Lewey Gun Vick
Sergeant Major
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Excellent photos and layout Kevin!
BTW, who made the church?
Regards,
Vick
BTW, who made the church?Regards,
Vick
Battle for Arnhem.... (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter panda1gen
- Start date
arnhem44mad
1st Lieutenant
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Mitch
Major General
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Arnhem44mad...
Hard to choose for some, I know, but, the cromwell looks much better design wise than the sherman which, I always thought was a bit of a pig really IMO
Mitch
Hard to choose for some, I know, but, the cromwell looks much better design wise than the sherman which, I always thought was a bit of a pig really IMO
Mitch
It's almost as good as the Firefly!
uksubs
Lieutenant Colonel
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Mitch
Major General
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Forgot about that one nice but, still think, for me, the cromwell
Mitch
Mitch
Comet tank even better mate
uksubs
Lieutenant Colonel
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Wraith
Major
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- Aug 26, 2006
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- 6,777
How cool would a K&C WW2 Challenger be
Cool, but not as cool as a present day Challenger II
Thanks, some Germans, fed by use of the ubiquitous (HB) horse drawn field kitchen, in sharp contrast to the more highly publicised armour in the background.
View attachment 44023
View attachment 44024
You may also find the following link of interest
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=152124
View attachment 44025
Panther A crews and panzer grenadiers will eat better tonight!
Hi Kevin,
I love your photographs of the HB horse drawn field kitchen.
"An army marches on its stomach" and so he said.
The link was very interesting too.
Thanks, Raymond.
panda1gen
Major
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- 6,067
Vick, Mitch, ww11buff, arnhem44, wraith, uksubs, raymond
Thanks.
From Wikepedia......
The Cromwell and the related Centaur were the product of further development of British cruiser tanks, and was designed as the replacement for the Crusader tank, which was becoming obsolete. In late 1940, the General Staff set out the specifications for the new tank, and designs were submitted in early 1941.
Due to the typical rushed production and lack of components, the A24 Cavalier by Nuffield had far too many problems to see active combat service. One of the key problems was that its Nuffield-built Liberty engine was simply not up to the task. It was ordered as an interim measure.
A second specification for a better tank was the General Staff A27.
A new engine was designed to be a tank powerplant. The Meteor engine was based on the powerful Merlin engine used in aircraft such as the Spitfire. However Rolls-Royce, the makers of the Merlin, were already fully committed to manufacturing the Merlin and could not spare the facilities for the Meteor, and manufacture was passed to the Rover Car Company.[3]
A new design, the A27 Mk VIII, was then drawn up to take advantage of the new power available, approximately 600 horsepower (450 kW), double that of the Liberty. This would be combined with the gearbox design of the Churchill tank.
At the same time Leyland redesigned the Cavalier to provide an alternative to the Cromwell, this design was the A27L Centaur - the L coming from the use of the Liberty engine, and associated transmission components. Production began in November 1942. It would take considerable time for Rover to make ready production lines for the Meteor, and it was not until a few months later, in January 1943, that sufficient Meteor engines were available and the A27M Cromwell began production. The Centaur production design allowed for the later conversion to the Meteor engine and many Centaurs would be converted to Cromwells before use.
The frame was of rivetted construction though welding was used later. The armour plate was then bolted to the frame. Several British firms besides Leyland contributed to production of the Cromwell and Centaur including LMS Railway, Morris Motors, Metro-Cammell, Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company and English Electric[2] Some variants were produced with 14 inch wide tracks, later 15.5 inch tracks were used.
Total A27 production consisted of 4,016 tanks; 950 of which were Centaurs and 3,066 Cromwells. In addition, 375 Centaur hulls were built to be fitted with an anti-aircraft gun turret; only 95 of these were completed.
The Cromwell still had revisions to make before service, most notably changing from the QF 6-pounder (57 mm) to the ROQF 75 mm gun (an adaptation of the 6 pounder design to fire the ammunition of the US M3 75 mm gun) which gave it a better HE round to use in infantry support.
It was not until June 1944 that it first saw action during Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy. It had a mixed reception by crews. It was faster and had a lower profile than the Sherman tank. However, while its armour was of equivalent thickness, it was not sloped and therefore less effective than that of the Sherman. The 75 mm gun, though able to fire a useful HE shell, was not as effective against armour as the 6 pdr or the Ordnance QF 17 pounder gun though it was more powerful than the original 75 mm gun mounted on the Sherman.
A derivative of Cromwell was begun to take the 17 pounder, this fell behind and in practice the majority of the 17 pounder gun armed tanks to see service in the war were Firefly variant of the Sherman.
Thanks.
From Wikepedia......
The Cromwell and the related Centaur were the product of further development of British cruiser tanks, and was designed as the replacement for the Crusader tank, which was becoming obsolete. In late 1940, the General Staff set out the specifications for the new tank, and designs were submitted in early 1941.
Due to the typical rushed production and lack of components, the A24 Cavalier by Nuffield had far too many problems to see active combat service. One of the key problems was that its Nuffield-built Liberty engine was simply not up to the task. It was ordered as an interim measure.
A second specification for a better tank was the General Staff A27.
A new engine was designed to be a tank powerplant. The Meteor engine was based on the powerful Merlin engine used in aircraft such as the Spitfire. However Rolls-Royce, the makers of the Merlin, were already fully committed to manufacturing the Merlin and could not spare the facilities for the Meteor, and manufacture was passed to the Rover Car Company.[3]
A new design, the A27 Mk VIII, was then drawn up to take advantage of the new power available, approximately 600 horsepower (450 kW), double that of the Liberty. This would be combined with the gearbox design of the Churchill tank.
At the same time Leyland redesigned the Cavalier to provide an alternative to the Cromwell, this design was the A27L Centaur - the L coming from the use of the Liberty engine, and associated transmission components. Production began in November 1942. It would take considerable time for Rover to make ready production lines for the Meteor, and it was not until a few months later, in January 1943, that sufficient Meteor engines were available and the A27M Cromwell began production. The Centaur production design allowed for the later conversion to the Meteor engine and many Centaurs would be converted to Cromwells before use.
The frame was of rivetted construction though welding was used later. The armour plate was then bolted to the frame. Several British firms besides Leyland contributed to production of the Cromwell and Centaur including LMS Railway, Morris Motors, Metro-Cammell, Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company and English Electric[2] Some variants were produced with 14 inch wide tracks, later 15.5 inch tracks were used.
Total A27 production consisted of 4,016 tanks; 950 of which were Centaurs and 3,066 Cromwells. In addition, 375 Centaur hulls were built to be fitted with an anti-aircraft gun turret; only 95 of these were completed.
The Cromwell still had revisions to make before service, most notably changing from the QF 6-pounder (57 mm) to the ROQF 75 mm gun (an adaptation of the 6 pounder design to fire the ammunition of the US M3 75 mm gun) which gave it a better HE round to use in infantry support.
It was not until June 1944 that it first saw action during Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy. It had a mixed reception by crews. It was faster and had a lower profile than the Sherman tank. However, while its armour was of equivalent thickness, it was not sloped and therefore less effective than that of the Sherman. The 75 mm gun, though able to fire a useful HE shell, was not as effective against armour as the 6 pdr or the Ordnance QF 17 pounder gun though it was more powerful than the original 75 mm gun mounted on the Sherman.
A derivative of Cromwell was begun to take the 17 pounder, this fell behind and in practice the majority of the 17 pounder gun armed tanks to see service in the war were Firefly variant of the Sherman.
panda1gen
Major
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- 6,067
The Centaur was chiefly used for training; only those in specialist roles saw action. The Close Support version of the Centaur with a 95 mm howitzer replacing the 75mm saw service in small numbers as part of the Royal Marine Armoured Support Group on D-Day, and a number were used as the basis for combat engineering vehicles such as an armoured bulldozer. The Sherman remained the most common tank in British and Commonwealth armoured units.
Cromwells were used to fully equip only one division, the 7th Armoured Division.
The Cromwell was also used as the main tank in the reconnaissance regiments of British armoured divisions because of their great speed. The Cromwell in turn was succeeded by small numbers of the Comet tank. Although the Comet was similar to the Cromwell, and shared some components, it was a much better tank with the 77 mm gun (a version of the 17 pounder)
In Northern Europe, the Cromwell was used by Allied units of the 1st Polish Armoured Division and Czech Armoured Brigade. After the war, the Cromwell remained in British service and was also used by Finland (Charioteer version).
Below, from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hells_Highway_towards_Nijmegen.jpg
Close up of the K&C cromwell divisional markings, these have much improved over the years IMO. Note the 'all seeing eye' divisional sign.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cromwell_tank
Cromwells were used to fully equip only one division, the 7th Armoured Division.
The Cromwell was also used as the main tank in the reconnaissance regiments of British armoured divisions because of their great speed. The Cromwell in turn was succeeded by small numbers of the Comet tank. Although the Comet was similar to the Cromwell, and shared some components, it was a much better tank with the 77 mm gun (a version of the 17 pounder)
In Northern Europe, the Cromwell was used by Allied units of the 1st Polish Armoured Division and Czech Armoured Brigade. After the war, the Cromwell remained in British service and was also used by Finland (Charioteer version).
Below, from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hells_Highway_towards_Nijmegen.jpg
Close up of the K&C cromwell divisional markings, these have much improved over the years IMO. Note the 'all seeing eye' divisional sign.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cromwell_tank
UKReb
Command Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2007
- Messages
- 2,436
Dear UK Reb,
Your wish is my command
US 82nd Reb Shotgun Cavalry 1944 style.....
Kevin
Love that Lone Ranger look-bet he got there quicker than XXXCorps did though
Are you positive you dont want me to despatch a couple of Reb brigades as we discussed in London? (enjoyed our chat by the way). Would most probably lose three or four hundred of them helping your guys try and take that bridge-But old Bobby Lee and his boys were kinda used to that
Bob
panda1gen
Major
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- Jul 29, 2005
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- 6,067
Kevin
Love that Lone Ranger look-bet he got there quicker than XXXCorps did though
Are you positive you dont want me to despatch a couple of Reb brigades as we discussed in London? (enjoyed our chat by the way). Would most probably lose three or four hundred of them helping your guys try and take that bridge-But old Bobby Lee and his boys were kinda used to that
Bob
Bob, if the guys don't mind the equivalent of taking mind bending toy soldier drugs, we should join forces. Which battle though?
Here we have the psychadelic battle for Son Bridge
Mitch
Major General
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panda1gen
Major
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