World War Photos

Click on thumbnail images to enlarge

Churchill (A22) tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) was a heavy British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour.
The Churchill tank was based on the previous design labelled A20. The A20’s design, proposed in December 1939, was meant to be used in position warfare, typical for World War I. The A20 tank was then substantially modernized version of British World War I tanks. However, A20’s tests quickly shown that maneuver warfare requires a lighter construction. The work on the changed tactical and technical requirements, labelled A22, was taken over by the Vauxhall Motors company which designed the MK IV infantry tank, later named Churchill. The Vauxhall company developed a heavy armoured tank with large continuous tracks which gave it a World War I tank’s look. Unfortunately, initial versions of the Churchill tank were put into production in such a hurry that first copies had to be majorly modified before handing over to the soldiers. They were produced, though, in the period after defeat in France when British armoured forces were weak and the German invasion seemed very close. Those initial defects were eliminated in the subsequent models.
Churchill tank’s armament evolved from a 40 mm gun through a 57 mm gun (Churchill Mk II-IV) to a 75 mm gun in Mk VI-VII (A42) versions of the Churchill. There were also the CS (Close Support) variants with a 95 mm howitzer in the Churchill Mk V and Mk VIII tanks. The Churchill tank was additionally armed with a 76,2 mm howitzer placed in the hull. There were also made gradual enhancements, for instance, track covers were added and the engine cooling system was improved. Overall there were eleven versions of the Churchill tank from which the last three were a result of the upgrades of the previous models aimed at transforming them into the Mk VII standard with a 75 mm gun. Soldiers in combat were appreciating the very good armour of the tank: 102 mm in the Mk I-VI versions and 152 mm in the Mk VI-VIII versions. Those tanks were used in combat for the first time during the unsuccesful landing at Dieppe in 1942 where many of them were unable to cross the stony beach. However, in Tunisia the tanks proved their fantastic capability to overcome terrain obstacles and to give an excellent support to panzer and infantry units. Low maximum speed was a considerable drawback.
The Churchill tank, though, achieved the biggest success as the tank for special tasks. Many of its specialist versions became important, commonly used vehicles, e.g., the engineer Churchill AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers), the Churchill Crocodile with a flamethrower and the various Churchill Bridgelayer or the Churchill Ark ramp carriers. Apart from them there were the Churchill tank mine-clearing variants from the Churchill Plough to the Churchill Snake with a Bangalore torpedoes. The Churchill tank was susceptible to different modifications and capable to carry a wide range of odd devices such as charges to destroy fortifications (the Churchill Light Carrot, the Churchill Onion and the Churchill Goat), mine rollers (the Churchill AVRE/CRID), devices to make a passage through boggy grounds (the Churchill AVRE Carpetlayer), repair and evacuation tanks (the Churchill ARV), etc. The Churchill tanks look was somewhat archaic, but they proved well in a combat and the last Churchill (AVRE) was withdrawn from service only in 1965.