Matilda Tank
Technical Information
Background
The Infantry Tank Mk II was designed at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich to General Staff specification A.12 and built by the Vulcan Foundry. The design was based on the A7 which started development in 1929 rather than on the Infantry Tank Mk I, which was a two man tank with a single machine gun.
Wartime History
The M10 was numerically the most important U.S. tank destroyer of World War II. In its combat debut in Tunisia in 1943 during the North African campaign, the M10 was successful as its M7 3-inch gun could destroy most German tanks then in service. The M10's heavy chassis did not conform to the tank destroyer doctrine of employing very light high-speed vehicles, and starting in mid-1944 it began to be supplemented by the 76mm Gun Motor Carriage M18 "Hellcat". Later in the Battle of Normandy the M10's gun proved to be ineffective against the frontal armor of the newer German Tiger and Panther tanks, and although it remained in service until the end of the war, by the fall of 1944 it was beginning to be replaced in US service by the improved 90mm Gun Motor Carriage M36. In the Pacific war, US Army M10s were used for infantry support but were unpopular due to their open-topped turrets, which made them more vulnerable than a fully-enclosed tank to Japanese close-in infantry attacks.
Production
The first Matilda was produced in 1937 but only two were in service when war broke out in September 1939. Some 2,987 tanks were produced by the Vulcan Foundry, John Fowler & Co., Ruston & Hornsby, and later by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway at Horwich Works; Harland and Wolff, and the North British Locomotive Company. Production was stopped in August 1943. Peak production was 1,330 in 1942, the most common model being the Mark IV.
The Matilda was difficult to manufacture. The complex suspension and multi-piece hull side coverings also added time to manufacturing. The tank was also exported to Australia Army 4th Armoured Brigade and 1,084 were exported to the USSR. The tank remained in service until the end of the war.
