Naturally I shall have a front row seat Dave.
Out of interest.
Lend Lease Impressions: Churchill
View attachment 428822
Churchill III tank at the NIIBT proving grounds, September 1942. Retrieved from Baryatinskiy,
Lend Lease Tanks in Battle.
The Churchill (frequently referred to as "Mk IV" in Soviet documents) was among the various tanks received by the Soviet Union through the Lend-Lease program. As with all tanks, they put it through trials, and, as with all tanks, it had some shortcomings.
View attachment 428823
CAMD RF 38-11355-938
"List of defects discovered in the process of using the Churchill tank.
- The track link pins on the new tracks are contained with welds. This makes it difficult to repair tracks in field conditions. After replacing track pins, it is difficult to weld the covers back in place.
- Lightened tracks collect dirt and bulge out, which in turn pushes up the mudguards and make turning the turret difficult.
- Road wheels are poorly held on their axles. There were cases where they would come off and get lost during the tank's movement.
- The track link mortise is of poor quality, and is destroyed during movement.
- The main clutch gear axles are of poor quality, and sometimes break at their base.
- Rollers in the gear box are of poor quality and break.
- Gears in the gear box are of poor quality and break.
- Oil leaks from the gear box.
- The hoses from the "Amal" gasoline pump are not sturdy enough, and can tear during movement.
- The manual turret rotation mechanism is insufficiently reliable. The chain breaks, and the switch from manual to automatic traverse bends.
- The height of the driver and assistant driver observation devices does not let them see to the sides.
- The open engine grille does not prevent gasoline from incendiary bottles from getting into the engine compartment.
- Track links do not make good contact with the ground. The poor traction severely limits the tank's ability to go up and down inclines and tilt.
- Upon tilting 20 degrees, tracks fall off.
- The recoil springs of the 57 mm gun are poorly fixed, which leads to imbalances and jamming when they hit the cylinders."
In real combat, the Churchill showed another deficiency. The heaters were weak, and often replaced with domestic ones.
That's quite a list. The Soviets weren't the only ones to dislike the Churchill.
From Tank Archives for discussion purposes only.
So you weren't alone Dave.
