British Interwar Tanks That Need Adding to War Thunder

Toreno

Continuing our look at Interwar tanks that need adding to War Thunder, we now take a look at some of the British tanks of the period.  So join me as we take a brief look at the Britain's situation after World War I and look at some of its very successful early attempts at developing tanks and prototypes of later tanks that didn't quite work out.  Social Media ⬇️ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/toreno.bsky.social Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Toreno4 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toreno170 Mastodon: Toreno17@mastodon.social Threads: https://www.threads.net/@toreno170 Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Toreno17 Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/toreno5/videos  Sources⬇️ Duncan, N.W. (1970) Profiles AFV No.12 Medium Marks I-III. Profile Publications Ltd. Fletcher, D. (2011) Mark V Tank. Osprey Publishing. Hogg, V.F. (2000) The Greenhill Armoured Fighting Vehicles Data Book. Greenhill Books. Jones, R.E. (1933) The Fighting Tanks Since 1916. The National Service Publishing Company, Washington, D.C. Handbook for the Q.F. 18-pr. gun, mk. IV on carriages, field, mks. III, IIIt, III and IV land service* (1921). Handbook of the Ordnance, Q.F 18 pr. (1940). Tankarchives.ca (Accessed 27/08/2024) Tanks Encyclopedia. (Accessed 26/08/2024)   Game: War Thunder  ⬅️  Britain's situation after World War 1: 00:00 Vickers No.1 and No.2 tanks: 01:55 Vickers Medium Mark I and II: 05:05 A6 "Sixteen Tonner" and Medium Mark III: 08:54 A7 Medium Tank: 12:38 Carden Loyd and Morris Martel: 15:30 Light Tank MK V and VI: 16:14 Birch Gun: 17:27  #warthunder #uk #british #tanks #vickers #a7 #a6 #mediumtank #1920s #1930s

Transcript

00:00Hello everybody, Trueno here, and welcome to this next episode of my series looking at interwar

00:05tanks I think should be added to War Thunder, and today we will be taking a look at the British

00:11interwar tanks. So, like in previous episodes, we'll do a quick recap of Britain's situation

00:17after World War 1. Britain and its entente allies had won the war, in large part due to the use of

00:23tanks. Of course, Britain was the first nation to deploy tanks in the form of the heavy tanks

00:27that people generally associate with World War 1, with these later being joined by the swifter,

00:33more mobile medium tanks like the Whippet and the lesser known Medium Mark B and Mark C.

00:39However, by the end of the war, all of these designs had been surpassed by the FT-17,

00:44which would of course go on to influence most future tank designs. While the British World

00:49War 1 tanks were generally seen as more of a dead end and were quite obsolete by the end of the war,

00:55not to mention due to being used extensively during the war, most of the existing British

01:00tanks were mechanically worn out. So, Britain was generally forced to rely on some of the newer

01:05designs like the Mark C, which would struggle a little bit in any future conflicts. To top things

01:11all off, Britain was financially in a bad place, and there wasn't much enthusiasm for massive

01:16military spending in the aftermath of the war. However, there were a few bright spots,

01:24because of course while Britain did suffer large casualties during the war, the UK as a whole was

01:28mostly left untouched, outside of air raids and the occasional shore bombardment. So,

01:34the industry was all still there and was still running. And because Britain didn't have that

01:39many tanks left after the war, there would still be a need for replacement tanks, though preferably

01:45cheap replacement tanks. So, unlike France, there was a bit more impetus to develop new tanks,

01:50and there wasn't really much of an effort to upgrade existing British designs.

01:55So, the first tanks we will be looking at are the Vickers No. 1 and No. 2 Light Tanks,

02:00which came about from a requirement for a light tank that was capable of operating in

02:04tropical climates, and the resulting design is a rather interesting mix of old and new,

02:11with the hull's rhomboid shape resembling earlier WW1 tanks, while a turret has now been fitted,

02:17which is possibly one of the first British designs to actually have a turret,

02:21bearing in mind it's now the early 1920s. Despite the somewhat archaic appearance,

02:26the No. 2 tank had a total weight of 10 tonnes, so only 4 tonnes more than the French Renault FT-17,

02:33which allowed the 86 horsepower petrol engine to drive the tank to a top speed of

02:3915 mph or 24 kmh, so much faster than earlier British tanks. The engine has also been moved

02:47to the rear of the tank in its own separate compartment, allowing for the main crew to

02:51be positioned at the front of the tank and away from the engine. Most sources do say that there

02:56would have been 5 crewmembers, with the turret containing 3 crewmembers, while the driver would

03:01be at the front of the tank. As for the last crewmember, perhaps this was a mechanic or

03:06similar role, which may not have always been present on the tank. The armour is unfortunately

03:11not the best compared to other interwar tanks, only maxing out at 12.7mm, which doesn't protect

03:19against much more than small arms fire, with even heavy machine guns likely to be able to

03:24penetrate it, though the turret does look slightly rounded, which might help matters there at least.

03:29Unfortunately, the No. 1 tank only had 4 Hotchkiss machine guns in the turret,

03:34but on the No. 2 this was upgraded to carry a 47mm quick-firing 3-pounder gun,

03:40which in-game fires an APHE shell with 38mm penetration at 500m, so no doubt this would

03:48be a very effective weapon, capable of dealing with practically all WW1 tanks and most of the

03:55interwar tanks, making it a tank to be looked out for on the battlefield. A Hotchkiss machine gun

04:00was also fitted to the rear of the No. 2 tank, which might help against some soft-skin vehicles.

04:06In real life, the Vickers No. 1 was tested before the No. 2 was built,

04:10and that had a less powerful 73hp petrol engine. Due to this, reliability problems and the design

04:17of the tracks, it did not do very well in trials, and despite upgrades being carried out it doesn't

04:23seem that any further tests were done on the No. 1 tank. The No. 2 tank was also tested,

04:29but again mechanical problems arose and this tank would be scrapped in 1927,

04:34ending the career of these two tanks. In War Thunder however, I think the No. 2 could work

04:40very well as an interim design between the WW1 era tanks and the later Vickers medium tanks,

04:46or alternatively it could be a good event vehicle, probably at 0.7-1.0, with the tank being able to

04:54quickly get around the battlefield and deliver deadly fire from its 47mm gun, while being

05:00vulnerable to return fire if it does get caught out in the open.

05:05So, the No. 1 and No. 2 tanks weren't the best tanks in the world, but some of their features

05:11did show a lot of promise. So Vickers sat down and designed a new light tank, which initially

05:17entered service as a light tank but was later re-designated as a medium tank, giving us the

05:23Vickers Medium Mark I. The chassis was now of a much more modern construction, though due to being

05:29designed as a light tank it is severely under-armoured, with a maximum thickness of just

05:356.25mm, practically thin enough for small arms fire to have a chance of penetrating the tank,

05:41but due to the low armour thickness and the 90hp engine, the tank was able to quickly get around

05:46the battlefields with a top speed of 15mph or 24kmh, so it can at least avoid battles with

05:54heavier, slower tanks if required. The turret housed the L32 47mm 3lb gun, as well as up to

06:02four Hotchkiss machine guns, three of these were fitted throughout the turret and one was next to

06:06the main gun, while two Vickers machine guns were also fitted, one for each flank of the hull,

06:13though not all of the guns were manned at the same time. Lastly, the crew was five,

06:18with the driver and machine gunner in the hull, and the loader, commander and gunner in the turret,

06:23allowing for redundancy in crew losses in-game, and in real life allowed for delegation of duties,

06:30unlike some tanks where the commander had to do two or even all three roles at the same time.

06:36Unfortunately, unlike the previous Number 2 design, the engine is now placed in the

06:40hull next to the driver, a retrograde step which no doubt made conditions worse for the crew.

06:47The Mk1 would go on to have a few variants with minor improvements,

06:51such as the Mk1A which now has 8mm of armour at vertical plates and a bevel at the rear of the

06:57turret, while the Mk1A Star added a Bishop's Miter cupola to the turret and a counterbalance

07:03at the turret rear. The Medium Tank Mk1 would quickly be followed on by the Medium Tank Mk2,

07:10which is very similar to the Mk1 and basically represents a minor upgrade,

07:15with one of these being the installation of a length 43lb gun, increasing the muzzle velocity

07:20and thus potentially the armour penetration. Again, there are a few variants like the Mk2 Star,

07:33which just adds the same upgrades as the Mk1A Star, and there is also the Mk2 2 Star,

07:39which adds radios and doesn't have the Bishop's Miter cupola, and then lastly the Mk2A and A Star,

07:46which had minor changes to tanks that were operating in Egypt.

07:51In real life, these two tanks would be made in large numbers, with just under 300 of both

07:56types being constructed from 1924 to 1927, at a time when no other nations were really building

08:02modern tanks in any decent numbers. The tanks would be in service until about 1938 when they

08:08would start being withdrawn, but some were still around during WWII, with some reactivated to

08:15defend the UK, with two of the tanks even taking part in battles in Egypt, though most of the

08:21tanks would end up being scrapped or used as ranged targets. In War Thunder however, I think

08:26these would make great tanks that would, again like the No.2 tank, bridge the gap between the

08:31slower, older and less well-armed WWI tanks and the WWII tanks, again possibly at 0.7-1.0,

08:39with the Vickers Mediums able to quickly get around the battlefield and rain fire with their

08:44firing 47mm guns, though of course their weak armour would represent a massive weakness

08:49that would entail having to try and avoid any stand-up fights.

08:54So, Britain now had a modern tank available in large numbers which could start replacing its

08:59older, worn-out WWI era tanks, putting Britain in a pretty good place with regards to tanks.

09:05But even as the new Vickers tanks were being produced, work was begun on their replacement,

09:11as while they were technically listed as medium tanks, like I mentioned at the beginning,

09:15they were designed as light tanks, and thus they did have a few problems that needed fixing,

09:20like their thin armour. Unfortunately, this is also where things start to go a little bit wrong

09:24with British tank development. So in 1926, with a requirement for a medium tank design weighing no

09:31more than 15.5 tonnes, Vickers started producing a design which would be given the designation A6,

09:37though they would often be called 16-tonners because that's how much the prototypes ended up

09:42weighing. The armour was improved over the Mk2s, being about 13mm for the front of the tank,

09:49though reducing to 7mm for the rest of the tank, which is an improvement but still leaves you

09:54quite horribly vulnerable to heavy calibre machine guns, while the engine was supposed

09:58to give a top speed of 20mph or 32kmh, and it was armed with a 47mm 3-pounder gun,

10:06plus coaxial machine gun in the turret. But also interestingly, there were three machine gun

10:11turrets, two with twin machine guns at the front, though in the third prototype this was reduced to

10:17a single machine gun for these turrets, and then there was a rear turret which had a machine gun

10:22for anti-air defence. So all in all, this armament was pretty good for against tanks,

10:28soft targets, and even potentially aircraft, especially if used against slower interwar

10:33aircraft. Of course, all of this required a higher crew of 7 to actually man all of these

10:38turrets, as well as unfortunately reducing the gun turret crew to 2, which is a retrograde step

10:45compared to the Mk1 and Mk2. Three prototypes would be produced and put through tests,

10:51where the tank was actually faster than envisioned, reaching a top speed of 26mph or 41.8kmh.

10:58Despite this, the tank wasn't seen as a huge improvement over the already in service tanks,

11:04and wasn't ordered for further production. Not wanting to give up, Vickers would take another

11:10crack at the design, and in 1928 a modified design named the Medium Mk3 was produced,

11:16with the main changes being to remove the rear turret, reduce the crew to 6,

11:21and improve the armour to 14mm for the front and 9mm elsewhere,

11:25which increased the weight to 16 tonnes. It also somehow, at least according to AFV Profiles 12,

11:32resulted in its top speed increasing to 30mph or 48kmh, despite not actually changing the engine.

11:40Again, three prototypes would be produced, and in 1930 tests would again be carried out,

11:46which this time went better and resulted in the three tanks being brought and entering service

11:50in 1933. But again, no more orders were made, and by 1940 all had been destroyed in accidents or

11:57scrapped. However, the multi-turreted nature of these prototypes and the independent tank

12:03would go on to influence other nations' tank designs in the interwar period.

12:08However, in War Thunder these two tanks would make good follow-up tanks from the Mk1 and 2,

12:13probably at 1.0, with the initial A6 prototypes having an advantage with the larger crew

12:19and vast array of machine guns for use against soft skin and aerial targets,

12:24while the medium Mk3 would have slightly better armour and a massive advantage in speed,

12:29which would make this one of the better tanks for British players to use in the early tiers

12:33before reaching the WWII era cruiser tanks. Around this time there was also a competitor

12:40design, the A7, though this time from the Royal Ordnance Factory at Woolwich, which again resulted

12:47in three prototypes, the A7E1 to E3, with some minor differences between these prototypes.

12:54One thing that is common to all of the prototypes is that there is no machine gun turrets installed,

13:00which in real life was a good change, but in-game does remove some redundancy for

13:05crew losses, as the crew complement is now reduced to five. The armour is 14mm for the

13:11front and 9mm elsewhere like on the medium Mk3, though it seems soft steel was used for the

13:16prototypes, which wouldn't be that effective, though in-game it would probably have actual

13:21armour, and again the armament was initially the 47mm 3lb gun, though in the case of the E2 and

13:28E3 prototypes, the turret was later modified to use the 40mm 2lb gun, with a penetration of 52mm

13:36at 500m with the stock AP shell, versus 38mm for the 47mm gun's APHE shell, so much more powerful,

13:45but of course lacking in killing power after penetration. Lastly, the first two tanks used

13:51a 120hp engine, while the E3 used a twin 6-cylinder AEC 252hp engine, which resulted

14:00in the E1 and E2 struggling to get past 15mph or 24kmh, while the E3 could reach about 25mph

14:08or 40kmh, though even this was limited by the suspension. Again, the design showed some promise,

14:15but in 1937 development was stopped and went no further, though the turret design would go on to

14:20be used in the A9 and A10 cruiser tanks, while the E3's engine would be used for the Matilda II

14:27infantry tank, so at least the A7 did make a good contribution to British tank development.

14:33In-game, I think all of the variants could be added, both with the 47mm and 40mm guns,

14:39probably around 0.7-1.0, as these represent good tank designs, able to hit hard and get

14:46around a decent speed, but let down by their suspension and, again, their lack of armour.

14:53So unfortunately, despite some early successes in the 1920s, after almost 10 years of subsequent

14:59development, Britain didn't really have a worthy successor to the Vickers medium tanks,

15:04and this would be the case until the creation of the Cruiser Mark I and Matilda II in the late

15:081930s, and even then Britain only had 143 modern tanks in service at the start of WWII. Of course,

15:17there is one more design in the ever-famous Vickers 6-ton tank, which is already in the

15:22game in the Finnish sub-tree, and four were used for training by Britain, and so it could be added

15:27in the British tech tree relatively easily. Like with France and Germany, there was also

15:33a number of machine gun armed British tanks and tankettes from this era, primarily for use in the

15:39colonies and as reconnaissance tanks, from the one and two man Morris Martel, to the more famous

15:45Carden Lloyd and Light Tanks Mark I to Mark VI. The Morris Martel and Carden Lloyd tankettes would

15:52likely be very difficult to use in-game, as though they were very fast, they had very light armour

15:57and limited rifle calibre machine gun armament, though the Carden Lloyd would go on to be sold

16:02in large numbers to other nations, and would be the basis of numerous tank designs abroad,

16:08and both tankettes could be added at a very low battle rating of 0.0 to 0.3.

16:14But some of the light tank designs could fare a little bit better in-game,

16:18particularly the Mark V and Mark VI, which were fitted with a .303 machine gun,

16:23but also a .50 calibre Vickers machine gun, which in-game would have a penetration of

16:2824mm at 500m with AP bullets, which is a pretty respectable performance,

16:34especially in the interwar era where armour is usually pretty thin.

16:38The Mark VI C did carry a 15mm Besser machine gun instead, but I don't think the performance

16:45on that is drastically different, but it could still be added. As to be expected from a light

16:50tank, speed is pretty good at around 35mph or 56kmh for the Mark VI, though the armour only

16:57maxes out at around 15mm, but a three man crew is carried, which is a pretty good feature.

17:03The Mark V and Mark VI would be pretty good light tanks for the early tiers,

17:07probably at around 0.7 to 1.0, mostly geared towards recon, work and engaging soft skin

17:14vehicles, but can even tussle with tanks if flanking or sometimes even frontally if used

17:20against very early tanks with thin armour, which could make these very dangerous foes to contend

17:25with. As well as regular tanks, Britain did also experiment with SPGs, which in 1923 resulted in

17:34the creation of the Birch Gun, which used a modified medium Mark II chassis fitted with an

17:4018-pounder 83.8mm gun, with 360 degrees coverage, and could in theory be used against ground and

17:48aerial targets, though I suspect in-game it would primarily be used as a tank destroyer.

17:54In real life it seems only HE, smoke and shrapnel shells were carried by the Birch Gun,

17:59but by 1939 an APHE shell had been produced, so potentially this could be used as well,

18:05where I suspect it would perform about the same as the 75mm on the Char II C,

18:10while the HE shells wouldn't perform as well due to having less than 1kg of explosive,

18:15which might cause some issues, but at least it would be useful against soft skin vehicles.

18:20As for the rest of the stats, the 5-man gun crew plus driver are completely exposed,

18:26so even machine gun fire would be lethal to this vehicle, while the top speed is about

18:3018mph or 29kmh, which is pretty respectable. Four examples of the Birch Gun would be constructed

18:37and put through testing in 1926-27, and these performed well compared to towed guns,

18:43but some changes were recommended, so two new Birch Guns were ordered to the new specification,

18:49with one of the big differences being a half-enclosed turret for the crew,

18:53which does provide some limited protection, but increases the weight of the vehicle by 1 tonne,

18:58reducing the top speed to 16mph or 25.7kmh, so a bit slower, but still at a respectable speed.

19:07Despite this, the guns still performed well in testing,

19:11but the program was still ultimately ended, not because of any issues with the tank themselves,

19:16but due to the fact that many army officers of the time just didn't see the need for a

19:20self-propelled gun, instead preferring wheeled guns towed by tractors.

19:25And to be fair, there are some advantages, towed guns can be a little bit easier to conceal,

19:30and of course the Birch Gun, even with the gun shield, is still pretty vulnerable,

19:34which to me just seems like an argument to have both types of equipment,

19:37but I suppose with limited funds, that does make the decision a little bit easier,

19:41though Britain would end up having to develop SPGs during World War 2 anyway,

19:44so obviously wasn't the best decision in hindsight.

19:48In War Thunder, however, I think both variants could do very well, probably at Battle Rating 1.0,

19:54as they give some much-needed fire support for British tanks that so often lack Large

19:58Calibre AP or HE shells at the early tiers. And although the initial version is completely

20:04unarmoured, the later variant with the half-enclosed turret does provide at least

20:08some protection from machine guns, making this a decent vehicle to use for long range shooting.

20:14And so, that's it for this episode looking at British interwar tanks that I think should be

20:19added to War Thunder. I'd be interested in your thoughts on these vehicles,

20:23as well as any other tanks you'd like me to cover. I look forward to reading your comments below.

20:28So I'll probably be covering the Americans for the next episode, and hopefully we should have

20:32quite a few vehicles there which should be interesting, and I hope you'll join me for

20:36that video. So anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the episode, I've been Tyranno, and I'll see you next

20:41time.

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