Tanks of New Zealand
Built early in the second World War, these tanks were a civilian effort to design and create a means to protect New Zealand.
Using resources available to Bob Semple as Minister of Public Works, the tanks were quickly produced in their Christchurch workshops.
In the Western Desert Campaign, the division was given the new American M3 Lee/Grant tanks and played a prominent role in the defeat of German and Italian forces in the Second Battle of El Alamein and the British Eighth Army's advance to Tunisia.
Later in the war the Valentine infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom with the 2-pounder gun was sent to the Pacific theater and used by the 3rd New Zealand Division.
The use of the US Disston "Six Ton Tractor Tank" a 1937 vehicle constructed of an armoured box on a Caterpillar Model 35 chassis[3] which had been sold to Afghanistan and China was suggested.
[8] They took part in many battles and together with units of the U.S. 1st Armored Division and Commonwealth troops, formed the New Zealand Corps and were tasked with the capture of the town of Cassino, its skyline dominated by a 13th Century Monastery.
[6][8] Then they took part Spring 1945 offensive in Italy and the New Zealand armoured brigade advanced to the city of Trieste, where they accepted the surrender of the German garrison.
Tensions remained high, at one point escalating to a face off between 25 Yugoslav T-34s, which had entered the city, and the 19th Armoured Regiment.
The regiments were initially equipped with locally produced Beaverette armoured cars, Universal Carriers and impressed civilian vehicles, but from June 1942 began to receive M3 Stuart tanks.
By using a large tractor as a base, and bolting on a hastily designed and poorly constructed tank superstructure, the resultant tanks were inadequately armored, extremely heavy (20–25 ton), unstable, restricted by tractor gearing to slow speeds, and had to stop to change gears.
Furthermore, due to the shape of the underlying tractor and undue vibrations, shooting from the tank was both difficult and inevitably inaccurate and it never saw action in the field.
[18] It had the Horstmann coil-spring suspension system which was found to be durable and reliable, although the fact that the tank was short in relation to its width and that it pitched violently on rough ground made accurate gunnery whilst moving exceptionally difficult.
[19] The Mk VI possessed a crew of three consisting of a driver, gunner and commander who also doubled as the radio operator, between 4 millimetres (0.16 in) and 14 millimetres (0.55 in) of armour, which could resist rifle and machine gun bullets, and its armament consisted of one water-cooled .303 inch and one .50 inch Vickers machine gun.
[26] A total of 33 Matilda II MK IV CS tanks were acquired by the New Zealand Military Forces between October 1942 and March 1943.
The remaining 19 tanks were held by the Armoured Fighting School at Waiouru for training purposes, or as spares at Trentham.
In addition to the regular gun tanks, 11 Valentine bridge layers were imported to New Zealand and a further 4 were used by the 28th Assault Squadron in Italy.
In January 1943 the New Zealand Military Forces anticipated the need for a close support tank during operations in the pacific.
The 2-pounder gun of the Valentine was considered inadequate, while the Matilda Mk IV CS, which was also in New Zealand service, was deemed to be too heavy for pacific operations.
[28] The New Zealand Military Forces acquired 13 bridge laying variants of the Covenanter tank in late 1942.
In October 1944 the brigade received its first batch of 16 up-gunned Sherman Fireflys armed with the 17 pounder anti-tank gun.
The regiment also received a single 17pdr SP Achilles, a variant of the M10 armed with the more powerful Ordnance QF 17-pounder anti-tank gun.
The Centurion was intended to aid in training Armoured Corps men for service with one of the British regiments stationed in Korea.
The recovery vehicle served with the Australian Army in Vietnam while the others were used to rebuild other Centurions which had sustained battle damage.
In 1960, the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps acquired ten[33] M41 Walker Bulldog from the United States to replace the rapidly aging Stuart and Valentine tanks which had been inherited as a result of its close association with the British Army during Second World War.
[34] The M41 was designed to be air-transportable with consideration given to New Zealand's upcoming purchase of the C-130 Hercules, and the desired anti-tank capabilities were provided by installing a long 76 mm gun with an advanced rangefinder.
By 1978, New Zealand's M41s were no longer deemed effective due to their increasing age and deterioration of equipment, as well as the budget to continue the maintenance and operation of a tank of its size.
The Scorpion's steering gear and their Jaguar petrol engines gave frequent problems, and they were never used on active service, remaining within the country for training and exercise purposes.
They eventually became obsolete, mostly due to the limited effectiveness of their smaller caliber gun, and most were sold off to other countries via an arms dealer in 2000.
[36] In 2003, the New Zealand government chose to reorient its armoured fleet with the Canadian-built NZLAV, replacing its M113 armored personnel carriers and FV101 Scorpions.
