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The Centaur, the earlier versions of the Cromwell, was a British tank which replaced the Crusader. That was the faster tank of WWII with a speed, without the speed restriction in the engine, was of 64 km/h but, because the suspensions couldn't resist at this speed, the engine was restricted at 51 km/h which was, for this time, already very good. Considered as the best cruiser and as the best British tank, the Cromwell/Centaur was the first British tank to combine a correct armour, a good speed and a dual-purpose canon. The Cromwell was powered by an engine based on the Rolls-Royce Merlin, the aircraft engine which powered the Supermarine Spitfire.
When the Centaur, excepted the variant IV, was mostly serving for training, the Cromwell only saw their first fights during the Battle of Normandy, between June and August 1944, indeed, it's the 7th British Armoured Division, nicknamed "Desert rats", which use it the first by landing at Gold Beach with some of them. Its entrance in service in the 7th Armoured Division wasn't the most welcomed, in fact, the Division had to change their M4 Sherman for receive the Cromwell which had barely the same canon with the same thickness of armour but with straight angles which made it less resistant than the Sherman.
From their side, the Royal Marines Corps used the 114 Centaur IV built in the Battle of Normandy, armed with a 95mm howitzer and sealed, it's the only variant of the Centaur to know the fights. They landed on Sword Beach for later join Pegasus Bridge and the are of Ranville-Bénouville.
On 13 June 1944, a line of Cromwells of the 7th Armoured Division is charged by only one Panzerkampfwagen VI "Tiger", commanded by the Panzer Ace Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann. The 15 Cromwell of the line are shot at point-blank range, none of them will escape. Wittmann will be killed later, on 8 August 1944 either killed by a Sherman Firefly or by a Hawker Typhoon.
This one did the Normandy landing on 6 June 1944, the same day, when it was participating to the fights at Hermanville, it received a mortar shell on the back, the engine has been set afire and the crew was forced to evacuate the tank. It was restored between 1975 and 1977 by the guys of the 7th Field Workshop of the REME (British military engineering) and was finally gave to the Pegasus Bridge memorial.
When the Centaur, excepted the variant IV, was mostly serving for training, the Cromwell only saw their first fights during the Battle of Normandy, between June and August 1944, indeed, it's the 7th British Armoured Division, nicknamed "Desert rats", which use it the first by landing at Gold Beach with some of them. Its entrance in service in the 7th Armoured Division wasn't the most welcomed, in fact, the Division had to change their M4 Sherman for receive the Cromwell which had barely the same canon with the same thickness of armour but with straight angles which made it less resistant than the Sherman.
From their side, the Royal Marines Corps used the 114 Centaur IV built in the Battle of Normandy, armed with a 95mm howitzer and sealed, it's the only variant of the Centaur to know the fights. They landed on Sword Beach for later join Pegasus Bridge and the are of Ranville-Bénouville.
On 13 June 1944, a line of Cromwells of the 7th Armoured Division is charged by only one Panzerkampfwagen VI "Tiger", commanded by the Panzer Ace Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann. The 15 Cromwell of the line are shot at point-blank range, none of them will escape. Wittmann will be killed later, on 8 August 1944 either killed by a Sherman Firefly or by a Hawker Typhoon.
This one did the Normandy landing on 6 June 1944, the same day, when it was participating to the fights at Hermanville, it received a mortar shell on the back, the engine has been set afire and the crew was forced to evacuate the tank. It was restored between 1975 and 1977 by the guys of the 7th Field Workshop of the REME (British military engineering) and was finally gave to the Pegasus Bridge memorial.
Category Photography / Miscellaneous
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