WEAPONS OF WAR
WE START A MAJOR NEW SERIES THAT LOOKS AT ARMAMENT USED BY BRITISH FORCES OVER THE LAST 100 YEARS BY PROFILING A KEY INFANTRY TANK OF WORLD WAR TWO.
The most numerously produced British tank of the Second World War, the Infantry Tank, Mk.III, Valentine, was unusual in that it started life as a private venture by Vickers, as opposed to a General Staff (GS) specification, which would have allocated it a code number beginning with the prefix A. Rather, it was given the unlikely project title of ‘Valentine’ by the designers, and when the tank entered service, the name stuck. Indeed, it was none other than Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who became so exasperated with the arcane system of tank designations during the war’s early years, who insisted all Production Models such fighting vehicles should be given a name.
The basic hull and suspension was based on the in-service A10 heavy cruiser tank, but armoured up to the (then) amazing standard of 65mm frontally – at a time when most designs featured between 14-30mm of armour. The Vickers team was adamant that for the tank to be successful, it was essential to keep the weight down whilst maximising the frontal armour. This meant the vehicle …
