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Light Tank Mk VII Tetrarch |
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The Tetrarch light tank started its lifeas the Light Tank Mk VII, and was aVickers private-venture project tocontinue its line of light tank designs.That was in 1937, and the first prototypestarted its trials in 1938. Thesetrials demonstrated that the new design,known at that time as the Purdah,lacked any of the attributes that wouldmake it an outstanding weapon; but thetype offered some potential, and it wasdecided to undertake further testingpending a possible production contract,In its initial form the Purdah, laterdesignated the A17, and later still theTetrarch, differed from the earlier lighttanks by having four large road wheelson each side. A two-man turret wascentrally mounted, and this turret waslarge enough to mount a 2-pdr (40-mm/1.58-m) gun with co-axial 7.92-mm(0.312-in) machine-gun. Various alterationswere demanded once theprototype had completed its initialtrials, notably to engine cooling and forprovision of more fuel tanks to improverange. Eventually the Tetrarch was putinto production without any great enthusiasm,but it was at least somethingready to hand at a period when theBritish army had few tanks of any kindto put into the field. Light tanks wererecognized as a liability in action by1941, however, so the few that werecompleted became surplus to requirementsother than for limited operationssuch as the invasion of Madagascar inMay 1942. Numbers of Tetrarchs wereeven handed over to the Soviet Union.But the fortunes of the Tetrarchchanged with the establishment of theairborne forces, and it was not longbefore the lightweight Tetrarch wasaccepted as the army's first airbornetank. A new glider, the General AircraftHamilcar, was designed and producedas the airborne carrier for theTetrarch, but it was not until April 1944that the first trial landings were made,some of them being spectacular in theextreme, For their new role the turretswere fitted with a 76.2-mm (3-in) infantrysupport howitzer, the vehicle beingredesignated Tetrarch ICS.The Tetrarchs went into action duringthe Normandy landings of 6 June1944 during the second airborne wave.Most of them landed near the RiverOrne, where their combat life wasshort, They were next used during theRhine crossings on 24 March 1945, butonly a few were used during that eventas their numbers had been supplementedby the American M22 Locust.That marked the limits of thetype's airborne operational career, butsome were retained for a few yearsafter the war until their Hamilcar gliderswere withdrawn from service.The basic design of the Tetrarchwas used for a number of developmentsduring the war years. One wasthe Light Tank Mk VIII Harry Hopkins,a number of which were produced butnever used. The Harry Hopkins wasvirtually a Tetrarch with thickerarmour (6-38 mm/0,25-1.5 in rather than4-15 mm/0.15-0,6 in) and many mechanicalchanges, but it also acted as thebasis for yet another variant known asthe Alecto, This was to have been anairborne or light self-propelled gunmounting a 95-mm (actually 94-mnV3,7-in) howitzer, but few of these wereproduced. Despite plans to produceversions with 25-pdr or even 32-pdrguns, the only versions to be built werefitted with dozer blades for a possibleairborne engineer role. In the eventthe Alectos ended up as hack tractorson Salisbury Plain.SpecificationTetrarchCrew: 3Weight: 7620 kg(16,800 lb)Powerplant: one Meadows 12-cylinderpetrol engine delivering 123 kW(165 bhp)Dimensions: length overall 4.305 m(14 ft 1.5 in); length of hull 4.115 m (13 ft6 in); width 2.31 m (7 ft 7 in); height2.121 m (6 ft 11.5 in)Performance: maximum road speed64 km/h (40 mph); maximum crosscountryspeed 45 km/h (28 mph);fording 0.914 m (3 ft); trench 1.524 m (5ft)
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