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When US and German Soldiers Fought Together and Lesser-Known World War II Events

Khalid Elhassan August 25, 2020 35 min

Itter Castle - Battle of Castle Itter — The French Army's former commander in chief, Maxime Weygand, leaving Itter Castle. Agence France Presse

18. The Underrated British Tank

A Welsh Guards Cromwell tank in 1944. Imgur

The Cromwell was the first British tank that combined decent armored protection with high speed, powered by a reliable Rolls Royce Meteor engine. By 1943, a new British tank was needed to handle the new Tigers and Panthers. However, the Cromwell’s turret could not accommodate the best available gun for destroying those panzers, the 77mm dual-purpose high velocity (HV) gun. It had had to settle instead for an inadequate medium gun.

That predicament led to the development of the A34 Cruiser Tank Comet Mark I, Britain’s deadliest tank against enemy armor. It was built on a modified Cromwell chassis with a larger turret ring for a wider and bigger turret that could accommodate the 77mm HV gun. That gun was lethal against Panthers, the Comet’s German equivalent, and at most ranges, against heavy German Tigers as well. It was also superior to the Panther’s 75mm gun.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.