Cromwell in Africa
- Kriegsmarine
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Cromwell in Africa
Did the britisch ever used the Cromwell in Africa and which one was better Sherman or Cromwell?
thanx
thanx
Im fairly sure the cromwell didnt go to africa (if it did I wouldnt mind seeing pictures)
well despite being a sort of cromwell fan Im afraid to say it was a bit of a duffer.
It was nice and fast with very good manouvrability on its excellant christie suspension, however its armour just wasnt up to the job of facing the german big cats of the time, and its main gun had already been proved insuficient even before the thing hit the battlefield.
If the cromwell had come out 2 years earlier about the same time as the sherman they would have been fairly comparable, but in truth it was no better despite being a newer design by nearly 2 years.
all simply my opinion of course.
well despite being a sort of cromwell fan Im afraid to say it was a bit of a duffer.
It was nice and fast with very good manouvrability on its excellant christie suspension, however its armour just wasnt up to the job of facing the german big cats of the time, and its main gun had already been proved insuficient even before the thing hit the battlefield.
If the cromwell had come out 2 years earlier about the same time as the sherman they would have been fairly comparable, but in truth it was no better despite being a newer design by nearly 2 years.
all simply my opinion of course.
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- R-Bob The Great!
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Roger Griffith is right - there was no Cromwell in action in Africa, or AFAIK Italy, for that matter. Cromwell's were issued to 7 AD (wholly equipped except for some (36?) Sherman Fireflies in June 1944) for the invasion, 1st Polish AD by August 1944, and the Recce Regiments of Guards AD, and 11th AD for the invasion. The Recce regiment of 4th Canuckian AD (the South Albertas) was equipped with Shermans (Rams until early 1944 IIRC). Independent armoured brigades in North-West Europe (4, 8, 27, have I forgotten one?) were all equipped with Shermans (tank brigades (6 Guards, 31, 34) with Churchills).R-Bob The Great! wrote:I doubt the Cromwell was used in Africa although it may have been used in the campaigns in Tunisia to a certain extent. I would think that an early Sherman model was marginally superior to a Cromwell.
In terms of comparison, the Cromwell apparently stood out for its engine. This was a Rolls Royce Meteor (stripped down version of the Merlin aero-engine?), which gave it an excellent power-to-weight ratio, much better then most Shermans (the engine was actually too powerful for the Christie suspension, so maximum speed had to be reduced). It also had an excellent permanent speed (despite the reduction), and apparently could outrun trucks. It probably also had better flotation/cross-country performance due to the suspension and weight/track ratio.
In terms of armour protection the slab-sided armour of the Cromwell was probably somewhat inferior to the Sherman, but OTOH it had a much lower silhouette. In terms of the first Shermans, before these were uparmoured, it probably was superior though.
The gun was identical between vanilla Shermans and Cromwells. A 17pdr version was produced in the Challenger, but this was not very successful. The Comet is essentially a Cromwell chassis with a stripped down 17pdr gun.
- PropCollector
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- PropCollector
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- Posts: 520
- Joined: 22 May 2004, 11:42
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Thank you...redcoat wrote:Both are Matilda Mk II'sPropCollector wrote:Maybe wrong from me to ask here, but what tank is this? I am no tank specialist and I just ask because I have this picture without knowing (and I did not ever try to find out so far )
Hans
I have this original german labeled photograph showing these tanks being shot at Bardia. The photo i showed is just a part of the total photograph. If someone is interested, i can post the total photo + label here. Just let me know.
Hans