Archer (tank)

Archer SP 17
Archer in the field
General properties
crew	4 (commander, driver, gunner, loader)
length	6.70 m
width	2.76 m
height	2.25 m
Dimensions	15 t
Armor and armament
Armor	14-60 mm
Main armament	76.2 mm L / 55 QF 17 pounder
Secondary armament	7.7mm Bren LMG
agility
drive	GMC 6-71 6-cylinder diesel engine 165 HP
suspension	Torsion bar
Top speed	24 km / h (road)
Power / weight	11 hp / t
Range	230 km

The Archer was a British tank destroyer that was developed on the basis of a Valentine tank during World War II to carry the heavy 17-pounder (76.2 mm) anti-tank gun.

Development and use

A British tank destroyer based on the chassis of the Valentine tank had been developed under the name Archer by March 1943. Above the fighting area, the superstructure was open, the gun pointed to the rear. Nevertheless, the vehicle was considered reliable and effective. The anti-tank battalions of the British armored divisions were equipped with the Archer from October 1944.

After 1945

After the war, around 200 Archer were still used by the Egyptian and more by the Syrian army , which had bought the last copies of the tank from the British.

Before the Suez crisis, the Egyptians equipped at least four batteries with 11 vehicles each. In 1956, during the fighting, the Israelis destroyed or captured 40 of the Egyptian archer in Operation Kadesh alone on the Sinai Peninsula .

gallery

• 

  Archer SP 17 pdr in February 1945 in the partially flooded Kranenburg .

• 

  Archer SP 17 pdr on February 9, 1945 near Nütterden .

• 

  Archer SP 17 pdr exhibited at Overloon in the Netherlands.

• 

  An Egyptian archer after being destroyed by Israeli forces in 1956, south-east of al-Arish .

• 

  View to the stern with the driver's seat and the two levers for steering with the chains in a destroyed archer near Jad Mordechai in Israel.

Web links

Commons : Archer  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• "Archer Tank Destroyer" on wwiiequipment.com (English)
• "Archer Tank Destroyer" on wwiivehicles.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Anthony Tucker-Jones: " Armored Warfare in the Arab-Israeli Conflicts ", 2013, Pen & Sword, ISBN 978-1848848054 , p. 41 ff.