We recently received images of a document by the British Department of Tank Design from early 1943 showing the results of tests they performed on a captured German Panzer II. The goal of the tests were to obtain information on the reliability and performance of the German tank, which was captured in Libya. The report notes that the tank had been put through a good bit of use before being captured, with the odometer showing over 7000 miles. Despite the condition of the vehicle, the report notes that “the machine behaved extremely well and little serious mechanical trouble was experienced.” This is an eleven page document, the individual pages can be viewed in the image gallery below.
The Covenanter was intended to be the main equipment of the Armoured Divisions during the early years of the Second World War, and was a generally reliable tank that was well suited to its primary task of home defence. Due to a rather convoluted series of events, mainly involving material shortages, it would not see service overseas, and as Britain’s strategic circumstances evolved it would increasingly be used as a training tank. If the Covenanter’s active service was relatively uneventful, its development life was the very opposite, with two drastically different variants of the original machine being created, and constant refinement being undertaken while it was in the hands of its users. The Covenanter was reflective of the many blind spots in the British Army’s pre-war thinking as regards Armoured Fighting Vehicles, and from its travails much practical experience was gained that benefited subsequent tank designs.
. This is a 180 page softcover book.
