Cruiser Mk III at the Bovington Tank Museum, Dorset.
For example, he also wrote in his book "Mobile Defense" that the armor of tanks should have a slope that would provide a ricochet of bullets and shells hitting it. That tanks should have such a speed to "dodge" air attacks by aircraft. Tanks BT-2, 5, 7, T-34, "British cruisers" and a number of other less significant vehicles became direct successors of his design and the embodiment of his ideas. Moreover, although some of his ideas like the "flying tank" were initially rejected, there are no "contraindications" to the fact that they will not be returned to them at a new stage of development. For example, a "flying robot tank" delivered by a drone to enemy territory can be created today. But this is now, and then, in the same 30s, the level of technology, economics and … politics forced the military and engineers to look very carefully for new ways in the field of military technology.
Nevertheless, it was in the 30s that the British military came to a truly revolutionary decision to divide tanks into only three classes. Prior to that, tanks were subdivided according to the ship principle. Tankettes (analogs of torpedo boats), light tanks (analogs of destroyers), medium tanks (analogs of cruisers), three-turret tanks (analogs of heavy cruisers) and five-turret tanks - analogs of battleships. The wedges were completely abandoned. Although at one time they set them up more than anyone else. They were too weak. Light tanks were kept for reconnaissance. But on the other hand, a completely new class appeared: the "infantry tank", with thick armor to accompany the infantry. But numerous medium tanks with different numbers of towers should have been unified into one type - a cavalry or cruiser tank. The main task of which would be to quickly move around the battlefield and raids on the rear of the enemy. In accordance with the views of U. Christie, it was they who, due to their high speed and maneuverability, were supposed to quickly flank enemy tanks and occupy the most advantageous position for firing. That is, they also had to fight against enemy tanks. However, you can write anything on paper. However, for the developed English industry, this was not a particular problem. As a result, the first tank of the new class of cruiser tanks was the A9, or Cruiser Tank Mk. I, created by Vickers. Outwardly, it was a formidable machine. Three towers! Three water-cooled Vickers machine guns are more than enough for any tank, even a heavier one. Its chassis was well developed and subsequently the Valentine tank was made on it. Two problems made him a worthless cruiser: armor and speed. The latter was only 40 km / h. But the armor … Its maximum thickness was only 15-14 mm and it stood without inclination. The design of all this abundance of towers was such that it was enough to just hit the tank, and this was already enough to defeat it. Anywhere - just to get there, and there the shell "will find itself a hole." It turned out that way, and nothing could be done about it. That is, the design could have been changed and subsequently the British did so on Valentine, but the army's tank was required immediately as always.
Cruiser Tank Mk 1 A9 at the training ground.
Cruiser Tank Mk 1 A9 at the Tank Museum in Bovington.
Cruiser, Mark ICS - Close Support variant armed with a 94mm howitzer. The German is surprised: "This is the caliber!"
And here the assistant to the head of the mechanization department of the War Ministry, Lieutenant Colonel Gifford Le Quesnay Martel, had a chance to play a role in equipping the British army with new tanks. The very one that in the 20s created one of the first tankettes and promoted it in every possible way. In 1936, as a military observer, he visited the USSR at the maneuvers of the Kiev military district and … hundreds of BT-5 tanks moving at full speed shook him to the core. Returning to England, he reported on what he had seen and with his characteristic energy began to promote the now cruiser tanks. Just after his visit to the USSR, the A7 tank was adopted as a cruiser tank, but everyone understood that it was seriously inferior to Soviet vehicles. And what is “not inferior” … The “source” is not inferior - the tank of designer John Walter Christie. And the British, not in the least proud of their glorious armored past, immediately went overseas and already on October 3, 1936, signed an agreement between his own Wheel Track Layer Corporation and the British Morris Motor Company to purchase one tank from the aforementioned American company. Under contract number 89, £ 8,000 was paid for it. Moreover, Christie personally went to England to bring his tank, and at the same time he also took his chief test officer with him.
Christie M1937 during a record run at Farnborough Airfield.
For some reason, many believe that the British bought his scandalous M1932 airborne tank. But in fact, they got the same Christie M1931 tank that was sold in the USSR. In the USA, this particular tank became the predecessor of the T3 Medium Tank ("medium tank" infantry vehicle with a 37-mm cannon) and T1 Combat Car ("combat vehicle" - a cavalry tank with a 12.7-mm machine gun). In June 1932, Christie tried to sell it to the US Army Department of Armaments for $ 20,000. But the deal did not materialize, since the US military had their own vision of the new tank, while W. Christie had his own.
The tank stood for four years in the courtyard of the US Army Department of Armaments. But after being sold, the M1931 was repaired and quickly shipped by sea to England. The machine received the index A13E1, registration number T.2086, and according to the documents it was called a tractor. Everything, as in the case of the same tank sold in the USSR. The A13E1 tank was intensively tested at a training ground near the city of Aldershot, in Hampshire for more than a year, covered 1,085 kilometers, of which 523 were off-road, and was eventually put into service.
A prototype of the A13E2 tank. Note that the tracks are still from Christie's tank.
In the meantime, with British money, Christie created a new tank Christie M1937 with a 430 horsepower engine and in a purely tracked version. Parallel mounted shock absorbers were added to the "candle suspension". This immediately increased the smoothness of the ride and made it possible, even on tracks, to reach a speed of 102.5 km / h.
But the British failed to sell it. The amount of $ 320,000 seemed too large to them. In addition, they already had the Cruiser Tank A13E2, in which the engineers of the multidisciplinary concern Nuffield Mechanization & Aero (which became the Morris Motor Company) took the chassis, engine, transmission and cooling system from the Christie's tank. That is, almost all of its mechanics, and they themselves designed a turret with weapons and … that's all. But it should be noted that the British, even before they got acquainted with the 1937 Christie tank model, abandoned the mixed wheeled-caterpillar drive and settled on a purely caterpillar type of propulsion device.
The tank, even purely outwardly, turned out to be beautiful, functional and somehow impetuous.
One of the reasons was the high reliability of the new tracks. The fact is that by the end of the 30s, the resource of tracked tracks was finally able to cross the 1,000-kilometer mark, which deprived the wheeled-tracked propulsion unit of one of its main competitive advantages. The maximum speed of the new tank exceeded 50 km / h, which, according to the British military, was quite enough for a cruiser tank.
Therefore, the power plant was not replaced, leaving the 12-cylinder V-shaped aircraft engine Liberty L-12 on the tank. The licensed motor was given the double name Nuffield-Liberty.
Nuffield-Liberty engine. The use of this powerful, but capricious engine was a necessary measure, since the British simply did not have special tank engines at that time.
At first, American tracks were used for the tank tracks, i.e. completely flat. They stood on the A13E2 tank without any changes and led to rather rapid wear of the rubber tires on the rollers. Therefore, according to the test results on the next sample A13E3, new tracks have already been installed, and the track itself has become fine-link.
