Wednesday, May 13, 2009

The British tank situation on 12 June 1942

The British tank situation on 12 June 1942 was not as good as General Ritchie had believed, but they still had a fairly strong tank force:

Grants Stuarts Crusaders Infantry tanks
2nd Armoured Brigade 17 3 25

4th Armoured Brigade 39 56

22nd Armoured Brigade 27 5 34

32nd Army Tank Brigade 63

7th Motor Brigade 16
(detachment of the
2nd Royal Gloucestershire
Hussars)


The British had 83 Grants, 64 Stuarts, and 59 Crusaders, for a total of 206 cruiser tanks. They also had the 63 infantry tanks, mostly Valentines, but probably some Matildas, as well. There is a slight possibility that they could have had some A.10 Cruiser Mk.II, which had a similar speed to the Valentine. The 32nd Army Tank Brigade was the reconstituted 3rd Armoured Brigade, from early 1941. They definitely had some of the older A.9's and A.10's, if not A.13's in 1941. This list draws upon Note 1 from page 240 in Vol.III of the Official History.

No comments:

Amazon Ad