British Testing of the Praga TNH-P 8-ton Tank in 1938

United Kingdom (1937) Light Tank – 1 Tested There was a remote possibility that the 1939 British Expeditionary Force (BEF), sent to defend Belgium and France, could have been issued with the same Czechoslovakian-designed tank the Germans equipped their panzer divisions with and used during their May 1940 Blitzkrieg attack. The German’s designation for this …

Arthur Janser’s 500-ton Battleship and Grasshopper Tanks

United Kingdom (1940) Land Battleship and Leaping Tank – None Built The United Kingdom declared war on Germany following its invasion of Poland in September 1939. When it did so, there was a sudden realization among many that the country was in yet another major war in Europe against the same enemy they had fought …

A.11E1, Infantry Tank, Matilda Prototype

United Kingdom (1934) Infantry Tank – 1 Prototype Built Of all the tanks in WW2 which may be derided or even mocked for being ‘ugly’ or useless, one which invariably makes the list is the British A.11 Matilda. This is partially the result of the overall poor showing of the British Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.) in …

TOG Citadel

United Kingdom (1939) Heavy Tank – Concept Only Background The battlefields of the Western Front during WW1 were characterized by thick belts of barbed wire covered by machine-gun fire often from concrete bunkers, creating an area which was all but impassable to infantry. The ground, shattered by years of war and millions of rounds of …

Gerrey Machine Gun Motor Vehicle

Commonwealth of Australia/United Kingdom (1939) AFV – None Built Budgong Gap may not be the sort of world-famous location associated with great architecture or magnificent structures of the ancient world. Nor is it a place with any association in the world of armored fighting vehicle manufacturers, yet this somewhat obscure location, lying nearly a 3-hour …

Smeaton Sochaczewski Carrier

United Kingdom/Republic of Poland (1944-1945) Armored Carrier – Design Only Poland had been crushed in WW2. Hitler had invaded Poland from the west on 1st September 1939, followed by a Soviet invasion from the east 16 days later. Despite dogged resistance, it was all futile and the country was split between the two ideologically opposing …

TOG Amphibian

United Kingdom (1940) Amphibious Tank – Design Only The Old Gang (TOG) was an informal and perhaps derogatory name applied to the men who had been primarily responsible for delivering British tank designs in WW1. With a new war started in 1939, these men, under the leadership of Sir Albert Stern, were formed into the …

Morris-Martel Tankettes

United Kingdom (1925) Tankettes – 10 Built Sir Giffard Le Quesne Martel was arguably one of the most important men in early British tank development. During the First World War and in the immediate aftermath, he served in the Royal Engineers. During this period, he became heavily involved in the development of tanks and bridging. …

Bechhold Tank

United States of America/United Kingdom/Kingdom of Belgium (1938-1941) Light Tank – 1 Partial Prototype Built Introduction Many people interested in tanks have likely heard the name Walter Christie and are aware that he produced several prototype tanks during the period between WW1 and WW2. Whilst his vehicles had some good features, overall they were not …

TOG 300G

United Kingdom (1939) Heavy Tank – None Built The precipitous plunge into a new major European land war against Germany in 1939 found the British utterly unprepared for the type of intense combat fought a generation earlier on much of the same ground in Northern France and Belgium. As Britain and France raced desperately to …