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The Vickers Light Tanks had their originsin a series of tankettes designedand produced by Carden-Loyd duringthe 1920s. The story of these little vehiclesis outside the scope of this accountbut one of them, the Carden-Loyd MkVIII, acted as the prototype for theVickers Light Tank Mk I. Only a few ofthese innovative vehicles were producedand issued, but they provided agreat deal of insight into what would berequired for later models, The Mk Ihad a two-man crew and had a smallturret for a 7.7-mm (0.303-m) machinegun.The Mk I led via the Light Tank MkIA (better armour) to the Light TankMk II (improved turret and modifiedsuspension) which appeared in 1930,and this formed the basis for later versionsup to the Light Tank Mk VI. Allthese light tanks used a simple hullwith riveted armour which was of theorder of 10 to 15 mm (0.39 to 0.59 in)thick, From the Light Tank Mk V onwardsthe turret was enlarged to taketwo men, making a three-man crew inall, and the same mark also saw theintroduction of a 12.7-mm (0.5-in)machine-gun alongside the original7.7-mm (0.303-in) weapon. Of coursethere were changes between all thevarious marks: for instance the LightTank Mk IV was the first to use thearmour as supporting plates for thechassis, rather than the other wayround, and changes were made to thesuspension to improve cross-countryperformance, With the Mk VI the lighttanks came to the peak of their developmentand were agile vehiclescapable of a nifty cross-country speed,and were up-armed to the point wherethe Light Tank Mk Vic had a 15-mm(0.59-m) heavy machine-gun in the turret.All manner of changes to itemssuch as engine cooling and vision deviceswere also introduced on this latemark, and even the machine-gun waschanged to the new Besa 7.92-mm (0.312-in) machine-gun of Czech origins.The Vickers Light Tanks werewidely used throughout the 1930s andthe early war years. Many of the earlymarks were used in India and for imperialpolicing duties, in which theyproved ideal, but in action during theearly campaigns of World War II theysoon revealed themselves as beingvirtually useless. Their main drawbackwas their thin armour, which could bepenetrated even by small-calibrearmour-piercing projectiles, and theirlack of a weapon heavier than amachine-gun. In France in 1940 theywere frequently incorrectly deployedas combat tanks and suffered accordingly,for they were only reconnaissancevehicles. Their light armour andlack of an offensive weapon madethem of little use for anything else, butin 1940 the lack of numbers of tanks onthe ground often meant that they wererushed into action against the GermanPanzers with disastrous results.The Light Tanks remained in use inthe North African desert campaigns forsome time until replacements camealong. Back in the United Kingdom thelater marks were often used for trials,One of them was an attempt to convertsome of the otherwise wasted vehiclesinto anti-aircraft tanks, mounting eitherfour 7.92-mm (0.312-in) or two 15-mm(0.59-in) machine-guns, but althoughsome conversions were made theysaw little use. Other attempts weremade to fit a 2-pdr (40-mm/1.58-in)anti-tank gun in an enlarged turret, butthat idea was not pursued.Surprisingly enough, the Germansin France were happy to use any LightTanks they could recover, not as battletanks but as anti-tank gun carriers, butonly small numbers are believed tohave been so converted.SpecificationLight Tank MkVCrew: 3Weight: 4877 kg (10,752 lb)Powerplant: one Meadows ESTL 6-cylinder petrol engine delivering66kW(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 speed51.5 km/h (32 mph); range 201 km (215 miles)
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