The Light Tank Mark I to Mark V were a series of related designs of light tank produced by Vickers for the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
during the interwar period.
Between the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
Second World Wars
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the British produced a series of similar
light tank
A light tank is a tank variant initially designed for rapid movements in and out of combat, to outmaneuver heavier tanks. It is smaller in size with thinner armor and a less powerful main gun, tailored for better tactical mobility and ease of ...
s. They saw use in training, and in limited engagements with
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
units such as the
South African Army
The South African Army is the principal land warfare force of South Africa, a part of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), along with the South African Air Force, South African Navy and South African Military Health Service. ...
during the
East African Campaign of 1941. All were around in weight and capable of on roads and around cross-country.
The British did not expect their light tanks to be used against anything except other light tanks at most and as such armament was a
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
only—
Vickers machine gun
The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a Water cooling, water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more me ...
s firing either a
.303 inch or .
0.5 inch (12.7 mm) round. Suspension was
Horstmann coil spring on
bogies
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
. The engine was a
Meadows
A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artifici ...
six-cylinder petrol. Up until the Mk V, they were crewed by a driver-commander and gunner. The Mk V had a driver, a gunner and a commander helping on the gun.
The various marks were produced in relatively small numbers. By the Mark V, the design was more or less optimised and it was the final development of in the form of the
Light Tank Mk VI
The Tank, Light, Mk VI was a British light tank, produced by Vickers-Armstrongs in the late 1930s, which saw service during the Second World War.
Development history
The Tank, Light, Mk VI was the sixth in the line of light tanks built by Vi ...
which was chosen for the British Army expansion programme in expectation of war.
The following designations in the sequence
Light Tank Mk VII "Tetrarch" and
Light Tank Mk VIII
The Tank, Light, Mk VIII (A25), also known as the Harry Hopkins, after American President Roosevelt's chief diplomatic advisor, was a British light tank produced by Vickers-Armstrong during the Second World War. The Mk VIII was the last in the l ...
"Harry Hopkins" were produced by Vickers but unrelated to the series of light tanks Mk I to Mark VI.
Development
Tankettes
![3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/3.7inchHowitzerTowedByCarden-LoydMortarCarrier1929.jpg)
Following the activities of the
Experimental Mechanized Force
The Experimental Mechanized Force (EMF) was a brigade-sized formation of the British Army. It was officially formed on 1 May 1927 to investigate and develop the techniques and equipment required for armoured warfare and was the first armoured fo ...
in the late 1920s, the British Army identified a need for two light tracked vehicles; one to carry a machine gun for the infantry and one with a turret for the
Royal Tank Corps
The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as t ...
. The
Carden-Loyd tankette
The Carden Loyd tankettes were a series of British tankettes of the period between the World Wars, the most successful of which was the Mark VI, the only version built in significant numbers. It became a classic tankette design worldwide, was ...
became the infantry vehicle, at the same time Carden privately developed a number of light, two-man tank designs. The Carden Mark VII design was accepted as a prototype for the army's light tank. By that point Carden-Loyd was part of Vickers-Armstrong. Only a few of the first light tanks were built and, although never issued ''per se'', gave useful information for subsequent developments.
![Carden-Loyd Mk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Carden-Loyd_Mk.VI_Str%C3%A4ngn%C3%A4s_12.08.11_%283a%29.JPG)
The Mark VII was a small machine gun-armed vehicle with a Meadows engine which gave it a maximum speed of . Suspension was two 2-wheel leaf sprung bogies on either side with an external girder to give the suspension strength. Considered a reconnaissance vehicle and a mobile machine gun position, the Mark VI was the final stage of development of the Carden-Loyd series of tankettes. The Carden-Loyd tankette was the prototype for the
Universal Carrier
The Universal Carrier, also known as the Bren Gun Carrier and sometimes simply the Bren Carrier from the light machine gun armament, is a common name describing a family of light armoured tracked vehicles built by Vickers-Armstrongs and other ...
.
Tank, Light, Mk I
The Mark I differed in a few points from Carden's Mark VII tankette. The external suspension girder was dropped by strengthening the suspension at the hull supports. The bevelled turret was replaced by a cylindrical design but still carried a single 0.303
Vickers machine gun
The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a Water cooling, water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more me ...
. Giving it a "basis" of armour, increased weight and dropped the top speed to .
The Meadows engine drove the tracks though a four-speed gearbox to the front drive wheels. Steering was a combination of de-clutching the drive to one track and braking to tighten the turn. The track was tensioned by a rear idler—which, being set at the same height as the drive sprocket, was new in British tank designs—and returned over three rollers.
The Mark IA had a larger superstructure and a larger turret to give room for operating the machine gun. Horstmann suspension with horizontal coil springs replaced the
leaf spring
A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, it ...
s of the Mark I. Although it could give an easy ride under moderate conditions, the springs could, under certain circumstances, cause an uncontrollable bounce.
The Mark IA tanks sent to India in 1931 for trials received modifications to improve engine cooling in the hotter climate and various means were experimented with to reduce the heat for the crew as well.
* Mk I: four or five made, based on the Carden-Loyd Mk VIII
* Mk IA: five produced, four of these were sent for trials in India
Tank, Light, Mk II
The Mark II used a Rolls-Royce engine which was, along with the Wilson
preselector gearbox
A preselector gearbox is a type of manual transmission mostly used on passenger cars and racing cars in the 1930s, in buses from 1940-1960 and in armoured vehicles from the 1930s to the 1970s. The defining characteristic of a preselector gearbox ...
and transmission, on the right-hand side of the tank. This left the left-hand side free for the driver and commander. Tanks for use in India had an Meadows engine and a "crash" gearbox. The turret was rectangular in form and the machine-gun was modified for vehicle use with a pistol grip instead of the spade grips of the infantry version.
* MK II: 16 built by
Vickers Armstrong
Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, wi ...
from 1929
* Mk IIA: 29 constructed at the
Royal Arsenal
The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich is an establishment on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England, that was used for the manufacture of armaments and ammunition, proofing, and explosives research for the Britis ...
, Woolwich
* Mk IIB: 21 built by Vickers-Armstrong
The running gear of the
Vickers Light Dragon
The Vickers Light Dragon was a fully-tracked British field artillery tractor made by Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd from 1929 to 1935. Designed to tow small-calibre field guns, it complemented Vickers' Medium Dragon tractor, which pulled medium to heavy ...
Mark I artillery tractor used the tracks and suspension of the Light Tank Mk II, and that of the Light Dragon Mark IIA used the components from the Light Tank Mk IIA.
Tank, Light, Mk III
![IWM-KID-333-Light-tank-MkIII](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/IWM-KID-333-Light-tank-MkIII.jpg)
The Mark III light tank suspension was made out of Horstmann coil springs controlling bogies with two rubber-lined wheel sets per bogie. This design, invented by
Sidney Horstmann
Sidney Adolph Horstmann, MBE (7 July 1881 – 11 July 1962) was a British engineer and businessman.
Early life
Sidney was the youngest son of the German clockmaker Gustav Horstmann, who moved to England about 1850. Gustav designed the world' ...
and exclusively used on lightweight vehicles, was also used up to the Light Tank Mk VI. Apart from being relatively easy to build, compact and lightweight, it had the advantage of having a long travel and was easy to replace when damaged in the field.
[Horstmann history]
/ref> The drive sprocket was in the front while the idler-wheel
{{refimprove, date=June 2015
An idler-wheel is a wheel which serves only to transmit rotation from one shaft to another, in applications where it is undesirable to connect them directly. For example, connecting a motor to the platter of a phonog ...
s were placed in the rear, with two return rollers. Power came in the form of a Henry Meadows six-cylinder petrol engine, producing , coupled with a four-speed preselector gearbox. Steering was a combination of de-clutching the drive to one track and braking to increase the turn. The traverse of the turret was electrically actuated.
* Forty-two produced from 1934. Rolls-Royce engine and Wilson gearbox. Extended rear superstructure. Revised suspension. Thirty-six sent to Egypt.
* The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army
The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The ...
ordered 73 Mk IIIBs in 1937 and they were used during the Dutch East Indies campaign
The Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–1942 was the conquest of the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) by forces from the Empire of Japan in the early days of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Forces from the Allies attempted u ...
against Japan
* Modified for Belgium as the Vickers T-15 light tank
The Vickers T-15 light tank, full designation ''Char Léger de Reconnaissance Vickers-Carden-Loyd Mod.1934 T.15'', was a light 4-ton tank of the Belgian Army. They were built by Vickers-Armstrong in the UK to the design of their Light Tank Mar ...
* A single Vickers Light Dragon
The Vickers Light Dragon was a fully-tracked British field artillery tractor made by Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd from 1929 to 1935. Designed to tow small-calibre field guns, it complemented Vickers' Medium Dragon tractor, which pulled medium to heavy ...
Mark IIB artillery tractor
An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be 6x6, wheeled, continuous track, tracked, or half-tracked.
Trac ...
(which used the chassis and running gear from the Light Tank Mk III) was purchased by Belgium. It was considerably modified to produce the much heavier T-13 B3 tank destroyer armed with a 47 mm Model 1931 anti-tank gun
The Royal Cannon Foundry 47mm anti-tank gun Model 1931 (french: Canon anti-char de 47mm Fonderie Royale de Canons Modèle 1931, abbreviated to ''C.47 F.R.C. Mod.31'') was an artillery piece developed in 1931 for the Belgian Army which saw widespre ...
. These vehicles were made in Belgium under licence in Familleureux, Hainaut, by the .
Tank, Light, Mk IV
The Mark IV saw use in training, and weighed about five tonnes. These models had crews of two and were armed with Vickers machine guns. The idler wheels were removed, with the bogie wheels being respaced. The British 9th Armoured Car and Light Tank Company, Royal Tank Corps, were equipped with Vickers-Carden-Loyd Mk.IV Light Tanks. They were sent to the North-West Frontier of India and took part in the 1936-1939 Waziristan campaign against the fiercely independent Pashtun tribesmen that inhabited that mountainous region. They were led by the religious leader Mirzali Khan and deployed guerrilla tactics of ambush and were not drawn into a decisive battle with the well trained and numerically superior British troops. The use of bullet-proof machine-gun armed tanks and air attacks by six RAF squadrons to support the infantry saw the support for Mirzali Khan begin to wane. In 1940 the North-West Frontier quietened down with only the occasional raid on a village by the tribesmen. It remained this way until 1947 and the end of British rule, and the founding of the independent state of Pakistan. Although some were still in use at the start of World War Two, they were removed as not fit for service in armoured divisions.
* A Vickers design of 1933, 34 built from 1934.
Tank, Light, Mk V
The biggest change from the Mark IV to the Mark V was the introduction of a three-man crew. The turret now carried the commander and the gunner, who was also the radio operator. The increase in the crew size increased the tank's effectiveness and spread the maintenance load. Until then, the commander had to direct the driver, navigate and operate the gun. If troop commander, he also directed the other tanks and their fire.
The armament of the Mark V was an improvement over the earlier marks; a 0.5 inch Vickers machine gun was added to the existing 0.303. The bigger gun gave the tank a reasonable capability against other light tanks—at the time most European light tanks had around of armour—but it was not updated as light tanks with more armour came into use. It was half a ton heavier—and about 18 inches longer—than the Mark IV. The weight increase had the effect of reducing the top speed to though range was largely unchanged. The first tanks produced were sent along with a team from Vickers to the 1st Battalion RTC. This unusual level of co-operation between manufacturer and user led to rapid resolution of problems and implementation of improvements. During 1936, 22 were produced.
Light Tank Mk VI
The Light Tank Mk VI was a continuation of the Mark V design. It also had a three-man crew but a larger turret to accommodate a radio set and had an 88 hp engine for higher speed, despite the heavier weight. Between 1936 and 1940, over 1,300 Mark VIs were built, in several variants that represented solutions to problems with the initial design.
Commercial Carden-Loyd tanks
The basic form of the light tank was used by Vickers for export markets. This included the 1933, 1934, 1936 and 1937 models. Buyers included Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Argentina, Belgium, Switzerland, the Dutch East Indies and China.
Forty-two were produced for Belgium in 1935, based on the Mark III with a different turret on request of Belgium's armed forces. Armed with a French 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine gun, they were designated Char Léger de Reconnaissance Vickers-Carden-Loyd Mod.1934 T.15 by the Belgians.
After two tanks had been bought for trials in 1937, the Dutch East Indies in 1938 ordered a further 73 tanks of the 1936 model, which was "mechanically similar" to the Mark IV but with a hexagonal turret and the armament of a Mark II. Only 20 tanks arrived in Java before the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe, and those which were not delivered were taken into service with the British Army as the "Tank Light, Vickers Carden-Loyd, Model 1936" - in practice they were referred to by the nickname "Dutchman". They were used for training duties only. A number of these tanks were delivered to Greece.
Service history
The light tanks were kept in use for training until around 1942. Some saw active use in the Battle of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...
, the Western desert or Abyssinia
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...
from 1940–1941. They were followed by the Light Tank Mk VI from 1936. Like many of its predecessors, the Mark VI was used by the British Army to perform imperial policing duties in British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
and other colonies in the British Empire, a role for which it and the other Vickers-Armstrongs light tanks were found to be well suited.
See also
* Tanks of the interwar period
This article discusses tanks of the interwar period.
World War I established the validity of the tank concept and between the two world wars, many nations needed to have tanks, but only a few had the industrial resources to design and build ...
* Tanks in World War II
Tanks were an important weapons system in World War II. Even though tanks in the inter-war years were the subject of widespread research, production was limited to relatively small numbers in a few countries. However, during World War II, mos ...
* Comparison of early World War II tanks
This table compares tanks in use by the belligerent nations of Europe and the Pacific at the start of the Second World War, employed in the Invasion of Poland, Polish Campaign (1939), the Battle of France (1940), Operation Barbarossa (1941), and th ...
Notes
References
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Further reading
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External links
WWII vehicles
* Light tank
at ww2photo.mimerswell.com.
{{Subject bar
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, portal2=World War II
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Interwar tanks of the United Kingdom
World War II light tanks
History of the tank