"British Obsolete Tanks" Topic

In WW2 Britain went through quite a few different models of tank. What happened to all the old ones then? For instance we had models of Cruiser tank MK III, IV and Covenanter which were all withdrawn. Where did they go and what did they do with them after they were withdrawn?

Some were used for training. Some of the older ones were used for air field defence in 1940.

Some tanks got re-tasked for other purposes:
Many Ram tanks were converted in Kangaroos or used (with dummy turrets) for artillery FOOs. Rams were also used as tows for 17-pdrs.

M3 Lees were converted into Priest self-propelled artillery.

Bishop SPGs and Archer ATGs were built on Valentine tank chassis.

There are probably other examples as well.

Some Covenanters were converted into bridgelayers, according to Wikipedia:
link

canal defense lights.

Some "foreign aid" as well. Late in the North African fighting, the French are showing up with British "I" tanks--Valentines, if I remember correctly. And if you can get a good detailed account of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the Egyptians are showing up with tanks which would have long been obsolete when the DAK surrendered. (Syria and Lebanon field obsolete French, by the way--right down to FT-17s.)There are also "dump" theaters, if you will. Things are shipped to CBI and used there long after they were out of front-line service in Europe and the Med.

But the pattern seems to be the same as in other armies--specialist vehicles, training and palmed off on allies. And, for winners, sometimes just left in reserve until you realize you're never going to use THOSE again. (How do you think the Royal Armory Museum in the Tower of London got its start?)

My father in law spent most of his national service 1946/7 recovering wrecks and unwanted armour in Egypt for scrap metal . Maybe a lot are now part of your knives and forks .

What happened to cruiser mk iiis and ivs after 1941?

MkIII were mostly lost in battle (France, Desert & Greece) or worn out in the desert.

MkIV similar but larger numbers were produced so some possibly got used in various roles that required either tracks or armour or both. AA mounts, recovery, command/observation vehicles etc. Probably many were just left to rust in the desert. Also likely that those left in the UK for training got scrapped.

MkV Covenanter – mostly scrapped with a few conversions (mostly ARV's). Though not intended as such they proved a good training vehicle for British armoured units.

As noted, some went to other theatres (like Burma/India) – some were converted – some went to Russia (about 1000 Matildas and 2600 Valentines) – and I think the Germans may have accounted for a few of them

Can remember using some for target practice in the early 70s, think they were Churchills!

The valentines that went to the ussr were not recycled British vehicles but mostly brand new Canadian marks

Wasn't there an old Churchill on the Rainham range in Essex until recently?

some of the covenanters were converted to bridgelayers and used in burma

Cheers everyone, most interesting!

The Royal Artillery towed 17-pounders with converted Crusaders.

I love how inventive they were in World War 2. Loads of classic afvs were repurposed by sticking a new body/gun on them and seeing what happened.

The Argentine Army acquired a number of British Crusader tanks after the Second World War and converted them into self-propelled guns.

Matildas and Valentines (and Churchills, etc.) sent to Russia were diverted there while still in service with front line units.

Due to logistics most of the diesel powered Shermans went to Russia. The Russians preferred them and the US was running mostly gasoline so didn't.

If your tank is old, get it refurbished, new gun or even a new turret.

If it's one of those designs that can't be upgunned, re-purpose it into a training vehicle or a wide range of other designs like artillery tractors, APC's, dozers, AA-vehicles etc.

Old tanks are useful for experiments like DD-Valentines and CDL tanks.

Lend Lease wasn't a means of dumping old tanks, they were still front-line designs and many were brand new out of the factory when delivered to the Soviets.

At the end of the day the vast majority end up on the scrapyard, a few get to be gate guardians escaping the ignominy of ending up as range targets.

By 1944 some British tanks and ships incorporated steel from early war tanks that had been scrapped and sent to the foundry.