- Yes
- No
Hello, I’m suggesting the Churchill Mk II in Canadian service.
History:
The Churchill Mk II would enter service with the Canadian Army Overseas on the 10th of July 1941 after receiving them straight for the production line at Vauxhall Motors. This would occur because the army tank battalions of the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade lacked the tanks to equip them, as due to production delays they couldn’t be equipped with the Canadian Built Valentine Tanks as planned. This would lead to Canada asking the British War Office if they could lend tanks to the incoming Brigade with the plan to replace the lent tanks with Canadian-built ones as soon as they became available. In order for this endeavour to be successful the invaluable support from the British Army’s Commander of the Royal Armoured Corps was received, this had let the Brigade be able to draw enough equipment for a respectful training scale. Due to equipment available, it was arranged with the British so the 11th Canadian Army Tank would be equipped with Churchill Tanks, well the 12th and 14th Canadian Army Tank Battalions would be equipped with the Matilda II until more Churchills became available. The Ontario Regiment would hold 12 Churchill Mk IIs by the 9th of August, 1941, and that would grow to 19 tanks by September.
Due to the fact the Churchill Mk II was new, the Ontario Regiment would be tasked with experimentation and tank trials along with training for tank crews. They would have a representative of Vauxhall Motors Limited was attached to the headquarters of the 1st Canadian Army Tank Bridge, they were to record and report on the performance of the tanks. In the regiments history of the period, it would state that they constantly had problems with the mechanically unreliable early-model Churchill tanks, going so far as to describe them as “having bugs in their guts”. Despite these issues, the commanding officer of the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade had faith in the tank and had requested for his entire Brigade to be equipped with it, something the British War Office agreed to. The Vauxhall representative would revive a steady stream of information from the crews which would be sent back to Vauxhall Motors, which would lead to modifications and improvements to the tank. The Ontario regiment would hold 44 Churchill Mk II by the 1st of November 1941, which would put them just shy of its authorized strength of 52 tanks.
The Three Rivers and Calgary Regiment would begin being issued the Churchill Mk II on the 6th of November 1941. By the 30th, Three Rivers would hold 6 and Calgary would 19 these numbers would only continue to grow for the next little bit. With Three Rivers having 42 and Calgary 30 by the 31st of December 1941, and by January 31st, the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade would have 143 Churchill Mk II tanks, which were divided as follows: 58 with the Ontario Regiment, Three Rivers with 50 and Calgary holding 35. Although this grand number wouldn’t last too long, as in April of 1942, the Churchill Mk II tanks in Canadian hands would start to be withdrawn and replaced by the Mk III. To follow up on this move, even more Churchill Mk IIs would be handed in on the 30th of May in 1942 as part of a rework programme.
The Calgary Regiment would hold 15 Churchill Mk II tanks by the time of Operation Jubilee. They would lose 4 of this Churchill mark at Dieppe, with the rest being able to make it back to England due to one reason or another. It would take until the 23rd of October 1942 that these losses would be replaced.
Like with the other Churhills, by the 19th of March 1943, it was decided to re-equip the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade with Canadian-built Ram IIs. The withdrawal would begin on the 22nd of March 1943 and would slowly happen until the 12th of April 1943. Canada would operate an approximate total of 182 Churchill Mk II between the 10th of July 1941 and the 19th of March 1943.
Other photos
Specs:
Weight: 39.1 t (38.5 long tons) (Mark I), 40.7 t (40.1 long tons) (Mark VII)
Length: 24 ft 5 in (7.44 m)
Width: 10 ft 8 in (3.25 m)
Height: 8 ft 2 in (2.49 m)
Crew: 5 (commander, gunner, loader/radio operator, driver, co-driver/hull gunner)
Main Armament: QF 2 pounder
Secondary Armament: Two 7.92mm Besa machine guns
Engine: Bedford 12-cylinder, 4 stroke, water-cooled, horizontally opposed, L-head petrol engine, 350 hp (261 kW) at 2,200 rpm
Operational Range: 56 miles (90 km)
Speed: 15 mph (24 km/h)
Armour: 102 mm hull front, 76 mm hull side, 51 mm hull rear, 89 mm turret front, 76 mm turret side and rear.