Tank "Vickers Medium" MK. IIA in the open area of the Aberdeen training ground in the United States.
Everyone knows that one should not expect much comfort from military service. So it was, so it is and, probably, it will be so in the future too. After all, various restrictions and even hardships are associated with it, and a military man is obliged to put up with all this or go to look for another job for himself. This is especially connected with technology, and everyone understands well that in terms of comfort, neither a Mercedes, nor a tank are incomparable. Of course, it is known, for example, that British officers in India even carried camp baths with them, and carried them on … elephants! But this is rather an exception to the rule. However, in the history of military equipment, there were known vehicles in which the level of comfort provided to the crew was an order of magnitude higher than in others! And one of these machines was the famous medium tank of the 20s of the twentieth century, the British "Vickers-Medium" …
Vickers-Medium MK. I - projections.
It is well known that serving on British tanks at the beginning of the century was more than dangerous and, in any case, very difficult. A huge engine, smoking with gasoline fumes, poisoned the air in it, and the heat came from it as if it were a Russian stove. It was bad with ventilation, poor visibility. In addition, lead splashes from bullets crashing against armor often flew into the viewing slots. The tanks were shaking and thrown, and the noise in them was just hellish. I had to explain to the tankers that serving in the infantry is even worse, that the tank has armor, and it… rides across the battlefield! Although the designers fully understood that the army would soon need completely different tanks. And for the creation of one such tank in the early 1920s. in England decided to take the firm "Vickers" - the largest national arms manufacturer at that time. We worked on the project very intensively, so that the new tank began to enter the troops already in 1922. It was called long, but exhaustively: "Medium tank Vickers brand I" (Mk. I), and that's exactly behind it the name "Vickers Medium" and established itself. It was also called by weight: "Vickers 12-ton". And the most interesting thing is that for ten years this tank was the only medium tank of the British army adopted for service, photographs of which and drawings bypassed publications all over the world. At the same time, he had no more analogues and sequels!
Vickers Medium in traditional British medium green color
The new tank was marked with the seal of the search, but for those years it turned out to be quite good, and in some way it even overtook it. First of all, in comparison with previous models, it came out very high-speed, and could move at speeds up to 26 km / h. But, of course, he made the strongest impression with his weapons. So, in the cylindrical turret was a long-barreled 47-mm cannon and as many as three machine guns (!) "Vickers": one was next to the gun, and two - in the stern. Two more machine guns were installed on the sides of the hull, and their embrasures were arranged in such a way that they could also fire even at planes!
Here the armor on it was only 8 - 16 mm, and it is clear that such armor protected only from bullets, but not from shells. The designers understood this too. In any case, they tried to increase the armor resistance of the turret armor due to the bevels made on it. At first, the tank did not have a commander's cupola, but then it was also installed, so we can say that great attention was paid to the convenience of the crew's combat work on this tank.
Vickers Medium Mk. II in section.
The location of the engine is also interesting - unlike all the tanks of that time on this vehicle, it was located in the front, and was separated by a bulkhead from the fighting compartment. Moreover, this bulkhead was covered with asbestos so that the heat from the engine would not disturb the crew. An original technical solution - removable panels on the floor, which immediately facilitated the crew's access to the gearbox and differential, which was very convenient. On the first modifications of this tank, the driver sat so that his head was flush with the upper armor plate of the hull, but then, again, to improve visibility for him, his seat was raised and a round observation turret was installed above it on the right side of the hull.
Mk. II at the Australian Tank Museum in Pukkapunual.
For a tank, hatches are of great importance. When it burns, there are never few hatches! And on the Vickers, for the convenience of the crew, one large hatch was made on each side of the sides. Well, in the stern it had a real door (a similar technical solution was typical then on British tanks, but here it turned out to be especially convenient). There were two more small hatches on the sides, especially for loading ammunition, which was also not present on other vehicles.
British tankers get into the tank.
So the conditions in which the five crew members of this tank worked, compared to those in which the crews of other vehicles worked, were simply comfortable. In addition to good ventilation, it also had a drinking water tank, and besides, the designers fixed a large water tank on the outside so that it would stand on the exhaust pipe! Therefore, the crew of the Vickers Medium always had a substantial supply of hot water to wash themselves after the "labors of the righteous." That's really a concern, you will not say anything, because today this is not even on the most modern combat vehicles, and there is nothing to say about the tanks of the Second World War.
Tanks "Vickers" mark I served as a model for many other tanks, although nowhere, in any country in the world, they were not completely copied. In the USSR, along with the Cardin-Loyd tankette, it was usually painted in textbooks on BTT and tactics of the 1920s and even 1930s, especially where it was about the combat use of modern armored vehicles. He looked very impressive against the background of all other machines of this time, even if he did not take part in real battles. In any case, there is no information about the combat use of these machines. Apparently, they were used only as training. Although there is a photo of 1940, and it shows "Vickers Medium" on the territory of a British military base in Egypt. It may well be that they were used there for training crews, or used to guard airfields.
Vickers in Africa.
In England itself, the Vickers Medium tank was modified several times and underwent various improvements. So, if, for example, the Mk. I turret had three Vickers machine guns, then on the Mk. IA two rear guns were removed, and the turret armor was supplemented with a beveled sheet at the back. And on the same sheet, in a ball mount, they installed an air-cooled Hotchkiss machine gun for firing at aircraft, although its value as an anti-aircraft gun was clearly relative.
There was a model CS - "close support" - "close" or fire support for the infantry, which was armed with a lightweight 76, 2-mm gun. Incidentally, it is surprising why the British did not try to arm this tank with a normal 76, 2-mm gun, strengthening the turret ring. After all, its size was quite enough to put such a weapon on it. And it would truly be a destroyer tank, since there were no such weapons on tanks at all at that time, and here it was the British who had the opportunity to break away from everyone else for a whole decade. However, for some reason they did not do this …
Modification Mk. I A * ("with a star") had a commander's cupola of the "miter bishop" type - with two bevels on the sides. On Mk. II ** ("with two stars") they installed a radio station, which was also very rare at that time, although for this an armored box had to be attached to the rear of the tower.
Tank with a radio station.
In service "Vickers-Medium" was in 1923, and became the basis for many experimental machines. So, in 1926, they made it a wheeled-tracked version, with four rubberized wheels for driving on the highway, which were lowered and raised by the power of the engine. And although the tank drove, the participants in the tests immediately noted that it "looks like a house on wheels rather than a combat vehicle." Therefore, they did not do more such experiments with him. But in 1927/28. tests passed Mk. II - a bridgelayer with a bridge span of 5, 5 m long, although it was also unsuccessful.
Mk. II - command tank. 1:35 scale model.
Tanks Mk. II "Female" with pure machine-gun armament for the Government of India were produced. Four more vehicles were built for Australia in 1929 under the designation Mk. II * "Special". They decided to use three chassis for experimental 18-pounder self-propelled guns and control tanks with powerful long-range radio stations installed on them.
A completely futuristic experimental SPG.
In 1926/1927. the Vickers company developed another Vickers Medium tank, but under the C brand. This car did not go into production and was purely experimental.
The Vickers tank is a toy from Dinky Toys.
On it, English designers have already applied the classic layout: the control compartment is in the front, the engine is in the back. The drive wheel was also located behind, although the suspension and chassis, partially covered by an armored bulwark, were almost the same as the base model.
Tank "Vickers" Mk. IC.
But for some reason, the armament on this tank was placed extremely poorly. Two water-cooled machine guns were also installed on the sides, but they could not shoot at the aircraft and had limited guidance angles. A machine gun was placed in the tower, which fired back, the so-called "Voroshilov", as such machine guns began to be called in the USSR, where at the end of the 1930s. our "first red officer", "first marshal" and "iron people's commissar" ordered them to be installed on the tanks.
Tank "Vickers" Mk. IC sold to Japan.
But the Vickers company made the right decision with this tank. In 1927 it was bought by Japan, and already in 1929 it was on its basis that the Japanese designed their first medium tank "Type 89".
Drawings by A. Sheps
