"It was" wrote Major General G L Verney to Sir Archibald Sinclair in August 1944 "a most inspiring sight to see the old Churchill's go up those banks, rear right up in the air an bring the banks down with a crash and a cloud of dust and then go sailing on" This quote typifies the relationship that the British Army had with Churchill. Yes it was old fashioned, a left over from WW1, with its design more influenced by the French Char B than any British concept, but it worked and in many ways out performed all other tanks in the Allied arsenal. Not bad for a vehicle, which it had been planned to stop making in 1943.

Churchill was slow (17.5 Mph in its fastest versions), but was tactically very mobile and in the Mk Vll of 1944 was even more heavily armoured than the Tiger 1, even if the layout was inferior. In brief the Churchill was a modernised WW1 type tank designed in 1939/40 for similar conditions to the Western Front of 1915-18. It even had sponsoon mounted guns in the first designs. It progressed via the A20 to the definitive A22 Churchill 1. Design was rushed in to production as the war began badly for Britain. The tank entered service too early before the design flaws had been ironed out and the Mk 1 and 2 were hardly battle worthy as the few used at Dieppe and in Tunisia in company with the more advanced Mk 3 proved. The Mk 3 was an altogether better design with a 6 Pdr gun replacing the original 2 Pdr in the redesigned turret, plus mechanical improvements, new tracks etc. The Mk 4 had a new cast turret again with the 6 pdr. The Mk 5 had a 95mm howitzer as a CS tank and the Mk 6 was a Mk 4 with the British 75mm QF gun (a re-bored 6 Pdr firing the same US ammunition as used in the Sherman’s M3 gun). The Mk 7 became the definitive Churchill with a new hull with greater armour protection and was slightly wider. It was slower than the earlier vehicles, but the combat mobility was just as good. It mounted the 75mm gun in a new fabricated turret with an all round vision cupola (common in German designs, but a rarity on Allied vehicles). Minor variation’s were the Mk 4 NA 75 locally fitted with the US 75mm gun replacing the 6 Pdr used in Italy. The Crocodile was a Mk 7 with a flame thrower and trailer and the Mk 8 a CS Mk 7 with a 95mm Howitzer. The AVRE was a modified Mk 4 or 3 with a Petard spigot mortar and there were other up armoured versions (Mk’s 9, 10 and 11) from early 1945, plus many experimental types (E.g. 3 in Gun carrier) and various turret less vehicles like the Ark and ARV’s. The Churchill saw action from 1942 until the end in Europe, middle and far east, Russia and then on to Korea in 1950. The final user was the Irish Army which still had up armoured versions as late as about 1969. The last version was the ill fated Black Prince, which had a 17 Pdr in a widened hull. It was inferior all round to the Centurion and was abandoned, the final throw of the British Infantry Tank concept.

Churchill had a long and complex production history. Before I go in to detail I hope that a brief summary of the versions will be useful to the reader.

Mk 1 2 Pdr in small cast turret, coax BESA MG. With a 3 in Howitzer in the hull position. Tracks uncovered. Alternatively the hull howitzer was replaced with a BESA MG (sometimes referred to in books as the Mk 2, The only contemporary source I have is the pack available from the Tank Museum that includes stowage diagrams that definitely notes the Mk 1 as having the hull 3 in howitzer and the Mk 2 as having the BESA MG.

It is also noted that some Mk 1CS’s may have existed with 2 3 in Howitzers and others with the 2 Pdr and 3 in guns swapped over. Max armour 102mm thick. Speed 15.5 Mph. Used at Dieppe and in N Africa, plus a lot of training use.

Mk 2 a version of the Mk 1 with the 3 in howitzer replaced by a BESA in the hull.

Mk 1’s were used at Dieppe and in Tunisia, with some Mk 2’s at Dieppe (as OKE flame throwers) and probably Tunisia as well. I have no photographic proof of the CS versions being used operationally. Many Mk 1’s and 2’s were rebuilt as Mk 3’s. When their days as gun tanks were finished many others were used as ARK’s and experimental versions.

Mk 3 a new squareish fabricated plate turret with 6 Pdr (long or short L43 or L50 versions, L50’s had a counter weight at the muzzle), coax BESA and a second in the hull. New pattern tracks covered on the top run, new air intakes (also used on some Mk 1’s and 2’s notably at Dieppe), except on early vehicles. Used N Africa, Italy. There is some crossover between 1’s and 3’s. Some modified Mk 1’s had track guards and some Mk 3’s lacked them and many Mk 3’s and indeed some 4’s used the early pattern tracks. They also seem to have introduced guide rails for the tracks on the top rather than the wheels used with the Mk 1 and 2. Some were rebuilt from MK 1’s and 2’s. Some were also updated with the 75mm gun although not to the same extent as the Mk 4.

Mk 4 a new cast turret to alleviate a shortage of plate for the fabricated Mk 3, other wise identical and produced concurrently with the same armament variations as Mk 3, but the L50 6 Pdr was more common on Mk 4 than Mk 3. Common in Italy and NW Europe after D Day. NA 75 with US 75mm M3 gun from scrapped Sherman’s used in Italy after conversion in N Africa (hence the name not North American!). The coax armament was replaced with the us .30 Browning as was the hull gun for commonality. Many were updated with the 75mm gun, making them very hard to distinguish from new build Mk 6’s.

Mk 5 Mk 4 with 95mm CS howitzer.

Mk 6 updated Mk 4 with 75mm gun Some minor modifications were common to the Mk 7. There was at least one Mk 6 with a 6 Pdr recorded in the 1945 21 Army Group returns, with it being important enough to warrant a column of its own. I do not know what the explanation for this is.

Mk 7 revised wider hull, welded construction, circular hull hatches, new turret with a 75mm gun. Armour up to 152mm thick. Speed 12.5 Mph. It also had revised guide rails, 2 alternative turret fronts (bulged and non bulged). In service from D Day. Crocodile was a Mk 7 with the hull BESA MG replaced by the flame gun connected to the trailer towed at the rear. Most later Mk 7’s could be fitted as Crocodiles as they were built with the standard mountings for the trailer and flame unit. Used from early 1944 and in common used by D Day in mixed units. Crocodiles were used in Korea as gun tanks taking the Churchill's combat career to 10 years. Post war it became the base for conversions to replace Mk 1 to 4 engineer vehicles. Many detail variations over time. In WW2 this vehicle was often called the "Heavy Churchill" to distinguish it from its earlier brethren.

Mk 8 a Mk 7 with a 95mm CS howitzer, turret slightly revised.

In 1944 a rebuilding programme of the older tanks began. This took the basic MK’s 3, 4 and 5 and took them up roughly to Mk 7 standards. The work involved the following changes:

20mm appliqué armour to the sides, a Mk 7 type visor plate, glacis increased to 2 ¼ inches, turret replaced by a Mk 7 one, turret gear box replaced by the heavy duty Mk 7 type, Mk 7 suspension, H41 engine gear box.

Mk 9 a Mk 3 or 4 updated.

Mk 10 a Mk 6 updated.

Mk 11 a Mk 5 with a Mk 8 95mm turret and extra armour.

Over the years there has been talk of LT or light versions of these rebuilt Churchills. WO 165/136 states that the LT designation would have retained the old turret, but "none have been produced as supply of heavy turrets exceeded hull uparmouring capacity" It is further stated that all such conversions were to cease by August 1945.

AVRE Mk 3 and 4 WW2 variant with Petard mortar, widely used from 1944. AVRE’s carried a lot of equipment such as bridges (see below) and fascines, hand placed charges etc.

AVRE Mk 7 a Mk 7 post war with a huge 165mm demolition gun.

3 in Gun carrier an experimental vehicle with an excellent gun in a limited traverse mount in an armoured box. It was no worse than many German improvisations, but only 24 were built and they were never used due to inter service rivalry. Some were converted to Snake carriers (a mine clearing device).

Arks – turret less tanks with manual ramps front and rear for use as obstacle fillers, widely used in NW Europe and Italy. Some had track ways over the tracks, while others (mainly ones converted locally in Italy), just had the ramps and no track ways. Post-war the Twin Ark was developed to support the Conqueror MBT and remained in service until 1965.

ARV’s Mk 1 turret less Mk 1 or 2 similar to the Arks, but with a lifting jib, Mk 2 a Mk 3 or 4 hull with a built up box above the old fighting compartment, a dummy gun, and a jib capable of lifting about 15 tons and a spade to anchor the vehicle down.

Bridge layer A large 30 foot No 2 bridge on a turret less Mk 3 or 4 hull. AVRE’s could also deploy a smaller SPG bridge anchored to the hull front and held by snatch blocks to the rear deck. Post-war Mk 7’s were used as the basis for new Bridge layers.

There were also mine rollers, sand carpet layers (Bobbins (first used at Dieppe), mine plough’s, post war APC plus various experimental types.

Airfix Mk 7 – basic and over complex, but a nice model and easy to convert to a Mk 3 and specialist versions. It is a bit undersize for 1/76^th and lacks many details. The most noticeable is the front turret bulges that need to be added from filler over plastic rod for the mid to late production batch (the kit is correct for early Mk 7’s), eliminate the joint of the front plate to the sides, delete some of the hull side rivets, add headlights, mesh tops with plastic strip surrounds to the air intakes, rear track cover POL racks, Infantry telephone box, smoke producers, drill out gun muzzle, rain flaps to periscope tops, third periscope on hull top for the driver, drill out the exhausts, add sights and other small details. A direct vision cupola can come from the Matchbox Comet for later vehicles. Detail the BESA’s. Scratch build a trailer for a Crocodile. The kit has hollow suspension units so if you remove the track covers you will have to fit a top plate and guide rails. G W Futters articles in 1971 are the way to proceed.

Matchbox AVRE Mk 4 with SBG – a good kit, not too easy to build, but a lot of options and very valuable. The main fault is the turret, which is too short. The simplest way to improve it is to build up the rear with thick plastic card and filler and then sand to shape adding the stowage bin afterwards. You get the fire extinguishers and many small details absent from the other kits. The bridge is OK and perfectly adequate for wargaming and can be super detailed. If you are using it do not forget to add the 20g plus of weight in the rear hull to prevent it toppling over. This is mentioned in the small instruction leaflet, but could easily be overlooked. The suspension and wheels are very good, but the tracks are very poor, being too narrow. Replacement with Esci or Hasegawa tracks or even Airfix ones is a must. The drive sprockets are impossible to remove cleanly from the spur and need a lot of work to reinstate the track teeth from the attachment points to the spur. The hull sides are very good with premoulded AVRE details and reasonable if a little small air intakes. There is no detail on the upper track run making it awkward to remove the track covers as many vehicle’s did, unless you fit the guide rails. The fit in general is very poor and the moulding colours can be garish, making one coat painting very difficult. The decals are good with three authentic options that can be used from the box. Sabre can be seen in photos carrying a fascine. The base is too small for a model of this size, but a larger heavier base can easily be made.

Esci – Mk 3 gun tank and Mk 3 mine roller. Not bad and very useful. Probably the best small scale Churchill. the latest issues have length and link track. The original ones are still very good and with track guards and super glue very easy to use.

Hasegawa Mk 1 and 2. A nice kit, easy to build and acceptably accurate. This kit was reviewed in Tankette when it first appeared. When I checked the model against the Bellona plan I found the same problems. I.e. it is a mixture of 1/76^th and 1/72^nd. The turret is noticeably 1/76^th, with the hull between scales. To be honest it looks like a Churchill and most people will not want to go to the trouble of correcting it. If you do a method of rebuilding in 1/76^th is in the MAFVA Tankette article by Andy Boyce (Vol 12 No 1). I left well alone and made a model of the first production vehicle as demonstrated to Winston Churchill in 1941. This is a simple job with detailing required on the air intakes and codes from the spares box. The hull can be combined with an Esci turret for a very early Mk 3, the turret with an Esci hull for a rebuilt Mk 1 or 2. The tracks are required for many Mk 3 models and some Mk 4’s. Even late Churchill’s such as the Toad mine flail of the 1950’s used the track as the last survivor at Chatham shows. The intakes moulded in with the hull sides present a problem, unless swap with the Esci kit hull, noting the scale differences highlighted in Tankette. The wheels are the correct early spoked type that could be replaced on updated vehicles or mixed as some photos show. The kit can be used for ARK’s, ARV Mk 1’s and various experimental versions. If you plan to model any Churchill without track guards front and rear horns are required from this kit, with appropriate detailing. At the least one needs to add detail to the air intakes, drill out gun barrels, add some bolts and rivets and work on the stiff figure provided in the kit. Note some vehicles had a modified version of the air intakes and photos should always be referred to for particular vehicles. In late 1999 cheap Chinese made copies of this kit were becoming available at about half Hasegawa's price.

Mk 1 - as Hasegawa, or with Esci hull for versions with the later air intakes such as all bar one used at Dieppe.

Mk 2 ditto, with modifications for the OKE flame thrower version used at Dieppe.

Mk 3, Esci kit, with Hasegawa tracks for many vehicles, and a few with the early air intakes, use the Hasegawa hull as well. The Hasegawa hull or at least the ends of the horns will be required for many vehicles certainly at Dieppe as the Esci kit has the horns moulded in with the track guards. Late Mk 3’s use the kit tracks, possibly with removed sections of track guards. Many vehicles also had track guide rails on the top run fitted rather than the circular guides as provided in both these kits, which is more appropriate for the Mk 1 and 2. Most had the gun as per the kit, but others had the other 6 Pdr, refer to photos for details.

Mk 4, Matchbox with a standard 6 Pdr mount from an Airfix Crusader or similar, remove AVRE fittings and use Esci tracks for late versions or Hasegawa ones for early versions. Airfix 6 Pdr for the gun breach if an interior is required.

Mk 5, as Mk 4, but scratch build a 95mm howitzer. If you want interior detail use the Airfix 25 Pdr as the gun breach.

Mk 6, Matchbox kit as above, but with 75mm gun from Airfix Mk 7.

Mk 7 Airfix kit with modifications listed above.

Mk 8 Airfix Mk 7 with above modifications and a 95mm Howitzer as per Mk 5.

Mk 9, 10,11 and Lt versions. Basically an uparmoured Matchbox or Esci kit with an Airfix turret for the Heavy turret versions, plus fittings from various sources noted above.

AVRE - Matchbox kit with corrections or convert the Esci kit for a 1/72^nd Mk lll based AVRE. Airfx’s for a Mk 7 AVRE.

ARK’s - Esci, Hasegawa or Matchbox with minor modifications or Airfix with more drastic ones back to Mk 3 or 4 status.

ARV’s - Hasegawa or Esci or converted Airfix kits, depending upon which vehicle from which photo you chose to model. Military Modelling Jul 82 for a 1/76^th Airfix based conversion.

3 In Gun Carrier Airfix or Esci’s are the easiest to work with.

1/48^th

The Armoured Division Mk 3 – very detailed and expensive, but the definitive 1/48^th kit. Old Aurora kit of a Mk lll.

Tamiya Mk 7 and Mk 7 Crocodile, recently reissued with new figures and details. Very good, if not totally dimensionally accurate as it suffers from originally being designed to be motorised. Apart from expensive Resin kits this is the only game in town and it builds well into a nice model. Early track comes in resin from Accurate Armour, an NA 75 conversion from KA Castings, Resicast make a Mk lll. Airwaves make a large etched detail set to improve it further. I have built it twice the latest one using the cheaper Eduard set, which contains many easy to use bits such as the rain guards for the periscopes, hatch handles etc. You should also glaze the cupola or make up the earlier hatch fitting if your Mk 7 has one fitted (or take one from a Tamiya Cromwell and build a later Cromwell with the Churchill cupola). The major problem is that there are only two small spare track link sections and Churchill’s invariably carried more. You can leave some off if you use the full track guards, but many Churchill’s in combat had sections removed, notably underneath the turret ring (to prevent jamming if a shell buckled the track guards). There is also no detail under the track guards making this operation a lot of work. They do however provide separate forward track guard sections that make it easy to leave them off if required. The marking options are OK, but I have not seen a photo of Banner so I can not comment on the accuracy. I have seen photos of Briton without its whitewash coat, so this is the only confirmed option.

Resicast of Belgium make an AVRE (35.113), an ARK Mk I (35.114), Churchill engine and mechanic (35.115), Churchill Mk V (35.117), Churchill Mk III Dieppe (35.120), Churchill Mk 1 conversion kit (35.127)m Churchill IV NA 75 (35.131), SBG bridge (35.119), with Atlantic wall (35.1320, Mk I side intakes (35.215), Mk IV extra armour (35.216), NA 75 conversion (35.217), AVRE conversion (35.218), deep wading equipment (35.209), extra track links (35.206)

Many wargame's resin and metal kits exist in the smaller scales, which I do not have examples to review The most notable being by S&S Models and Matador Models. More details of these will appear later. There are also hordes of 1/35^th conversions for the NA 75, Mk 3 and 4 etc.

Tamiya Photographic Album of British Churchill Tank

The Churchill Tank by Chris Ellis, Tanks Illustrated No 23

The Churchill Tank by Bryan Perrett and Mike Chappell, Osprey vanguard No 13, recently simply revised and reissued in the New Vanguard series.

Allied Combat Tanks WW2 Fact Files, P Chamberlain and J Milsom 1978

Bellona Print No 19 Mk 1 and 2 plans/details 1/76^th

Bellona Print No 26 Mk 3, 4 and 5 plans 1/76^th and 1/48^th, photos, details.

Churchill Tank including the wartime manual for the Mk 7 and 8. The Tank Museum, HMSO

Churchill Tank by Peter Chamberlain. A series in Airfix Magazine July 1968 into 1969. Reprinted as a book later

The Funnies - a series by G W Futter Military Modelling from April 1971 - at least 15 parts, plans, notes.

Especially useful for the Churchill are May 71 - converting the Airfix kit to an AVRE Mk 4 and Apr 72 on the bridge layer version, others cover the ARK’s, track layers, mine ploughs, Crocodile.

Flame throwers by A Wilson, Corgi 1973 (orig. 1956) - great book on Crocodile operations.

Airfix Magazine various - esp. Nov 1982 - Carpet layers.

Military Modelling Oct 95 (P36-42) Jun 94 (P42-49) – D Day tank units and vehicles by Les Neale. Aug 1980 - 1/35 log carrier, Sept 1976 1/35^th SBG bridge layer, July 1982 1/76^th ARV 2 from the Airfix kit.

Military Modelling articles are available as photo copies from Readers services (Photocopies) on 01322 660070.

Military Inscale Jun 94 - D Day anniversary issue

Bellona Print Series

Les Blindes Allies En Normandie - Y Buffetaut in the Militaria magazine book series.

Militaria Magazine No 14 article by Y Buffetaut on early Churchills. The Soviet tank identified on Page 42 as a Mk I/II is a Mk IV. This aside very useful.

Panzer February 1979, No 44. A good article with excellent photos on 79^th Armoured Division.

FineScale Modeler Nov 91

Tank Magazine Vol 14, No 5, 1991, Sensha Magazine Co Ltd – good coverage in Japanease of Dieppe Churchills.

Plans packs from RAC Tank Museum Bovington

Tankette - Miniature AFV Association, various including 27/1 (Great Eastern Ramp)

British and Commonwealth Armoured Formations (1919-46) – D Crow, Profile Publications 1971.

Soviet Heavy Tanks – S J Zaloga, J Grandsen, Osprey Vanguard No 24, 1981

Profile No 38 Conqueror Heavy Gun Tank – Maj M Norman, Profile Publications 1972 – good coverage of 3in Gun Carrier and Black Prince

Polish Armour – K Barbarski, Vanguard 30, Osprey 1982

Armour of the Korean War 1950-53, S Dunstan, Osprey Vanguard No 27, Osprey 1982

Universal Tank - David Fletcher, HMSO 1993. the most modern synthesis of British WW2 tank design and usage.

Tracklink No 41, September 1997, - P W Brown. Data and analysis of British tank numbers in N W Europe.

Public Records Office Kew various documents. E.G. WO 165/134, 135,136,137 RAC Progress Reports December 1943, June 1944, December 1944, June 1945. Plus; WO 165/110, 171/102, WO 185/119, 172, 177, 186,194, WO 204/1911, 7433, 7448, 7451, 7453, 8291, WO 205/58, 151, 636, 641, WO 219/2806, W0 219/2806, 3115, 3350-3, 3358, WO 291/253, 261,741,770, 1263, AVIA 11/30, 12/1, 12/2, 46/291, PREM 3/425, 3/427/2,3,4,7, 3/246/10

Captured American and British Tanks under the German Flag, W Regenberg, Schiffer 1993, Good coverage of captured Churchill’s at Dieppe.

Vanguard of Victory, D Fletcher, HMSO 1984, an excellent account from the Tank Museums expert of the 19^th Armoured Division.

Dieppe Through the Lens – Hugh G Henry/ J P Pallud, After the Battle. The book on Dieppe.

Museum Ordnance magazine January 1993, an excellent article by Peter Brown

The Mucklebergh Collection has a decent MK VII Croc, here is a photo of it. Thanks to the Museum for allowing me to use photos of their vehicles.