Vickers Medium Mark II

Vickers Medium Mark II
Medium Mark II * (Special) in the Royal Australian Armored Corps Tank Museum, Puckapunyal, Victoria, Australia.
General properties
crew	5 (commander, driver, 2 gunner, loader)
length	17 ft 6 in (5.33 m)
width	9 ft 1.5 in (2.78 m)
height	8 ft 10 in (2.68 m)
Dimensions	12 t
Armor and armament
Armor	6.25-8 mm
Main armament	Ordnance QF 3 pounder gun (caliber 47 mm) 4 × 0.303 (7.7 mm) Hotchkiss M1909 2 × 7.7 × 56 mm R - Vickers machine gun
agility
drive	8-cylinder Armstrong Siddeley engine 90 hp (67 kW)
Top speed	21 km / h
Power / weight	8 hp / t
Range	193 km

The Vickers Medium Mark II was a British tank built by Vickers in the interwar period .

The Medium Mark II was a further development of the Vickers Medium Mark I and was supposed to replace the few Medium Mark C that were still in service . Production and renovations dragged on from 1925 to 1934. In 1939 the last vehicle was taken out of service and the Cruiser Tank Mk. I (A9) was available as a replacement .

Compared to the "Vickers Mark I" some improvements were made: a higher structure with a raised driver's seat, an improved suspension that was covered by steel aprons and Rackham couplings, which were a simple form of mechanical steering assistance. Due to a slightly higher weight, its speed of 13 mph (20.8 km / h) instead of 15 mph (24 km / h) was slightly lower than that of the "Medium Mark I".

Appearance

The "Mark II" used the same hull, the same suspension and the same gearbox as the "Mark I" but had different superstructures.

It was equipped with an Ordnance QF 3 pounder gun (47 mm caliber) and four machine guns in the turret. There was a hatch in the back of the tower so that a machine gun could be used for air defense. On the rear side there was a Vickers machine gun on the left and right

Mission history

The "Vickers Medium Mark II" and its predecessor "Vickers Medium Mark I" also replaced the Mark V tanks that were still in service . Both types were used by the Royal Tank Regiment until the start of the segregation phase in 1938. The vehicle was first used in combat when two specimens were used against rebel tribes on the north-western border in India in 1935 .

In November 1939, some of the vehicles were sent to Egypt , where they were to be used for experiments by the Mobile Division (Egypt) under the command of Major-General Sir Percy Hobart . The tests were stopped before the Italian declaration of war in June 1940, the vehicles were taken out of combat and only used for driving school training. No roadworthy Vickers Medium Mark II faced the Italian invasion of Egypt in September 1940, but at least one was buried in the British defense line at Mersa Matruh as a bunker gun. According to the documentation "Wavell's 30,000", some tanks that look at least similar to the "Mark II" are said to have supported the British infantry in the fight against Graziani's troops in the western desert. The conscious vehicles can be seen in the period 35: 28–35: 37.

During preparations to fend off a German invasion of Great Britain during World War II , some of these obsolete vehicles were reactivated for a short time in the summer of 1940, but were not used.

variants

Unarmed Vickers Medium Mk IIA in the United States Army Ordnance Museum, Aberdeen, Maryland

• Mark II : First version, of which about 100 copies were made
• Mark II * : 56 vehicles were converted. They were given a coaxial Vickers machine gun and the commander's seat was moved back a little to prevent the cannon bolt from hitting him in the stomach when the gun returned.
• Mark IIA : 20 of these copies were made in 1930. The bevel at the rear of the tower was omitted, and an electric fan was installed under armor protection on the left side.
• Mark II ** : In 1932 the remaining 44 vehicles were equipped with a radio in an armored container at the rear of the turret. The weight increased to 13.5 short tons (12.24 t).
• Mark IIA * : 20 Mark IIAs have been converted to Mark II ** standard.
• Medium Mark II Tropical : In 1928 five vehicles were transported to Egypt. Attempts were made to insulate them from the intense heat, for example by placing asbestos sheets on top.
• Mark IIA CS : Some Mark IIAs were later converted to Close support vehicles. The gun was a 93-mm howitzer replaced (15-pounder howitzer 3.7 inch) mainly for firing smoke grenades was thought there were also some explosive shells carried. Each headquarters company was equipped with two such vehicles. The weight increased to 14 tons.
• Mark D  : The "Vickers Mark D" was a separate model that was built for the Free State of Ireland and delivered in 1929. It had a more powerful engine (air-cooled six-cylinder Sunbeam Amazon in-line engine with 9.26 l displacement and 160 hp (119 kW) at 2100 revolutions per minute). A QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss cannon and four Vickers .303 machine guns served as armament. The vehicles were scrapped in 1940.
• Medium II bridge carrier : test subject. The aim was to find out whether the Mark II could be converted into a bridge-laying tank. The project was discontinued.
• Medium II Female : Two special vehicles were built for British India in 1927 under the command of Lieutenant JT Crocker . The turret had no cannon, only four Vickers machine guns. Although they were still "Mark II" and thus medium tanks and were called that in common parlance, the official name was Tank Light Mark IA Special (L) India .
• Medium II Box Tank : Single example of a “Mark II”, the tower of which was removed in 1928 and replaced by a rectangular armored box. The armament consisted of a machine gun in a ball screen on the front of the box. Two radios were installed; one for communication over a short distance and another for longer distances. The vehicle was first used by a battalion commander and then by a brigade commander.
• Medium Mark II * Special : Four vehicles were built for Australia in 1929 . Here the coaxial machine gun was on the left in the turret and another Vickers machine gun on the right side of the turret.
• Medium Mark II * Command Tank : Another command vehicle was produced for the Tank Brigade in 1931. The cannon was replaced by a dummy, which was used to install a second radio. The tower was welded and not rotatable.
• English Workman : This is the nickname the Russians gave to the 15 (or 16) "Vickers Medium Mk.II" that were delivered to them in 1931. This variant had no dome, less pronounced tower slopes and covered fans on the sides of the fuselage. The Finns found around half a dozen without engines during the German-Soviet War in autumn 1941.

Birch gun

• Birch gun : Three prototypes of a self-propelled gun built between 1926 and 1929 for experiments in the field of mechanized warfare were called “Birch guns ”. The "Mark I" carried the Ordnance QF 18 pdr (caliber 84 mm), the "Mark II" chassis was lengthened and equipped with a 75 mm cannon with an enlarged elevation range.

Existing copies

Vickers Medium Mark II at the Bovington Tank Museum

Some Vickers Medium Mark II are still standing in different places around the world.

• Hull number E1949.330 is in The Tank Museum in Dorset , England .
• One vehicle is in the "US Army Center for Military History Storage Facility", Anniston (Alabama) (USA).
• A vehicle is in the "Royal Australian Armored Corps Tank Museum", Puckapunyal Army Base , Victoria (Australia) .

• A "Vickers Medium Mk IIA" is in the "United States Army Ordnance Museum", Aberdeen (Maryland)

Footnotes

1. ↑ Macksey: Beda Fomm: The Classic Victory. P. 45.
2. ^ "Wavell's 30,000"
3. ↑ ^{a b c} N. W. Duncan: Medium Marks I - III.
4. ↑ Steven J. Zaloga, James Grandsen: Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two. Editeur Arms and Armor Press, ISBN 0-85368-606-8 , p. 48.
5. ↑ Birch cannon
6. ^ Tank Medium, Mark II * (E1949.330) . Retrieved January 9, 2017.
7. ^ Surviving British Tankettes, Light and Medium Tanks . Retrieved January 9, 2017.
8. ^ Surviving British Tankettes, Light and Medium Tanks . Retrieved January 9, 2017.

literature

• Major Kenneth Macksey: Ballentine's Illustrated History of the Violent Century. Battle Book Number 22. (Beda Fomm: Classic Victory) published by Ballantine Books 1971
• Major-General NW Duncan: AFV Profile 12. (Medium Marks I - III) Publisher Profile Publications

Web links

Commons : Vickers Medium Mark II  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Vickers Medium Tank