Matilda (tank)
The Matilda I and II were British tanks in World War II .
Matilda I
| Infantry Tank Mk II Matilda I (A11) | |
|---|---|
Matilda I at the Bovington Tank Museum |
|
| General properties | |
| crew | 2 (commander, driver) |
| length | 4.85 m |
| width | 2.28 m |
| height | 1.86 m |
| Dimensions | 11 t |
| Armor and armament | |
| Armor | * Tub: 60 mm all around; 30 mm roof; 10 mm bottom
|
| Main armament | a Vickers MG caliber .303 "(7.7 mm) or .50" (12.7 mm) with 4000 rounds |
| agility | |
| drive | water-cooled Ford V-8 petrol engine 51 kW (70 PS) |
| Top speed | 13 km / h or 9 km / h (road / terrain) |
| Power / weight | 4.6 kW / t (6.5 HP / t) |
| Range | approx. 130 km (road) |
This tank, designed for infantry support , was produced by Vickers-Armstrong between 1937 and 1940 . He fought for the first time against the German army during the French campaign in 1940 as part of the British expeditionary corps . The armor of the tank, which was between 10 and 60 millimeters thick, was hardly penetrable for the weapons available to the German troops. The British request, the tank should as a rolling bunker serve, who came Matilda after it. Since the Matilda I (A 11) only carried a 7.7 mm MG as armament and was too slow with its speed of 12 km / h, it could only be used as a support weapon - it was ineffective against tanks. Despite its armor, it was completely outdated due to the changing tank tactics. Matilda I tanks - if captured by German troops - were therefore not used by them like many other captured vehicles, but scrapped for raw material extraction.
As with all British tanks of the Second World War, the commander had a Vickers 360 ° angle mirror MK.IV to observe the battlefield under armor protection.
The Matilda I still remaining after the withdrawal from Dunkirk of the 140 pieces produced were immediately decommissioned and replaced by the successor models Mark II (A12) and III .
Matilda II
| Infantry Tank Mark II Matilda II (A12) | |
|---|---|
Matilda II in the Puckapunyal Tank Museum |
|
| General properties | |
| crew | 4 (commander, gunner, loader, driver) |
| length | 6.02 m |
| width | 2.59 m |
| height | 2.51 m |
| Dimensions | 27 t |
| Armor and armament | |
| Armor | * Trough: 75-78 mm front; 65-75 mm sides; 55 mm stern; 20 mm roof / floor
|
| Main armament | a 2 pounder 40 mm gun with 93 rounds |
| Secondary armament | a Besa 7.92 mm MG (coaxial) with 2925 rounds |
| agility | |
| drive | two 6-cylinder diesel engines (AEC or Leyland) each 132 kW (180 PS) |
| Top speed | 24 km / h or 15 km / h (road / terrain) |
| Power / weight | 9.8 kW / t (13.3 PS / t) |
| Range | approx. 250 km (road) |
The Matilda II had already been used in France in a few copies. He had a 2-pounder cannon that could initially be used effectively against any German tank, the BESA machine gun was used as a secondary weapon . In addition, the armor had been reinforced to up to 90 millimeters. Most German weapons were ineffective against the armor of the Matilda II ; only the 8.8 cm anti-aircraft gun was able to penetrate it.
On the North African front in particular, the Matilda initially proved to be an effective weapon that was superior to the Italian tanks M13 / 40 , M11 / 39 and L3 / 33 . Since the Matilda II was able to destroy any Italian tank around 1940 without being endangered, it was nicknamed "Queen of the desert". In the later course of the African campaign - from March 1941, troops and tanks of the Wehrmacht were fighting here too - it became clear, however, that the Matilda II was no longer able to meet the requirements. The German Africa Corps had more modern tanks, the improved armor protection of which withstood the Matilda's 2-pounder cannon even at closer range. Due to the low speed of the Matilda II , which was only 25-30 km / h (depending on the ground position and additional weight) and was therefore slower than its German opponents, it usually did not achieve a favorable shooting distance against German tanks. This weak point became devastating when the Matilda encountered the German 8.8 cm anti-aircraft gun in its role as an anti-tank gun. The "eight-eight" was able to destroy a Matilda at a distance of 1,800 meters, which in turn had to get at least 500 meters from the gun emplacement in order to be able to return fire. This was a clear disadvantage for the tank in a desert landscape with little cover. Another disadvantage was that the 2-pounder cannon could not fire high-explosive shells and was therefore not very effective against infantry and gun operators.
The Matilda was therefore gradually replaced in North Africa from the end of 1941 by the more agile Valentine , as failed vehicles were no longer replaced. The Australian Army used their Matildas in the Pacific theater until the end of the war.
From 1939 to August 1943, around 3000 pieces of this combat vehicle were manufactured by Vulcan Foundry and several licensees. Around 1100 Matildas were delivered to the Soviet Union.
The Wehrmacht used Matilda II type captured tanks as "Infantry Panzerkampfwagen Mk II 748 (e)" (abbreviation I Pz Kpfw Mk II 748 (e)).
Trivia
In 1969 the novel Tramp in armor (German title: Gehetzt ) by Colin Forbes was published . He tells how a Matilda crew got behind the German lines during the French campaign (May / June 1940).
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thorsten Heber: The Atlantic Wall 1940–1945: The fortification of the coasts of Western and Northern Europe in the field of tension between National Socialist warfare and ideology. (PDF; 157 MB) Data sheets from other equipment, D 50/12 France. In: uni-duesseldorf.de. Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf , May 22, 2003, accessed on May 21, 2019 .
