British Vickers Light Tanks - The Vickers Light Tanks had their origins in a series of tankettes designed and produced by Carden-Loyd during the 1920s. The story of these little vehicles is outside the scope of this account but one of them, the Carden-Loyd Mk VIII, acted as the prototype for the Vickers Light Tank Mk I. Only a few of these innovative vehicles were produced and issued, but they provided a great deal of insight into what would be required for later models, The Mk I had a two-man crew and had a small turret for a 7.7-mm (0.303-m) machine gun.
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| British Vickers Light Tanks - Mounting a 0.50-in and later a 15-mm BESA machine gun with a coaxial 7.92-mm machine gun, the Vickers Light Tank was an adequate vehicle for armored reconnaissance. |
The Mk I led via the Light Tank Mk IA (better armor) to the Light Tank Mk II (improved turret and modified suspension) which appeared in 1930, and this formed the basis for later versions up to the Light Tank Mk VI. All these light tanks used a simple hull with riveted armour which was of the order of 10 to 15 mm (0.39 to 0.59 in) thick, From the Light Tank Mk V on- wards the turret was enlarged to take two men, making a three-man crew in all, and the same mark also saw the introduction of a 12.7-mm (0.5-in) machine-gun alongside the original 7.7-mm (0.303-in) weapon. Of course there were changes between all the various marks: for instance the Light Tank Mk IV was the first to use the armour as supporting plates for the chassis, rather than the other way round, and changes were made to the suspension to improve cross-country performance, With the Mk VI the light tanks came to the peak of their development and were agile vehicles capable of a nifty cross-country speed, and were up-armed to the point where the Light Tank Mk Vic had a 15-mm (0.59-m) heavy machine gun in the turret. All manner of changes to items such as engine cooling and vision de- vices were also introduced on this late mark, and even the machine-gun was changed to the new Besa 7.92-mm (0.312-in) machine-gun of Czech origins.
The Vickers Light Tanks were widely used throughout the 1930s and the early war years. Many of the early marks were used in India and for imperial policing duties, in which they proved ideal, but in action during the early campaigns of World War II they soon revealed themselves as being virtually useless. Their main drawback was their thin armor, which could be penetrated even by small-calibre armour-piercing projectiles, and their lack of a weapon heavier than a machine-gun. In France, in 1940 they were frequently incorrectly deployed as combat tanks and suffered accordingly, for they were only reconnaissance vehicles. Their light armor and lack of an offensive weapon made them of little use for anything else, but in 1940 the lack of numbers of tanks on the ground often meant that they were rushed into action against the German Panzers with disastrous results.
The Light Tanks remained in use in the North African desert campaigns for some time until replacements came along. Back in the United Kingdom the later marks were often used for trials, One of them was an attempt to convert some of the otherwise wasted vehicles into anti-aircraft tanks, mounting either four 7.92-mm (0.312-in) or two 15-mm (0.59-in) machine-guns, but although some conversions were made they saw little use. Other attempts were made to fit a 2-pdr (40-mm/1.58-in) anti-tank gun in an enlarged turret, but that idea was not pursued.
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| WW2 British Vickers Light Tanks - After suffering heavy losses in France when mistakenly used in close support of the infantry, the MK VI soldiered on in the Middle East and North Africa. |
Surprisingly enough, the Germans in France were happy to use any Light Tanks they could recover, not as battle tanks but as anti-tank gun carriers, but only small numbers are believed to have been so converted.
Specification Light Tank MkV
Crew: 3
Weight: 4877 kg (10,752 lb)
Powerplant: one Meadows ESTL 6- cylinder petrol engine delivering 66kW (88bhp)
Dimensions: length 3.96 m (13 ft); width 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in); height 2.235 m (7 ft 6 in)
Performance: maximum speed 51.5 km/h (32 mph); range 201 km (215 miles)
See other UK tanks at world war 2