Mk IV Centaur tank

Mk IV Centaur tank history

Faced with the strength of the German armored vehicles, which were much more efficient than their Allied counterparts, the British did not seek to develop a battle tank likely to compete with the Tigers, but tank fighters whose tactical use was limited to a defensive role Or fixed rather than in the context of an offensive action.

English military engineers develop the concept of the “cruiser” tank, an armored vehicle whose role is to support its infantry fires and progress at its own pace, while being able to oppose a counter-offensive Armored vehicle. Using the chassis of the A24 Cavalier tank, they equip it in 1942 with a 95 mm howitzer in order to endow the British Royal Marines with an additional asset during the Normandy landing of 1944.

After D-Day, the deployed Mk IV Centaur tanks take part in the Battle of Normandy but are gradually replaced by other models like Mk IV Churchill and Sherman tanks.

Mk IV Centaur tank specification

Creator/User: Britain
Denomination: Mark IV Centaur tank
Number produced: 80

Length: 6,35 m
Width: 2,91 m
Weight: 28,850 kg
Maximum speed: 48 km/h
Operational range: 265 km

Main armament: 95 mm Howitzer
Secondary armament: two 7.62 mm (0.3 inch) Besa machine guns (4,950 rounds)

Engine: Liberty twelve-cylinder V-OHV, 395 hp at 2000 rev/min, 27 040 cc

Crew: 5 (commander, gunner, loader/radio operator, driver, front gunner)

Front armor: 76 mm
Rear armor: 20 mm