Churchill Tank

Designed to replace the Matilda II and Valentine infantry tanks, the original design of the Churchill series of tanks was of the same philosophy as World War I-era tanks had been - large, heavily armored, but slow moving vehicles that pushed the front forward, clearing obstacles, trenches, and pillboxes for the advancing infantry. However, the advent of Blitzkrieg warfare made this design obsolete. In a panic, British designers tried to modernize the design before production began - but what came off the assembly lines in 1941 was arguably just as worse as the outdated design it had replaced, the first Churchill's were slow, mechanically unreliable, and had an extremely weak and ineffective armament. As the wartime Prime Minister it was named after declared "This tank even has more flaws than me myself!"

The entire program was almsot scrapped until designers finally produced the Mk. III, a far more modern and mechanically reliable vehicle with sufficient speed, armor, and firepower to challenge the German Panzers, which it did to great effect during the Second Battle of El Alamein in October of 1942. On D-Day in 1944, the Mk. VII - the type pictured above - received its baptism of fire as British and Canadian forces stormed onto the beaches of Normandy, it's new 75mm gun capable of disabling almost any German tank with a single blow, and soldiered on until war's end.

Churchill Mk.VII Vehicle Stats:
Type: Infantry tank
Manufacturer: Vauxhall
First deployed: 1942

Crew: 5
Length: 7.4 m
Width: 2.4 m
Height: 3.5 m
Weight: 40 tons

Armor: 152mm
Armament, primary: 1 x 75mm OQF Mk.V L/40 gun
Armament, secondary: 3 x 7.92mm Besa MG
Ammo stowage, primary: 84 rounds
Ammo stowage, secondary: 7,125 rounds

Powerplant: Bedford Flat 12 350hp water-cooled gasoline engine
Max speed: 20 km/h
Max range: 228km

Operators: Australia, Canada, Soviet Union, UK