The Tank, Heavy, TOG II was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

super-heavy tank design produced in the early part of

World War II 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 opposin ...

in case the battlefields of northern France devolved into a morass of mud, trenches and craters as had happened during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. When this did not happen the tank was deemed unnecessary and the project terminated. A development of the

TOG I The Tank, Heavy, TOG 1 was a prototype British heavy tank produced in the early part of the Second World War in the expectation that battlefields might end up like those of the First World War. It was designed so it could cross churned-up countr ...

design, only a single prototype was built before the project was dropped.

History

The second design to come out of the Special Vehicle Development Committee (nicknamed "The Old Gang" as it was made up of people who had worked on the original British tanks of the First World War) the TOG 2 was similar to the TOG 1 and kept many of its features. Instead of the

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

path arrangement of the TOG 1 which - like that of the First World War British tanks - ran up over the top of the hull and back down, the track path was lower on the return run and the doors were above the tracks. Ordered in 1940, built by Foster's of Lincoln, the prototype ran for the first time in March 1941. The design included a 6-pounder gun and side

sponsons Sponsons are projections extending from the sides of land vehicles, aircraft or watercraft to provide protection, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing. Watercraft On watercraft, a spon ...

. For "initial trials" it was fitted with a mockup turret with a dummy gun and later with a simplified turret mounting a QF 3-inch 16 cwt anti-tank gun, in 1942 it was given a turret that was under development for the

Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger The Tank, Cruiser, Challenger (A30) was a British tank of World War II. It mounted the QF 17-pounder anti-tank gun on a chassis derived from the Cromwell tank to add anti-tank firepower to the cruiser tank units. The design compromises made ...

tank design with the

QF 17-pounder The Ordnance Quick-Firing 17-pounder (or just 17-pdr)Under the British standard ordnance weights and measurements the gun's approximate projectile weight is used to denote different guns of the same calibre. Hence this was a 3-inch gun, of which ...

(76.2 mm) gun. The turret "in modified form" was used on the Challenger. The planned sponsons were never fitted.Chamberlain & Ellis (1969) p 78Chamberlain & Ellis (1969) p 79 Although equipped with the same electro-mechanical drive as originally fitted to the TOG 1, the TOG 2 used twin generators and no problems were reported. It was modified to include, among other things, a change from the unsprung tracks to a

torsion bar suspension A torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension, is any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight-bearing spring. One end of a long metal bar is attached firmly to the vehicle chassis; the opposite end termi ...

and went through successful trials in May 1943. No further development occurred, although a revised version, the TOG 2 (R) was proposed. The 'R' would have been shorter, used torsion bar suspension and had no sponsons. The single TOG 2 prototype can be seen at

The Tank Museum The Tank Museum (previously The Bovington Tank Museum) is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about north of the village of Wool and west of the major port of Poole. The collection ...

References

Bibliography

* Andrew Hills, ''The Tanks of TOG: The work, designs, and tanks of the Special Vehicle Development Committee in World War II'', 2017, CreateSpace Publishing * Chamberlain, P; Ellis, C; ''British and American Tanks of World War II'', 1969, Arco Publishing * White BT, ''British Tanks 1915-1945'' Ian Allan *

External links

* {{WWIIBritishAFVs Abandoned military projects of the United Kingdom Super-heavy tanks World War II tanks of the United Kingdom History of the tank

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links