In 1939, the Vickers Light Mark VI formed the backbone of the British tank force. It’s hard to believe that in 6 years technology evolved from this to the mighty Centurion.
But this journey was no walk in the park. It took blood, sweat, lots of tea and various wrong turns. So, in this video we’re going to walk you through the entire British tank family tree to reveal this process.
This is a family tree organised by type not by chronology. That means Light Tanks, Cruiser tanks, Infantry tanks and Assault tanks.
So, without further ado, this is every British tank of World War II.
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00:00 | Intro
01:14 | Light Tanks
03:21 | Cruiser Tanks
12:37 | Infantry Tanks
16:08 | Assault Tanks
This video features archive footage courtesy of British Pathé.
In this film, join Paul Famojuro for the ultimate deep dive into British tanks of WWII. Over six years Britain’s tanks evolved in a number of curious directions. From the light tanks of the early war to the troubled development of the cruiser tanks concept, the slow-moving infantry tank to the hard-hitting assault tanks, each branch of this tech tree was designed to solve specific problems on the battlefield. There were some successes, just as many failures, and a whole lot of weird and wonderful tanks along the way.
Want to learn more about the British tanks of WWII? Here are some of the sources we used to make this film:
‘British Tanks and Fighting Vehicles 1914-1945’ B.T. White. 1970
‘British Cruiser Tank A13 Mk I & Mk II’ Peter Brown. 2015
‘British Infantry Tank Mk III Valentine’ Parts 1 & 2 Dick Taylor. 2010
‘The Great Tank Scandal’ David Fletcher. 2021
‘The Universal Tank’ David Fletcher. 2021
‘Centurion Owner’s Workshop Manual’ Simon Dunstan. 2017
‘The Tank Museum Guide to Matilda’ Dick Taylor. 2024
‘The Tank Museum Guide to Comet’ Dick Taylor. 2025
‘A13 Cruiser Mk. V Covenanter Tank. A Technical History’ P.M. Knight. 2018
‘A38, Infantry Tank, Valiant’ https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/gb/A38-valiant.php
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Runtime 00:20:07
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