.

Due to these factors, compounding the Valentine's characteristic slow speed and thin armor, the Bishop was poorly received almost universally and soon replaced by the M7 Priest and Sexton. Only around 140 of these vehicles were produced. It first saw action during the Second Battle of El Alamein in North Africa and continued to serve during the early part of the Italian Campaign.

Valiant

The A38 Valiant was a British tank design of the Second World War, based upon the Valentine tank but only reached the prototype stage.

It was intended as a improvment on the Valentine using as many elements of the original. The design, A38, was first suggested by Vickers in 1943 but the pilot (built by Ruston Hornsby) was not ready until the middle of 1944 and the design was dropped as the end of the war approached.

The major changes from the Valentine were a larger turret that could take the OQF 75 mm gun, as used on the Churchill and Cromwell, and thicker armour. The prototype was fitted with the 6 pounder (57 mm) gun. The project was cancelled. The Valiant II, equipped with a Meteorite engine (a half size Meteor engine) and improved transmission was suggested but nothing came of it.

For more information see...
(http://www.answers.com/topic/valentine-tank)
(http://www.junobeach.org/e/4/can-tac-arm-can-e.htm)
(http://kiwisinarmour.hobbyvista.com/valentin.htm)

Valentine was a good machine. Outdated by 1942 against the Germans but useful against Japan throughout the war.

The Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf F2 of later 1942 had a high velocity 75mm L/43 cannon and could engage T34s at reasonable ranges. The PzKpfw III Ausf L/M of 1942 had a high velocity 50mm L/60 gun that could destroy a Valentine easily at maybe 800 yards.

A Valentine was not in the same class as those two machines. The late war English A41 Centurion with it's 17 pounder high velocity gun was a full match for a Tiger. In Korea the Centurion made scrap iron and mincemeat out of T34s easy as fishing. Nearly.

Ain't Google handy? I have forgotten the numbers after all these years, darn.

There is a fully restored, I mean fully restored, Tiger at the RTR. Armor fans owe themselves to visit

Fifty (50) pages with multiple photos per page.

Apology, OFF Topic!!!

Please Freeper Fox Holers!

Help Our Canadian Soldiers!!!!!

I sent this on to Prime Minister Harper.
Please Freep Him at E-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca

Dear Prime Minister Harper:

I am a Canadian Citizen living in the United States.

I am writing you about the rules of Engagement for the Princes Patricia Rifles currently stationed in, Kandahar, Afghanistan.

I copy hereunder, a post to the Free Republic discussion list to which many Canadians belong. We see a vulnerability in the Canadian Forces that can lead to very serious problems for the Conservative party and your government.

I simply request you to review the MoD Rules of Engagement for CFOR in Kandahar, so that General Fraser has the ability to mount an anti-Guerrilla interdiction operation if necessary. Reconstruction cannot begin before security is achieved in the area of operations.

God Bless you Mr. Prime Minister, keep the Princess Patricia Soldiers as safe as possible in this difficult work.

Yours,

( Sign'd True name)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1590566/posts?page=93

The politics in Canada's Ministry of Defence ( MoD) are to have CFOR create an image. They have no intention of even letting the Princess Patricia Rifles get the job done.

The Rules of Engagement (ROE) for CFOR appear to be really not risk effective.

I believe the ROE for CFOR should be changed to an anti-guerilla interdiction operation. The Talibanis are infiltrating Kandahar from Quetta. This traffic needs to be stopped before the reconstruction work can begin the way it should.

Would you go into an unsecured zone, put down your weapon and take off your helmet, and then sit on the ground??

These troops are well trained, and I can assure you they have ROE that are too unrealistic, micromanaged from Ottawa. The liberals in MoD Canada want this force to fail, and to embarass the newly elected conservative government in Canada, and have the public demand a troop recall. Politics are being played with the lives of young Canadian soldiers.

I mean, whats a sea change in Canadian politics worth,to get back to the liberals ? Couple hundred of English speaking Canadians die so we can get back to francophone federal politicians controlling Ottawa? Someone in MoD has decided our young Canadians in an English speaking Scots Canadian regiment are quite expendable.

If it was the Royal 22nd Regiment in Kandahar, staffed mostly by French Canadians, I can assure you that the ROE would be much more vigorous and aggressive.

Turn General Fraser loose, and let him command in the field to do what is necessary to help interdict the Quetta/ Kandahar Talibabi traffic.Change the ROE for the Princess Pats!!!!!!

This is Prime Minister Harper's first significant challange from a fedreal bureaucracy still dedicated to liberalism, and how it goes, so shall the national body politic go. I hope Harper is on a back channel to MoD making sure this Peace Corps shite ROE stops NOW!!!!