Classic Military Vehicle Magazine The War Archives: British Cruiser Tanks of World War 2 Special Issue

Developed according to a specifi cation drawn up
by Lieutenant-Colonel E D Swinton, and
designed by William Tritton, the tank was the
brainchild of Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the
Admiralty. Churchill hoped that his massive, armoured
‘landships’ would be able to break the stalemate that
was the inevitable result of the opposing armies
becoming entrenched on the Western Front.
The name, ‘tank’, was derived from the cover story
that the machines, which were initially built by
William Foster & Company and the Metropolitan
Carriage, Wagon & Finance Company, were water
tanks intended for use in Mesopotamia.
The fi rst tanks went into battle with the British
Army on the Somme in 1916 and, by the end of the
war, hundreds of these machines had been
constructed and deployed, with varying degrees of
success. Production ceased after the Armistice in 1918
although the development of medium tanks, as well
as a smaller, faster machine, described as a light
infantry tank, continued. Strict controls on military
expenditure during the 1920s meant that any
development was slow, but, by the end of the decade,
a consensus had emerged that saw light tanks being
developed for infantry support, with faster, so-called
medium tanks intended for a more mobile role.
By 1937, this policy had progressed further, with
the War Offi ce describing three types of machine...
light tanks were intended for the scouting and
reconnaissance role; cruiser tanks were designed to
break through enemy lines and to exploit targets of
opportunity; and infantry tanks, as the name
suggests, were intended to support advancing
infantry.
It soon became clear that the light tank was of very
limited value and, aside from the airborne role, this
type of machine was not developed further.