The War in View #48: Wheels & Tracks

British Army vehicles, North Africa.

 

Churchill Crocodile “Stallion” of A Squadron, 141st Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps (The Buffs, Royal East Kent Regiment).

 

RAF Otters in sand and black camouflage, Italy, 1944-45.

 

Crusader tanks.

 

Valentine DD amphibious tank, 79th Armoured Division School, Gosport, 14 January 1944.

 

Sexton 25-pounder self-propelled gun of 11th Armoured Division crosses the River Seine on a Bailey bridge, 30 August 1944.

 

Churchill tanks of 34th Tank Brigade cross a temporary bridge in Roosendaal, 30 October 1944.

 

A column of British A15 Crusader Mark I tanks.

 

Churchill Mk. III with a 230mm mortar gun.

 

Churchill Mk.VII infantry tank

 

Grant medium tanks of the British 4th Armoured Brigade in North Africa.

 

British tankers re-provision their General Grant medium tank in the Libyan desert. July 1942.

 

British half-tracks and other vehicles of 142nd RAC following Churchill tanks into Forli, Italy.

 

Achilles 17pdr tank destroyer crossing the River Savio on a Churchill ARK bridgelayer which was driven into the river, 24 October 1944.

 

A Stuart tank being refueled from an RAF fuel bowser outside Sidi Barrani, 15 November 1942.

 

Flying Flea motorcycle being loaded into a Horsa glider.

 

Britain’s General Bernard Montgomery, Commander of the Eighth Army, watches battle in Egypt’s Western Desert, from the turret of an M3 Grant tank, in 1942.

 

Japanese Type 5 Na-To self-propelled anti-tank gun.

 

Original color image of captured Axis armored vehicles and artillery collected in Verona after World War II.

 

Captured German Matilda II tank re-captured with crew intact by New Zealanders in December 1941 after it was knocked out with an anti-tank gun.

 

British Matilda II tank under new management in the Western Desert in 1941.

 

German 8 Rad Sd.Kfz. 232 radio vehicle.

 

A Panzer IV medium tank on a training exercise on November 5, 1943. This tank belonged to Panzergrenadier Division 'Großdeutschland', an elite combat unit of the German Army that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. 

 

The Comet tank or Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34) was a British cruiser tank that first saw use near the end of the Second World War, during the Western Allied invasion of Germany. The Comet was developed from the earlier Cromwell tank with a lower profile, partly-cast turret which mounted the new 77 mm HV gun. This was a smaller version of the 17 pdr anti-tank gun firing the same 76.2 mm (3") projectiles, albeit with a lighter charge, and was effective against late-war German tanks, including the Panther and Tiger. The Comet rendered the Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger obsolete and was an interim solution until the completely new design Centurion tank was available. When firing APDS rounds, the 77 mm HV was superior in armor penetration capability to the 75 mm KwK 42 gun of the equivalent Axis tank, the Panther. The Comet entered active service in January 1945 and remained in British service until 1958. In some cases, Comets sold to other countries continued to operate into the 1980s. 

 

 

Photos of the outside and inside the turret of a Comet (essentially an upgraded British Cromwell) - T335126 - of the 23rd Hussars, struck twice by 88mm fire. March 30, 1945. 

Jagdtiger 131 (Panzerjager Abteilung 653) knocked out in Schwetzingen, Germany, on March 30, 1945.

The crew of a Tiger tank wash themselves whilst another polishes his boots next to Lake Ladoga, northwestern Russia. August 1943.

Soviet KV-1 heavy tank being used as a range target.

GUARDS ARMOURED TRAINING WING, PIRBRIGHT, SURREY, NOVEMBER 1943. A corporal of the Irish Guards with a microphone and earphones standing beside a tank at the Guards Armoured Training Wing. 

GUARDS ARMOURED TRAINING WING, PIRBRIGHT, SURREY, OCTOBER 1943. A corporal of the Grenadier Guards with a Churchill tank.

GUARDS ARMOURED TRAINING WING, PIRBRIGHT, SURREY, OCTOBER 1943. A corporal of the Grenadier Guards with a Churchill tank. 

GUARDS ARMOURED TRAINING WING, PIRBRIGHT, SURREY, OCTOBER 1943. A corporal of the Grenadier Guards with a Churchill tank. 

GUARDS ARMOURED TRAINING WING, PIRBRIGHT, SURREY, OCTOBER 1943. A corporal of the Grenadier Guards with a Churchill tank. 

An RAF Morris LRC (light reconnaissance car) alongside a bullock cart on an airfield in the Azores, January 1944. 

Soviet BT-7 light tank.

Knocked out T-34 medium tank.

Knocked out early production T-34 medium tank.

Destroyed early production T-34 medium tank. Fire has burned the rubber off the road wheels.

German officer and soldiers of the Wehrmacht inspect a destroyed Soviet medium tank T-34 possibly from the 22nd Mechanized Corps of the Red Army. Ukraine, 24-27 June 1941.