Tank: Valentine Mk.II Papercraft by Mr. Cube

Valentine Mk.II Papercraft

In early 1938, the British War Office offered Vickers-Armstrong Ltd. to take part in the production of the Mk infantry tank. The II developed a combat vehicle of its own design according to similar tactical and technical requirements. Drawings of the new combat vehicle were submitted to the Ministry of War on February 10, 1938, and its full-size model was created on March 14, but the military was not satisfied with the double turret, and for a year they thought about whether to accept the project or not. The deteriorating situation in Europe contributed to the fact that on April 14, 1939, an order was issued for the first series of tanks. The contract, signed in June - July of the same year, provided for the supply of 625 Valentines to the British army. Two more companies are involved in their production: Metropolitan- Cammell Carriage and Wagon Co. Ltd. and the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. Ltd. In June 1940, the first mass-produced tanks started coming out of the shops of the Vickers factory in Newcastle.

The "Valentine" infantry tank has a classic layout with rear drive wheels. The main feature of the design of the hull and tower is the absence of a frame for their assembly. The protective plates are processed according to a suitable template so that they are closed to each other during assembly. Then the plates are fastened to each other with bolts, rivets and dowels. Tolerances when installing various parts do not exceed 0.01 inches.

The driver's seat is located in the center of the front of the tank. For landing and descent, he has two hatches with hinged covers. Two more crew members - gunner and commander (he is also a loader and radio operator) - are in the tower. On the front, a 2-pound gun and a coaxial 7.92-mm BESA machine gun are mounted in a cast mask. To their right, in separate masks, is a 50 mm smoke grenade launcher. Armament is equipped with a 7.69 mm Bren machine gun on a Lakeman anti-aircraft mount on the turret roof. At the rear of the tower is radio station No. 11 or No. 19 and special openings for ventilation. On the walls of the rotating floor of the turret battle compartment were placed ammunition - 60 shots and 3150 rounds of ammunition (14 boxes of 225 pieces each) for the BESA machine gun; the crew member's chair was also stuck to the floor. Ammunition for the Bren anti-aircraft machine gun - 600 rounds (6 disc magazine) - is in a box on the rear outer wall of the turret. 18 smoke grenades intended for grenade launchers.

Machines with electrical, lubrication, cooling and electrical equipment are installed in the spacious engine compartment. To the right of the engine is the oil filter and two rechargeable batteries and to the left is the fuel tank. The engine compartment is closed from the battle compartment by a removable curtain. To access the engine unit, the engine compartment roof guard plate is hinged.

The transmission compartment contains the cooling system tank, two radiators, a single-disk main dry friction clutch, a five-speed gearbox, transverse gears, two multi-disc dry clutches, a semi-rigid connection of the end clutch with the final drive and an oil tank.

The chassis of each side consists of six rubber-coated road wheels, which are connected by three into two balancing carts with special springs and hydraulic shock absorbers; drive wheels with removable ring gear and two rubber tires; idler wheel with tensioner and three rubber support rollers. There are 103 tracks in the caterpillar chain, and their engagement is a lantern, in the middle of the track.

The "Valentine" tank was produced in 11 modifications, differing in brand and type of engine, turret design and armament. The Valentine I variant is the only one equipped with a 135 hp AEC A189 carburetor engine. Starting with the Valentine II model, only a diesel engine was installed in the tank, first the AEC A190 with a capacity of 131 hp. from, then, to Valentine IV, - American GMC 6004, strangling to a power of 138 hp. As the tanker complained about the congestion of the two crew members stationed in the turret, a three-person turret was installed on the III and V variants, increasing the standard volume due to the front mask. new form. However, the new tower was too crowded for three tankers, and such an upgrade turned out to be of little use. With the same identity, the "troika" and "five" differ from each other only in the engine brand - AEC A190 and GMC 6004, respectively. The mass of the tank increased by exactly one tonne and reached 16.75 tons.

In the fall of 1941, production of "Valentine" opened in Canada, at the plant of the Montreal Canadian Pacific Co. company. Until mid-1943, 1420 tanks of the "VI" and "VII" modifications were produced here, which hardly differed from the "Valentine IV". The only difference is the brand of the coaxial machine gun: on Valentine VI - BESA, and on Valentine VII - Browning 1919А4. Some Canadian-made engines have a forward section of the hull.

In an attempt to increase the tank's firepower, the British installed a 6-pound gun on Valentine VIII. At the same time, the number of crew in the tower was again reduced to two. The course machine gun was also removed, which reduced the firepower of the tank.

The coaxial machine gun was returned to Valentine X. And due to the fact that the mass of the tank with a 6-pound gun increased to 17.2 tons, the GMC 6004 diesel engine with a power of 165 hp was installed in the "top ten". The 6-pound gun consisted of two modifications: the Mk III with a barrel length of 42.9 calibers and the Mk V with a barrel length of 50 calibers. Ammo reduced to 58 rounds.

The latest modification - "Valentine XI" - is armed with a 75 mm cannon. At the same time, the coaxial machine gun was removed again - there was nowhere to put it. This version is equipped with the GMC 6004 engine, increased to 210 hp.

On April 14, 1944, the last Valentine's tank of 6,855 British-made military vehicles left the factory floor. In addition, from the fall of 1941 to mid-1943, 1420 of these machines were produced in Canada. Therefore, the total number of "valentines" is 8275 units. This is the most massive British tank of the Second World War.

The only country where "Valentines" were supplied under Lend-Lease, was the Soviet Union. In addition, almost half of the vehicles produced were sent to the USSR: 2394 Britain and 1388 Canada, of which 3332 tanks reached their destination.

According to the GBTU selection committee of the Red Army, in 1941, 216 tanks were received, in 1942 - 959, in 1943-1776, in 1944 - 381. The Red Army received tanks of seven modifications - II, III, IV , V, VII , IX and X. As you can see, cars equipped with GMC diesel engines dominate. Perhaps this was done for the sake of unification: the same engine was in the Sherman that was supplied to the USSR. In addition to the line tanks, 25 layers of the Valentine-Bridgelayer bridge - the Soviet designation MK.ZM - were delivered. In documents of the war years, "valentines" are called differently. Most often MK.III or MK.3, sometimes with the addition of the name "Valentine" or, less often, "Valentine". It is often impossible to find the modified designations "Valentine III", "Valentine IX", etc. However, in documents of those years, in addition to MK-3, the designations MK-5, MK-7 , MK-9 are found. It is quite clear that we are talking about various modifications of this British tank.

The first "Valentines" appeared on the Soviet-German front at the end of November 1941. In the 5th Army, defending in the Mozhaisk direction, the 136th separate tank battalion became the first unit to receive this type of combat vehicle. It was formed on December 1, 1941, and included ten T-34s, ten T-60s, nine Valentines and three Matildas. The battalion received British tanks at Gorky only on November 10, 1941, so tankers were trained directly on the front. On December 15, the 136th separate tank battalion was attached to the 329th rifle division, and then to the 20th tank brigade, together with those participating in the counterattack near Moscow. As in the case of the Matilda, already during the first battles, the shortage of British tanks was revealed due to the absence of high-explosive fragmentation shells in the ammunition load of the 2-pound gun. The latter circumstance was the reason for the GKO order to re-equip Valentine with a domestic artillery system. This task was carried out in a short time at factory number 92 in Gorky. On the machine, which received the factory index ZIS-95, a 45 mm gun and a DT machine gun were installed. At the end of December 1941, the tank was delivered to Moscow, but things did not go beyond the prototype.

A large number of "valentines" participated in the battle for the Caucasus. In 1942–1943, almost 70% of the North Caucasian and Transcaucasian front tanks were equipped with imported equipment. This was due to its proximity to the so-called "Persian Corridor" - one of the routes for shipping goods to the USSR, bypassing Iran. But even among the troops of the North Caucasian Front, the 5th Guards Tank Brigade stood out, whose tankers from mid-1942 to September 1943 controlled five types of vehicles: Valentine, MZl, MZs, Sherman and Tetrarch, and this regardless of domestic technology. !

The brigade began combat operations in the North Caucasus on September 26, 1942 in the direction of Grozny in the Malgobek-Ozernaya area. At that time, the brigade had 40 Valentines, three T-34s and one BT-7. On September 29, tankers attacked German troops in the Alkhanch-Urt valley. In this battle, Captain Shepelkov's guard crew in their "Valentine" destroyed five tanks, self-propelled guns, trucks and 25 enemy soldiers. In total, during several days of fighting in this area, the 5th Guards Tank Brigade destroyed 38 tanks (20 of them burned), one self-propelled unit, 24 guns, six mortars, one six-barreled mortar and up to 1800 enemy soldiers. Our losses amounted to two T-34s and 33 "Valentines" (of which eight were burned, and the rest were evacuated from the battlefield and recovered), 268 people were killed and injured.

MK-III "Valentine VII" tanks of the 52nd Red Banner Tank Brigade are heading to the front. A white rhombus is clearly visible on the tower - a tactical mark of the 52nd brigade. Transcaucasian Front, November 1942.

Canadian tank "Valentine VII '' of the 52nd Red Banner Tank Brigade, shot down near the town of Alamgir. North Caucasus, November 3, 1942. In addition to the number of military departments, clearly visible on the turret, the ownership of this machine for the modification "Valentine VII '' can be judged by the barrel of the coaxial Browning machine gun and the front of the thrown hull.

Since most of the brigades armed with imported equipment were distinguished by a mixed composition, the most appropriate solution was found in 1942 - to use domestic and foreign tanks comprehensively so that they complemented each other in terms of their combat qualities. . So, in the first echelon there were KB and "Matilda" CS tanks with 76 mm howitzers, in the second - T-34, and in the third - "Valentines" and T-70. This tactic often yields positive results.

The 5th Guards Tank Brigade acted in the same way during the battle to break through the "Blue Line" - the German line of defense in the North Caucasus in 1943. Then, in addition to the brigade troops (13 M4A2, 24 Valentine, 12 T-34), the Tank Regiment The 14th Guards of the breakthrough (16 KB-1C) were involved in the attack, and they managed to line up the battle formation in this way, which ultimately contributed to the success of the battle. However, in this case, it will be interesting to get acquainted with the memoirs of GP Polosin, a participant in this battle:

“Shooting between bullet explosions (thirty minutes of artillery preparation, of course, does not completely suppress the enemy fire system), my Valentine suddenly found himself literally in front of farmhouses (Gorno-Vesely. - author's note). That's luck! But what about the other tanks? ..

I looked around through the peephole. I saw that two more "British people" from my platoon - Poloznikov's and Voronkov's cars - were walking a little behind. But heavy KB is not visible. Perhaps they were left behind or out of the way ... The infantry, of course, was cut off from the tanks early ...

Destroying the placement of enemy machine guns and bunkers along the way, our platoon's tanks entered the pit. Stop here. I gave orders over the radio:

Don't shoot without my orders! Save your projectile. It is not yet known how much it will take like this ... And then to go through it yourself ... The tank commanders replied curtly: they understand.

Then he tried to contact the commander of the guard company, Senior Lieutenant Maksimov. And I can't. The broadcast was filled to the limit with hysterical commands in German. Apparently, the Nazis were very worried about this unexpected breakthrough of the Russian tanks in their defense sector.

But our position is not good. It so happened that the main group, conducting reconnaissance by force, broke away, running out of ammunition and fuel, alone behind enemy lines, which, however, did not yet fully understand the situation, but it was a matter of time.

After destroying German anti-tank guns along the way, our tank jumped out of the hole into the open and saw a strange picture. In Voronkov's car, 30–40 meters to the right, was a German. They mistook Valentines for their gear, hit their ass on armor and didn't understand why the tankers didn't come out. After waiting until the Germans had gathered up to a dozen men, I ordered them to hit them with a machine gun. Then, firing from a smoke grenade launcher (this is where this gun, which was only on British tanks, came in handy) and installing a smoke screen, the vehicles returned through the same hole to their troop location. In the vicinity of Gorno-Vesely, fighting is still going on. The KB tank was knocked out. One of them stands without a tower. The other a little further away from him buried his cannon in the ground. To his right the flat caterpillar, two tankers returned fire from pressing German pistols. Having dispersed the enemy infantry with fire from cannons and machine guns, we dragged the two wounded to our Valentine. It soon became clear that, having failed to penetrate the KB armor with anti-tank artillery, the Germans used guided mines against them.

Very interesting scene. It is worth paying attention to one important detail: successful platoon action is largely due to the presence of reliable radio communication between vehicles. Which is not surprising, because radio stations are installed in all Lend-Lease tanks without exception!

Another example of the use of such tactics is the battle of the 139th tank regiment of the 68th mechanized brigade of the 5th mechanized corps of the 5th army for control. Maiden's Field locality in November 1943. The regiment had 20 T-34 tanks and 18 Valentine VII tanks. On November 20, 1943, in cooperation with the 56th Guards Tank Regiment of the breakthrough, armed with KB and T-34, and the infantry of the 110th Guards Rifle Division, the tanks of the 139th Tank Regiment advanced. The attack was carried out at high speed (up to 25 km / h) with submachine gun landings in armor and with anti-tank guns mounted on tanks. In total, 30 Soviet combat vehicles were involved in the operation. The enemy did not expect such a swift and massive attack and was unable to provide effective resistance. Having broken through the enemy's first line of defense, the infantry dismounted and, having given up their weapons, began to take positions, preparing to repel any possible counterattack. The remaining units of the 110th Guards Rifle Division were brought into the gap. However, there was no German counterattack - the German commandos were so shocked by the actions of the Soviet troops that they could not organize a counterattack for a day. During this time, our troops advanced 20 km into the depths of the German defenses and captured Maiden Field, while losing one KB, one T-34 and two Valentines!

The geography of the use of "Valentines" is very wide - from the southernmost part of the Soviet-German front to the northern part. In addition to the units of the Transcaucasian Front, they were, for example, in service with the 19th Tank Corps of the Southern Front (since October 20, 1943 - the 4th Ukrainian Front) and received active participation in the Melitopol offensive operations, and later in the liberation of Crimea. The MK.III tank was actively used in positional combat on the Western and Kalinin fronts until the beginning of 1944. It should be noted that in many military units imported tanks were modified mainly to increase cross-country capability on snow and marshy ground. For example, in the 196th Tank Brigade of the 30th Army of the Kalinin Front, which participated in the capture of the city of Rzhev in August 1942, armor plates were welded to each pass, increasing its area.

Until the end of the war, the "Valentine" remained the main tank of the cavalry corps. The cavalrymen highly valued the maneuverability of the vehicle. Most likely, for the same reason, "Valentines" operate with many motorcycle battalions and individual motorcycle regiments. The last staff in the final stages of the war included a tank company of ten T-34s or the same number of Valentine IX.

Tanks of the modification "Valentine IX" and "Valentine X", armed with 57 mm guns, along with the "Shermans", almost until the end of the war, were constantly requested by the USSR for Lend-Lease supplies . In large part because of this, mass production of "Valentines", which no longer entered the British army, continued to be maintained until April 1944.

In the Red Army, Valentines were used until the end of World War II. So, for example, in the 5th Guards tank army On June 22, 1944, the 3rd Belorussian Front had 39 Valentine IX tanks, and the 3rd Cavalry Corps had 30 Valentine III tanks. The tank "Valentine IX" entered service with the 1st Mechanized Corps of the 2nd Guards Tank Army during the Vistula-Oder offensive operation in the winter of 1945. Combat vehicles of this type completed their combat line in the Red Army in the Far East in August 1945. As part from the 2nd Far Eastern Front, the 267th tank regiment fought (41 "Valentine III" and "Valentine IX"), in the ranks of the cavalry mechanized group of the Trans-Baikal Front there were 40 tanks "Valentine IV" , and, finally, as part of 1- On the Far Eastern Front, there are two companies of tank bridges with i0 layers each of Valentine-Bridgelayer bridges.

It is rather difficult to find a more or less complete assessment of the Valentine tank in foreign literature. Too limited in time and scope were his operations in the British army. It is especially noted that the tankers praised the tank for its reliability, and scolded it for the tightness of the battle compartment and the absence of high-explosive fragmentation shells in the ammunition of 2 and 6-pound guns.

Since several thousand combat vehicles of this type fought on the Soviet-German front, in extremely harsh operating conditions, we will try to analyze the reviews given to Valentine by Soviet tankers. True, for the reasons already mentioned, this will not be easy to do. An exclusively negative evaluation is unavoidable by memoirs as well. A typical example of a biased and controversial assessment of the Valentine tank can be found in the memoirs of Major General AV Kazaryan.

On the eve of the events described in the spring of 1942, he completed his studies in the 38th Tank Training Regiment. In June, he arrived at the 196th tank brigade as a tank commander. Here is an excerpt from his memoir.

What can be said about this episode? The young commander, who had just completed his acceleration study (4–5 months), arrived at the unit. In his own words, he was not familiar with the Valentine tank (the 38th Tank Training Regiment was transferred to tanker training for the operation of foreign equipment only in March 1942). For a thorough study of military equipment as complex as a tank, three days was definitely not enough, especially for its commander. However, the company commander gave an objective and fairly fair assessment of the battle. With such training, the results will be the same regardless of the military equipment involved: be it T-34 or Sherman, KB or Valentine. About the latter, by the way, in the section above you can find some interesting information. It turned out that the armor was weak (it's 60 mm!), And the engine was low-power, and the speed "you can't press more than 25", although "according to the technical description, it should give all 40". Such "information" can do nothing. nothing but a smile. Behind it lies complete ignorance of the entrusted part of the material and the peculiarities of its use not only by the tank commander, but by the entire crew. Hence the lamentations at low speeds, and references to mythical technical descriptions at a speed of 40 km / h! " Valentine" is an infantry escort tank, and does not require high power density and movement speed. In addition, the average speed in attack, as a rule, does not exceed 16-17 km / h (this is the endurance threshold of the current tank crew moving across the terrain), and even less with infantry support - it's hard to imagine an infantryman running attacking from a speed of 40 km/h m! As for the maneuverability of the tanks, they are provided not only and not so much by the high specific power, but mainly by the L / B ratio. The smaller it is, the easier it is to maneuver the car. On Valentine, it was 1.4, and in this indicator it surpassed T-34 (1.5).

A slightly different assessment of "Valentine" is contained in the memoirs of N. Yes. Zheleznov, who got acquainted with this car in the summer of 1942 at the 1st Saratov Tank School:

“For about a month, we practiced English Matildas and Canadian Valentines. I have to say that the Valentine is a very successful car. The gun is powerful, the engine is silent, the tank itself is low, literally as tall as a man."

In fairness, it must be said that AV Kazaryan then quite successfully fought in the "Valentines" in the battles in the direction of Rzhev, was awarded, became a platoon commander, and then a company. True, somewhere since July 1942, he called his Valentine (by the way, model III or V) "thirty-four", although, judging by the documents, until November 1942 in the 196th tank brigade of tanks produced domestically, except T -60 is not. Yes, and the "thirty-four" is somehow odd - with a triple turret and an anti-aircraft machine gun.

In short, the given memoir fragments do not add clarity. Let's try to turn to a more impartial source: the war years documents. In particular, for the "Short Report on the Actions of the MK.III", dated January 15, 1942, compiled by the command of the 136th separate tank battalion, which participated from December 15, 1941 in the counterattack near Moscow. This report, it seems, can be considered one of the first documents to contain an appraisal of Lending-Lease equipment.

1. The ability to pass through the tank in winter conditions is good, movement in soft snow 50–60 cm thick is ensured. Grip with good soil, but spurs are needed in icy conditions.

2. The weapon operates perfectly, but there are cases of undershot weapons (first five or six shots), apparently due to thickening of the lubricant. The weapon is very demanding on lubrication and maintenance.

3. Observations in the device and slots are good.

4. Motor group and transmission work well for 150-200 hours, then engine power drops.

5. Armor is of good quality.

Crew personnel undergo special training and have tanks satisfactorily. The command and technical staff of the tank know little. Great inconvenience was created by the crew's ignorance of the elements of preparing the tank for winter. As a result of the lack of the necessary insulation, the car can hardly be started in cold weather and therefore stays hot all the time, which leads to a large consumption of motor resources. In the battle with German tanks (20/12/1941), three Valentine received the following damage: one had a turret jammed by a 37 mm projectile, the other had a cannon, the third received five blows on the side from a distance of 200-250 m In this battle " Valentines" knocked out two T-3 medium tanks.

In general, the MK.III is a good fighting vehicle with strong weaponry, good cross-country capability, capable of operating against enemy forces, forts and tanks.

Negative side:

1. Poor grip of the track with the ground.

2. Major vulnerability of suspension bogies - if one of the rollers fails, the tank cannot move.

3. There is no high explosive fragmentation shell for this weapon.”

There is no reason to doubt the objectivity of this report, which is set in hot pursuit. It is interesting to note that the Soviet tankers, like their British counterparts, noted the absence of high-explosive fragmentation shells in cannon munitions as a weakness, but did not pay attention to the tightness of the battle compartment, apparently because the T-34, for example, still had it closer. A number of the design features of the tank caused only criticism in certain parts of the Red Army. It goes without saying that in England or Western Europe, and even more so in North Africa or Burma, the water in the tank cooling system does not freeze due to lack of frost. Most of the "Valentine's" shortcomings (and not just one), mentioned in our documents and memoirs, relate to climatic factors that make operations difficult. And here we come to another reason for the negative assessment of this combat vehicle by some of our tankers (as a rule, who fought on it for a short time).

There are many problems! Flush the cooling system and pour antifreeze into it - a chore! At temperatures below -20 ° C, tractor kerosene should be added to domestic diesel fuel (we do not have diesel fuel of the required quality, and car diesel engines are on Valentines) - task! To keep the engine warm, the radiator needs to be covered with plywood, tarpaulin or an old coat (on Valentine, by the way, it is recommended to turn off one of the fans by removing the drive belt for this purpose) - again a task! Of course, domestic equipment also requires such measures, but, first of all, it is already made taking into account the quality of domestic fuels and lubricants and the level of Maintenance, and therefore, for this reason, it breaks down less often. In addition, for defective domestic equipment, they are penalized less than imported ones, which are "paid in gold". This state of affairs can cause nothing but constant hatred of foreign combat vehicles, including Valentine, among the representatives of technical officers and technicians. And what feelings can a driver experience, for example, reading the following provisions of the manual:

“If, after 4-5 attempts, the British tank engine cannot be started, it is necessary, if there is a device for launching with ether, to load the gun with an ampoule, press primary puncture lever and start the engine with a starter. After starting the engine, do not allow the engine to run above 800 rpm until the oil temperature reaches 2TC (80 °F) and the oil pressure rises to 60-80 psi.

After reaching this reading, the number of revolutions should be increased to 1000 per minute, and after 2-3 minutes, work can be carried out at the highest number of revolutions.

Tank movement can be started only after the engine is fully warmed up and always from first gear to avoid damage (with frozen lubricant) of the gearbox, differential and final drives.

Like this! Not only do you need to monitor the temperature, but you just need to start in first gear! (In the T-34, as you know, until the end of 1943, they generally used only one second gear, the rest did not turn on.) Indeed, a kind of kerosene stove, not a tank! And in general - a phenomenon of military-technical culture that is very foreign to us!

True, at the end of the war, when our own military technical culture grew and many foreign technical solutions were used in domestic technology, the claims for "Valentines" became less and less. After all, about the complex design and heavy operation.

In 1945, in the article "Analysis of the technological development of foreign tanks during the war years and the prospects for further upgrading of tanks" by Major General of the Tank Engineering Service, Doctor of Engineering Sciences, Professor NI Gruzdev, was published in the collection of works of the Academy of Armored and Mechanized Troops, "Valentine" deserves the following rating:

“The MK-III, as an infantry tank (or, following the heavy classification, light), certainly has the most compact overall layout and is undoubtedly the most successful of these tank types, despite the release of the brake drum outside the hull is certainly wrong. Experience with the MK-III tank stopped discussions about the possibility of judicious use of automotive units for the manufacture of tanks.