segunda-feira, 1 de fevereiro de 2010

The tank gap

The awful gap, reflecting on our pre-war arrangements, was the absence of even one armoured division in the British Expeditionary Force. Britain, the cradle of the tank in all its variants, had between the wars so far neglected the development of this weapon, soon to dominate the battlefields, that eight months after the declaration of war our small but good Army had only with it, when the hour of trial arrived the 1st Army Tank Brigade, comprising 7 light tanks and 100 "Infantry" tanks. Only 23 of the latter carried the 2-prd. gun, the rest machine-guns only. There were also seven cavalry and Yeomanry regiments equipped with carriers and light tanks which were in process of being formed into two light armoured brigades. Apart from the lack of armour, the progress in the efficiency of the B.E.F. was marked.

Churchill, Winston S. The Second Wolrd War: The Gathering Storm. 1948. Page 503.

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