Tankopedia
WW2HeavyHeavy TankUnited Kingdom

Matilda II

In service 1939 - 1945

The Queen of the Desert: an infantry tank whose armour made it nearly invulnerable in 1940-41.

Built byVulcan Foundry, Ruston & Hornsby

Matilda II
A12 Matilda II "The Princess Royal" — Alan Wilson, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

Development history

Built to walk with infantry through fixed defences, the Matilda combined heavy cast armour with a slow, reliable diesel drivetrain and the 2-pdr gun. In the Western Desert it dominated Italian armour until the 88 mm flak gun and larger German anti-tank guns arrived, and its turret could not accept a bigger weapon. It found a second life with Australian forces in the jungles of New Guinea and Borneo, where its protection outweighed its lack of punch.

Photo gallery

Period photographs with source and licence details.

2 images

Variants

One canonical record, 4 recorded variants.

  1. Mk II

    1939

    2-pdr gun, AEC diesels.

  2. Mk III-IV

    1941

    Leyland diesels and detail improvements.

  3. Matilda CS

    1941

    3-inch howitzer for close support.

  4. Matilda Frog / Hedgehog

    1944

    Australian flamethrower and spigot-mortar conversions for jungle warfare.

Notable actions

  • Battle of Arras (1940)
  • Operation Compass (1940-41)
  • Siege of Tobruk (1941)
  • New Guinea and Borneo campaigns (1943-45)