BXR307@CSC.ANU.EDU.AU (Brian Ross) (04/17/91)
From: BXR307@CSC.ANU.EDU.AU (Brian Ross) From: anthony@cs.uq.oz.au >In an article by Corporal tim Feaarnside (an Australian member of the >Rats of Tobruk), there is a reference to an "I" tank. Could someone >tell me what's an "I" tank ? He was referring to what was called in the British Army as the "Tank, Infantry, gun". In otherwords the specialist infantry support tanks like the Valentine and (or as this was at Tobruk it was more than likely) the Matilda. The British Army until after the end of WWII had an armoured doctrine which called for two different styles of tanks for different tasks. There was a slow, plodding, heavily armoured vehicle to act as a direct support to the advance of the infantry. This was the "Infantry" tank. Its penultament development was the Churchill. In addition for the ex-cavalry blokes there was the "Cruiser" tank which was lightly armoured and very fast. It was designed to exploit the breakthroughs which the infantry had produced in the enemy's line of defence. Its penultimate development was the Comet cruiser tank Mk.XII (I think that was the number) which was used only briefly at the end of the war. Brian Ross