A10 Cruiser Mk II
In service 1939 - 1941
The A9 rebuilt as an infantry tank with thicker armour, ending up too slow for a cruiser and too thin for the infantry role.
Built byVickers-Armstrongs and Birmingham Railway Carriage
Photograph pending. No clearly licensed photograph of this vehicle was found.
Development history
The A10 deleted the sub-turrets and added bolted applique armour up to 30 mm, which pushed weight up without any extra power and cut road speed to 26 km/h. Officially reclassified as a heavy cruiser, it fell between two stools. A10s fought in France, Greece and the Western Desert and were gone from front-line service by late 1941; the layout lessons fed directly into the Valentine.
Variants
One canonical record, 2 recorded variants.
Cruiser Mk IIA
1939BESA machine gun in the hull front replacing the Vickers gun.
Cruiser Mk IIA CS
1940Close-support version with a 3.7-inch howitzer.
Notable actions
- Battle of France
- Battle of Greece
- Western Desert