Named for Britain's famous war leader, the Churchill tank embodied many aspects of the great man's character. It was tough, resilient, persevering and something of a heavyweight by World War II standards. Yet it was not an immediate success.
Ordered, against the better judgment of many experts, at a time when Britain's fortunes were low, its origins were confused and its design too constricted by compromise. This resulted in a catalog of faults which, on more than one occasion, caused the authorities to announce that it should be abandoned. Yet it survived and to some extent triumphed.
This is the full story of the Churchill tank; from the design of an over sized prototype in Belfast in 1940 to its final achievements against Communist forces in the Korean War some ten years later. For those with an interest in technical matters this book goes nto a great deal of detail. For those interested in the mechanics and politics of war productions it explains the systems, processes and pitfalls in depth. For those studying war history it examines the Churchill tank in action from the beaches of Dieppe to the mountains of Tunisia; from the Gothic Line in Italy to the Siegfried Line in Germany and in the harsh terrain of Korea.
The Churchill is examined mark by mark, from the A20 prototype through to the heavyweight Black Prince design of 1944. Details are given of its service with every British regiment that operated Churchills and of its use by Australian, Canadian, Irish and Russian forces. The author, David Fletcher, has drawn heavily on the original material in the library of the Tank Museum at Bovington In Dorset, UK.
