3 years ago

The Churchill AVRE was a Hobart’s Funnies tank
developed after the disastrous Dieppe Raid of
August 19th, 1942.
These vehicles would allow crew to carry
out their objectives, but remain protected.

the Churchill entered service with the
British Armoured Forces in 1941.
Though it was slow and heavy,
the Churchill made a name for itself as being one of
the best cross-country tanks ever built
and could climb higher gradients or
cross harder obstacles
impassible to most other tanks then in service.

Development started on modifying
the Churchill in October 1942.

It was decided not only to
make the vehicle a kind of armored personnel carrier
but also give the Engineers the ability to project a
large high-explosive charge, giving the crew
the ability to destroy targets without having
to dismount the tank.

The Churchill normally needed a 5 man crew, commander,
gunner, loader/radio operator,
driver, co-driver/machine gunner.
The AVRE versions of the tank often
had a sixth crew member to manage
the additional engineering equipment.
It was armed with a 290mm Petard Spigot Mortar intended
for demolition work.
I was also fitted a hull mounted 7.29mm Besa Machine gun.

A disadvantage to the Petard,was the fact that the loader
would have to be exposed when reloading the mortar.
AVREs would also carry various other pieces of equipment
to assist their comrades on the battlefield.
Vehicles would have a wooden fascines, a small box girder bridge,
carpet layer and a mine plow.

This Churchill AVRE was restored in 1994
by the 15 Field Workshop.
(It was restored several times, in 2000 and 2010)
It was then left outside without any upkeep.
and because of this almost all external parts,
were restored with plastic parts.
like the mudflaps are restored with plastic mudflaps.
In 2014 it was restored again, with a terrible green
candy color.
Today its in a rusty state, because of no cleaning and
upkeep.

You can find this tank near the memorial
for the 41ste Royal Marine Commandos.

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■ Information obtained from several sites.
■ Wikipedia
■ tanks-encyclopedia
■ the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_Panzers
■ preservedtanks
■ pantser.net
■ the.shadock.free.fr/Tanks_in_France

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