infantry tank

Churchill 1 or Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) by official designation, is a WWII era 39 t infantry tank made by British engineers. During the WWII A22 tank served in multiple armies including UK, USSR and Poland. Later in 1950’s Churchill served in Korean war for Soviet army. The manufacturing process was started in 1941 with 303 Churchill 1 tanks produced in the first phase. The last Churchill VIII tank was manufactured a year before WWII was ended in 1944.

Highlights of Churchill 1

Starting from the external appearance, the first thing you will notice in the Churchill 1 tank is its abnormal design. The all around track design with multiple bogies was not a very common thing to see during that era. It was well known for its ability to climb steep slopes and to maintain stability in all terrain.

Comparing to most other infantry tanks Churchill has one of the best service records. The A22 fought in many wars including in North Africa, Italy, India, Korean war, USSR army and Irish Army.

The history of Churchill Tanks

After the experience gained in the WWI, with the threat of Germans invading Britain growing, the designers of Churchill tank was advised to build a tank to face all types of terrain in European region. With the new innovative infantry tank concept implemented in England, the concern was raised to develop a supplementary infantry tank to fight together with Matilda and Valentine tanks.

Development of A20 tank

A20 tank is the true prototype of Churchill 1 tank. A20 was not actually a totally new development. In 1939 A20 was manufactured with the help of Matilda tanks blue prints. The purpose of the new development was to attack fixed baseline defense and to support infantry to advance.

The armour was designed to resist German’s 37mm Pak 36 anti tank guns. Only 60mm of maximum armour was provided to minimize the tank weight.

Matilda turret was installed to newly designed body without much modification . In the testing phase, A20 repeatedly broke down and frequent services were required to maintain tanks functionality.

Features of A20

First in the designing phase, many different suggestions were made about choosing armament for the tank. The general staff suggested to install two 40mm QF 2 pounder guns in each side installed in a sponson. They also recommended to install two coaxial Besa machine guns in each side. Another Besa MG and a smoke projector was recommended to be installed in the front hull area.

Power and design of A20

A20 tank roughly weighted 32 tons. To drive this heavy tank a 300 hp flat-12 meadows engine was mounted to the tank. This limited power to weight ratio to 9.37 hp/t which is not a very good ratio for a infantry tank. Already been a consultant to the project Vauxhall motors was given a task to develop a new engine for A20.

It was a whole new level of experience for Vauxhall motors. Their engineers never had prior experience in working with tracked vehicle manufacturing. But, surprisingly they developed a new 350 hp petrol engine for A20 within a very short period of time.

Final armament arrangement of A20

Construction began in 1940’s. Due to the material shortages, cost and other reasons the designers decided to reconsider the armament arrangement. 6-pounder gun and a french 75mm gun was recommended to fit as the hull main gun. But, the issue with QF 6 pounder is that the barrel is too long. (8ft) Finally, it was decided to fit a 3-inch howitzer.

Ordnance QF 3-inch howitzer

The howitzer was mounted in the front hull. The same design was used in A22 Mk1 tank. The pounder 2 gun was mounted in the turret as the primary armament. But, in few Churchill Mk II tanks, the arrangement was changed and the pounder was brought to the hull and howitzer was fitted to the turret.

Failure of howitzer

Churchill tanks were designed to climb steep slopes and to run in the muddy terrain of England. Due to mud frequently depositing on the hull front, most of the time the howitzer was blocked and not functional.

The ordnance QF howitzer was designed and able to fire high explosive howitzer rounds. But, the ammunition was not available by the time. It was only used to fire smoke ammunition to smoke parts in enemy territories.

Troubling to manufacture A22 Churchill 1

By the time howitzer gun was rare in the market and really expensive to produce. When 300 units of Mk1 tanks manufactured, the market almost ran out of ordnance QF howitzer guns. So, the design engineers decided to replace the howitzer gun with a machine gun starting from Mk ii variant.

Development of A22

After 1939 Battle of France, the general staff understood the upcoming war scenario. Dr Henry Merritt was the director of tank design at the Royal arsenal by the time. Dr Henry and the tank design department developed new specifications to match growing European conditions and in June 1940 appointed Vauxhall for the new development project.

Efficient designing and manufacturing process

With the war almost waiting near the gates, the military had urgent requirement of having as much as tanks in the battlefield. Vauxhall was given a tight schedule to complete the project and start manufacturing of A22 tanks within a year.

Just after a month in July 1940 Vauxhall completed the new design and after another five months they completed the first prototype tanks. Serial production of A22 started right after the prototype development and in June 1941 the first completed tanks entered service, as expected by the general staff.

Naming the  A22

By the time of A22 entering production, Sir Winston Churchill was the prime minister of England. Sir Churchill was founder of Landship committee, an organization which was formed during the WWI. This committee promoted the idea of developing AFV (Armored fighting vehicles) during the WWI. The tank was named after Sir Winston Churchill honoring his contribution for tank development.

However, some people believe A22 is named after John Churchill, who is the first Duke of Marlborough.

Design of Churchill 1 A22 Tank

Side of the tank

Unlike many of other tanks the idler in the front and sprocket has teeth in them. The tracks are very large and tall. The whole track is visible from the side view. In later versions the upper part of track was covered for safety reasons.

A heavy metal square shaped door with a plug also can be seen in the right side. The plug act as an opening for personal weapons to protect sides of the tank. The side door is large enough for the crew to access the hatch.

Few feet away, the air filter intake opening can be seen in the side. This is one of the first air filter designs used in tanks. Due, to its positioning air filter usually suck up waste materials like leaves and dust from the ground.

Turret design

The turret is small in size. But, it can carry three personal including, gunner, loader and commander. A 40mm QF 2 pounder  gun is fitted to the tank as the main armament. In the right side of the QF 2, coaxial 7.92 mm Besa machine gun can be seen. The MG is only adjustable in horizontal length. In the left side opening for the periscope view can be seen.

More than thousand of A22 turrets were manufactured in USA and shipped to Britain for fitting.

Crew of Churchill 1

Churchill 1 is crewed by five personal which include,

1. Driver – In front
2. Machine gunner – in front
3. Loader – In turret
4. Main Gunner – In turret
5. Commander / Radio man – In turret

Power transmission

A merit brown transmission system was used in Churchill 1. It was the first time merit brown system was implemented in a tank. The system was located behind the engine in the back of the tank. Merit brown system incorporated the gearbox.

In the first 100 tanks a five-speed gearbox was used. But, it failed frequently. So, the engineers changed the gearbox to a four-speed system.

A slow tank

Churchill 1 tank had a maximum on road speed of 24 km/h. Since, it is an infantry tank the speed was not expected in the first place.

The tracks were not covered with rubber. So, when moving Churchill 1 generated a heavy sound and due to the noise radio operators were not able to communicate when inside the tank.

To lower the noise for communication purposes, the tank had to slow down to a minimum of 16 km/h speed. Later in the war with other tanks moving faster Churchill was unable to catch up with other tanks in the battlefield and on road.

Summary – Churchill 1 A22

Churchill 1, Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) is a British WWII era infantry tank. 303 Tanks of Churchill 1 was produced by Vauxhall motors in 1941. The main armament of Churchill 1 was a two pounder canon. As the second armament a machine gun mounted in the turret and a 3 inch howitzer mounted in the front hull can be seen.

Churchill 1 in popular gaming culture