The British Cruiser Tank A13 & Mark III Cruiser Tank A13 Mk II

The British Cruiser Tank A13 & Mark III Cruiser Tank A13 Mk II – The Mark III Cruiser Tank A13

The A13 was a remarkable vehicle and the first highly mobile tank the British had. It was down to the decision to incorporate the US Christie suspension and the Liberty engine, which generated 340bhp. This gave the tank a top road speed of 56.3km/h, which was governed to 48.

Main Gun: 2 pdr (40mm)
Co-Axial: .303 MG
Armour: 6-14mm
Crew: 4
Range: 145km

65 vehicles were ordered and entered service with the British Army in 1939. It served with the 1st Armoured Division in France during 1940 and the 7th Armoured Division in 1941 in Libya.


The British Cruiser Tank A13 & Mark III Cruiser Tank A13 Mk II – The Cruiser Tank A13 Mk II

This vehicle was a up-armoured version of the Mark III, which added an additional weight of over half a ton, but with the new suspension and engine, this had no negative effect on the vehicles mobility. The new armour was 6 to 30mm thickness.

Mark IVA – Saw the replacement of the Besa MG with that of a Vickers MG.

Mark IV CS – The 2 pdr main gun was replaced with a 90mm mortar.

Production of the Mark IV family started in 1939 at Nuffield, LMS, Leyland and English Electric with a total of 655 vehicles being built by 1940, when production ended.