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Tank Chats #19 Matilda II | The Tank Museum
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ส.ค. 2024
- Tank Chats playlist • Tank Chats from The Ta... The name Matilda means Strength in Battle from the Germanic roots Maht, meaning strong and Hild meaning battle.
The Matilda was regarded as a superb tank in its day and carved a remarkable career for itself. A few served in France in 1940 but in the early stages of the North African campaign, under General Wavell, it virtually ruled the desert. Even when the Afrika Korps arrived it remained a formidable opponent, immune to everything but the notorious 88mm gun. Its main failings were its slow speed and small gun, which could not be improved.
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The Matilda was a minor legend. The Italians had nothing to stop it. It rolled right through the defenses of their border forts and crushed their artillery under its treads. It was one of the reasons an army of 70,000 catastrophically defeated an army of 360,000.
Well it didn't help that the Italians under Mussolini had pathetically bad tanks of their own. Make no mistake, the Matildas WERE terrific, but one can do a lot of damage when it's quality vs crap.
Becomes hilarious after watching The Russian Badgers's Bunker Buster episode.
Matildas only got routed because Rommel learned his lesson in France and made sure he had plenty of 88s in Africs
@@g8ymw As AA guns. It was a panic decision to use them as AT guns, all because of the Matilda 2.
@@Dragonblaster1 Indeed, it was a squadron of Matildas that counter attacked the Germans.
Every anti-tank gun they had couldn't stop the Matildas.
Rommel came running back and got them to turn the 88s on them, yes it was a panic move but one that worked.
I've seen archive footage of Russian tanks clanking into Berlin and amongst them was a Matilda
The Matilda II tank also did sterling service in the Pacific War against Japanese infantry; pill boxes, dugouts & entrenchments. Battles in New Guinea and Bougainville for instance
Though in the heat and humidity of the jungle the cramped interior was even more unpleasant as it was in the desert.
That kind of was the biggest problem of the Matilda and also the Valentine. In the mild to cold climate in Britain itself it wasn't a problem but in the jungle and desert where they ended up fighting the cramped interior let to heatstroke and rapid water consumption. It was one of the reasons the Grant tanks were so well liked when they arrived as they were so much roomier.
In the desert the tanks could get so hot that you could cook meals on the steel. This is not an exaggeration, there are videos of soldiers doing it.
"Queen of the Desert" is such a cool title for a tank.
The guy who made this tank was called Glenn Miller. When they asked him why he never finished it, he said he wasn't in the mood.
errol kim I understand your reference
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
@@Masada1911 cheers
I see it has 'Golden Miller' on it presumably the Prize Winning Greyhound, a very famous even today Dog
You forgot to mention how good looking this tank is compared to most other early WW2 vehicles :)
+Vladimir Efimov He is a handsome machine.
+Chris Maillet *She. Tanks, planes and boats are considered to be females.
agusti92 For me, anything with guns on it is male.
+Chris Maillet
Ever met a male called Matilda?
+dom69foco This depends of your native language. For example in my native Romanian all tanks are referred to as males. Because I read a lot of WW2 history in English I'm used to the British habit of referring to tanks as females, otherwise I'd be tempted to use the male pronoun as well :)
The bit where David speaks about the important moments in battle of the Matilda II tanks is a blast to watch and listen, I would like to hear more of such stories attached to these videos. Thank you.
Yeah, that was quite interesting!
British WW2 history writers often say "The Germans did this because we did that" but when you look into it from the German point of view, you find another story. Before the Battle of Arras Guderian had already been told to stop more than once by his (WW1 thinking) superiors and had only managed to keep going by getting a "reconnaissance in force" authorised.
In Rommel's own memoirs he talks about delaying the advance into France because he believes there was 5 British divisions threatening there flank, when in reality it wasn't even one whole division.
These things just kept going and going, even on it's last legs, they just didn't give up. My Great-Uncle fought in these in N. Africa with the 44th RTR, before they were equipped with Valentine's and Sherman's then being shipped off to Europe.
I managed to get the book on the Regt and it goes into great detail about the battles at Tobruk, having many damaged from battle and the rugged terrain but they just didn't give up. A lovely tank.
Pulling the tracks out like that you get a feel for the spaced armor and how thick it is on one side.
i'm really looking forward to detailed videos on the restoration and issues, i hope you make them available
+Guillermo Lovato Yes a look at the restoration process would be fantastic!
i agree
This is my favourite tank, and my first model kit when I was no more than 6 years old. One day I'll come to the museum just to have the opportunity to see it "live"... I just whish one day I'll have the opportunity. Who knows.
Nice to see you're taking care of it, indeed!
Go tankfest in august i think
First model tank I built and has been my favourite since
My favourite by far
im doing my 4th tank kit ever, the Matilda and I am doing it in France camo and design because That's were my great grandfather fought at Dunkirk and I imagine he rode on one of these
Awesome. I cant wait to see the upcoming restoration episodes. Wet dreams of modellers too.
Hmmm ... James May did his "1:1 airfix Spitfire" ... maybe do a "1:1 airfix Matilda"?
www.dailymotion.com/video/xay8fx?playlist=x3gqwq
[dreadfully low quality ... but better than "not at all"]
Matilda 2 also really did well in Australia. In my mind it's probably the most cutting-edge British tank at the time of its introduction in the entire war.
+Davis Kyle The French Char B1 and B1 Bis have that beat on the technology level with a slightly better AT gun, armor, infantry support with the 75mm and advanced drive and steering systems. Both vehicles (Matilda and the B1s) suffered in the reliability departments.
+Captian Nemo B1 better armour? lol no. The B1 wasnt bad, but it wasnt as effective as the matilda in practice.
It stopped the German 37mm so badly that they had to use French 47mm AT guns, Czech 45mm guns and 105mm artillery and 88mm AA guns on it...
Captian Nemo I am not saying its armours bad, but its not better than the matildas, in terms of the grade of steel and pure thickness.
There is a note in one of WJS's books that the Germans had to put half a dozen 37mm rounds into one spot on an B1 to put a hole in its armor. The French also were the first to use cast armor in a mass production setting with the H35s in the mid 1930s.
The infantry/cruiser tank split is usually regarded as some kind of false trail in tank doctrine, but it actually worked. Al Murray in his top five tanks video makes the point that this philosophy was effective in the breakout from the Normandy lodgement in 1944, with the infantry/breakthrough role assigned to the Churchill and the cruiser/breakout role conducted by the Cromwell. It's an example of the idea of the best weapons being the weapons you have, provided that they are used properly.
But I think we also need to keep technological limitations in mind. In 1940 it just wasn't really possible to have a tank that is heavily armored, mobile and has heavy firepower so the British decided to focus on one at a time. If the British could have made the Centurion to throw against the Nazi's in 1940 they would have.
The infantry/cruiser split wasn't really a false trail but more so one rendered obsolete. It was a successful route to take but as technology advanced it became unnecessary.
I love playing the Matilda(s)! I like playing slower tanks as that keeps me from going head first straight into trouble.
Nice to see the point made about being retrospectively overcritical about some old tanks particularly the Matilda 2 which really did have its successes.
Agreed - and the early Shermans suffer from the same problem. The Sherman was a brilliant tank in 1942 & 1943, it just began to look a bit feeble next to the Panthers and Tigers in Normandy from 1944 onwards.
Love the Matilda, really liked the video and can't wait to see the restoration. The more of these wonderful videos Bovington put out the better. I love them and I think it's important to record as much info as we can about these vehicles and their history before the only sources for the information are books
Very excited to see some of the break down of the Matilda in detail.
Can't wait to see the restoration of it (big thumbs up )
So they are repairing the Matilda 2. Great chance to repaint her in her original paint scheme.
Yeah, get rid of that blue paint!
like the france 1940 camo scheme
I cant wait for the videos about the restoration of the matilda, keep these videos coming they are great.
Awesome video, looking foward to the restoration of this beautiful tank!
Holy moly, when I was a child what I know about world war was, it's like the surface of it. But when I keep studying more and more into the details. It's amazing! Forget about all war machine novels or Mecha anime. This is real, how people built them? And it keeps getting better today. Can we teach this in school? It's so cool.
Love to see it running again. Good luck on Tiger Day. Keep up the great work
Great info videos, I visit the tank museum every year normally more than once. These videos will just add to more to the experience.
wow, thanks for this and great to hear there's some more video's coming detailing the restoration. The Matilda II is one of my favourite tanks and I hope to come and see the one at Bovington sometime.
That was a great, little history lesson.
I am a huge fan of Bovington, and I consider Mr. Willey an outstanding historian.
That said, I really just came here to hear David Fletcher say "Matilda".
Insightful and well explained.
Those clips showing those parts of the tank at the end are very exciting.
I had the Airfix kit and it was the first one I painted properly. Lovely little kit - and a good looking tank in real life too. More videos please ASAP.
Fantastic documentary. Excellent museum fellow. Incredibly knowledgeable too.
I can listen to this man all day. Great video.
The Matilda 2 is my favourite tank (except of course the legendary Bob Semple) just because of how effective it was. The thing was near unkillable and had a fairly decent gun on it too. If I asked for a tank then a Matilda is exactly what I'd want from it.
In WOT the Matilda is the main tank that I use for my daily missions. About the only missions it doesn't do well is the spotting missions, but I have several excellent scout tanks for that!
Another fantastic presentation of a tank (or chassis) within the museum!
Beautiful tank for the time and still is it always will be special
That video of the tank traversing the ditch had me tasting my kidneys. Gotta imagine there were a few wrecked spines from riding in that thing. Beautiful and effective vehicle, though.
Thanks
Cracking little early world war 2 tank, great balance of protection and firepower.
It astonishes me how underrated the British tanks were in the Second World War
I think it stems from a lack of production, really, with all the lend lease coming in and the German tanks getting all the guff. They tend to be lost in the shuffle.
I am really looking forward to that followup video(s). :D
Went to the museum last month and saw the matilda outside the sheds looking complete.
Very well-done presentation on the Matilda II tank!
'German Armour spotted!.. It's a Panzer IV! We need to use a bigger gun! Danny! You got your Webley? Pass it up!.."
Lol nice one
I looked this up because i was playing Battle Academy and thinking wow that Matilda 2 is really good!
Another great video. I really appreciate the time and effort that goes into these!
Wow, can't wait to see the videos of this great tank being restored to fighting fit!
Got to love our British thinking - let's make a tank to give close support to our infantry but not give it an effective HE round!
One of the greatest 'might have beens' has got to be if we had combined the development of the 6pdr (57mm) anti tank gun with the A12 and given the tank a road speed of 25-30mph.
Work on the A12 started in 1936 but, due to pre-war parsimony, only 2 were in service by September 1939.
The Royal Artillery version of the 6pdr QF gun was ready by 1940, helped as this itself was basically a re-engineering of the existing naval 6pdr QF gun, which had been in series production since 1934.
The carriage design for the A/T 6pdr took another year and this meant production was held back pending urgent Army resupply with 2pdrs following the loss of equipment loss at Dunkirk.
Using the naval design 6pdr (installed on vessels of up to destroyer size) it was feasible that the Matilda II could have entered service in 1939. The needed more powerful engine could even have helped ease a major production problem of the Matilda II. Its castings were generally too heavy and ended up having to be ground down to reduce their weight, making the tank much more difficult to produce.
The more powerful engine needed for a faster road speed would probably have been able to deal with this overweight problem.
Mind, with our legendary ability to produce unreliable cruiser tanks this problem would most likely have worked its way into such a 6pdr Matilda II too!
Absolutely terrific news about one of my favourite tanks and a great video as always!
Really interesting. I never knew it was so good! Great Camo scheme too.
One of my favorite tanks, great to see it.
I think the cutaways in the side are so distinctive. It almost makes it look like a submersible.
Great presentation on my favourite tank. However you left out its remarkable service in Asia in WW2 by Australia. Perfect for jungle service - large guns largely useless.
Good tank that saw service through out the war. Proved that tanks could work in jungles with the Australians.
what a cracking review.
Thanks for this video on one of my favorite tanks I look forward to the future videos and plan to return to Tank Fest in a few years to hopefully see her running.
I remember playing a tank sim called Panzer Commander from SSI in the late 90's. The Matilda II was unstoppable in that game if you were in a Panzer III or IV. I even remember shooting it in the back of the turret and the 37mm anti tank rounds would just bounce off.
Thanks.
My favorite tank of all time :) Matilda
Walaki Why is it your favorite?
It will be very interesting to see the restoration. Looking forward to it.
My introduction to this tank was in the game Panzer General on the old PS1. My reaction was much like that of the Germans in France.
My favourite tank
Kudos from Germany! Thanks for being an important part of british engineering to stop the Nazis.
Please do a video on the Somua S35. It would be greatly appreciated.
Absolutely fantastic video. You are very passionate and knowledgeable about your subject, and this was very entertaining and educational to watch. Brilliant. +1
I hope we get a video on the Panzer IV some time soon as well :) I imagine we might not be getting videos on the M4 and the T-34 any time soon since they are just so damn famous and people want to know about the less-known models, and you might argue that the Panzer IV is just as famous as the T-34 and M4 but they always seem to fall in the shadow of their Russian and 'Murican counterparts - would love to see a Pzkpfw IV video at some point ^_^
Has anyone read the novel Tramp in Armour? I read it as a youth and very much enjoyed it. It's about a Matilda 2 and crew making their way to Dunkerque for evacuation.
terrific well done and looking forward to more.
No rivets. Nicely slanted plates. No shot traps. A purpose built fighting vehicle.
Fantastic. Brilliant video. looking forward to more.
Great stuff guys! I really enjoy yours tank chats!
Great stuff this! And I'm pleased to see a bit longer format than usual too. :)
One of my favorite vehicles of WWII.
Who can't love this stout old lady? One imagines that when the 2lber fires there is a high pitched, Queen Victoria like Ahem! sound rather then a bang. Add to that the way it dominated early German tanks (so vulgar!) And you got to love this thing. Roaring across the desert at a ripping 8 miles an hour and completely unstoppable.
This tank was the rock on which O'Connor built his campaign against the Italians in North Africa. Look up "Operation Compass" and read about it. The biggest worry was availability because the desert was much harder on running gear than Northern France. O'Connor's crews had to coax their machines across 800 miles of desert before Churchill stuck his nose in and pulled many of the Allied forces out for an abortive defence of Greece. Had they been allowed to remain, the Germans would probably not have bothered with North Africa at all. O'Connor blamed himself for following orders instead of going on to Tripoli.
Desert wasnt a problem for Matildas and it did well there. But Russians didnt like Matildas cause on mud it was terrible. Far less reliable than Valentine.
Paciat Other way round. Sand is much harder on tanks than mud. And the Red Army actually _did_ like the Matillda.
No. Sand didnt freeze like mud. That wasnt a problem with simple Valentine suspension, but in Matildas it would get stuck in "mud slide" holes freezing the whole suspension. Dust wasnt a problem for slow Matildas like it was for Crusaders because of the low cruising speeds. Matildas power transmission didnt brake as often on flat even terrain but Russians hated those weak bus Leyland engines. Finally Matilda was much bigger than Valentine witch was more of a problem for Russians than for the British.
Paciat Well, all the books on Operation Compass say much the same thing about sand - it was abrasive. In fact, everything I have ever read about the desert war says it. I wasn't really making comment about their service on the Eastern Front. However, you may be right. I have read differing opinions on the Matilda in Red Army service. The clogging issue was almost certainly related the Matilda's small wheel and skirt design - something which wasn't present on the Valentine.
The Rackham clutch steering was unreliable as well. That didn't matter so much in the desert where they could have flat, straight runs, but it was a different matter in the Russian mud
Great video, I look forward to more to come.
Great video. Couple points though.
I think there's a bit of an overestimation of the fight at Arras there. It's true that it panicked more than the troops at the site (Hitler upon hearing reports of what was going on thought the whole german armored push was in the verge of being cut off, no less) and it's true that had the germans had sheep as field commanders it would've mostly stopped the whole advance towards the sea because immediate orders from the OKW were issued to stop the advance at once. But neither Rommel nor (specially) Guderian were having any of that, and they kept advancing towards the sea anyway under the excuse of "armed reconaissance", thus the order to stop had little actual consequences.
So in truth, Arras didn't delay the german push that much, certainly not to give it credit for the later succesful evacuation of the BEF at Dunkirk. It really did have a long lasting effect on the german high command, however, that's absolutely true, so no big deal, the Matilda trully earned it's spurs there (and later on the Desert).
Oh, and the FlaK18 use as DP AA/AT gun was not something improvised on spot nor in an emergency like the british counterattack at Arras. The weapon had been designed and fielded with their AT capability very much in mind, those weapons were designed and fielded with the proper sights and ammunition for direct antitank roles, so obviously when the 37mm PaKs were found unable to deal with the incoming heavies the 88mms were used to stop them instead as they had been intended to do all along.
Otherwise they'd been a non-factor against the Matildas (you're not penetrating 80mm frontal armor with your standard air-burst AAA ammo, aimed by your AA predictor gunsight, you know ... if the germans had AT sights on those 88mms and AP ammo to fire from them, it was because the weapon had been purposefully designed, built and fielded with that role in mind ;). Arras was just the first notable time the weapon was used like that, nothing else.)
Hoo boy, I remember when I was a teen and played Panzer General - when Matilda II's showed up, I had to rethink whole strategy. These things just wouldn't die. had to send aviation on them, big time.
One of my fav tanks love the tilly
love the videos can't wait to come and visit.
soo looking forward to the next installment on Fixing The Matilda . oh please can we have some more of these . :)
The 7th panzer division was given the name 'Ghost Division' for the reason that not even the german high command knew where they were presis
This was a major problem for the Germans. Because of this, Romel did not have a command in the east.
Africa was the ideal solution. On the one hand, Romel was a well-known general. This was great for propaganda. On the other hand, the German Supreme Command did not want the Romel anywhere close to any major German military formation in the east.
This was a 1930s design? An amazing tank for its time. Great review.
Great vid. Thanks guys.
Just got to love the Waltzing Matilda!
Thank you for this video.
Nice to see with the wheels off and just the hull
More focus on its role in the Pacific is needed.
I see that this video was published 8 years ago (this comment is being made in August of 2024) however I felt it necessary to comment that I hope the Museum reached out to any surviving veterans who had been mechanics that worked on Matildas during W.W. II.
It would be interesting to know what stories they shared with the Museum and if they were of assistance during the restoration & any mystery fiddly bits your modern mechanics may not have recognized in terms of a part's function/purpose.
The only British tank in service from the first to last day of WW2. Not enough credit is given to her for her service in the Pacific with the Aussies. Instead it’s all about early combat in Europe and Queen of The Desert.
The Aussies got as many of them with the 3” gun as possible, swapping many of their 2pdr gun tanks with 3” howitzer models from New Zealand stocks, finally ending up with 400 Matilda 2s from all sources. They’d use the 3” armed tanks as troop leader vehicles supported by 1 or 2 2pdr armed Matildas.
Even though the Japanese didn’t have an a/t gun capable of defeating Matildas armour, they’d go for the idler wheels or turret ring so the Aussies took measures to deal with this by fabricating armoured covers for the idler and the turret ring. They’d also use either wire mesh or sheets of psp to protect the rear deck and engine louvres from grenades and other explosive devices. In-field mods were also attached as mud scrapers to keep the coral mud from blocking up the mud chutes and from damaging the tracks. In 1944 a new, taller all-round-vision rotatable cupola with 8 vision blocks was cast and fitted for testing but wasn’t proceeded with for a variety of practical reasons.
The Aussies loved Matilda for being such a tough cookie. One was blown up by an improvised a/t mine. Despite being hurled 18’/5.5m into the air, the crew all survived with only minor injuries. They used Matildas as flame throwing tanks, designated ‘Frogs’ and ~ my personal favourite ~ even mounted a bank of Hedgehog spigot mortars on half a dozen Matildas with the launcher mounted on the rear of the vehicle. Although successfully trialled I don’t think it ever saw combat use.
So, Matilda 2 was a truly great tank in all the theatres she fought in.
awesome i'm looking forward to the restoration video's !
Good stuff, looking forward to the restoration videos!
the matilda 2 is one of my favorite british tanks from early ww2 :D
Great info. Keep them coming.
It’s a Matilda kangaroo eh? Keep up the good work it’s on my bucket list to come here
finally convinced my wife to go to the tank museum only to find out her favourite tank is not on show gulp. take good care of the Matilda she's a national treasure
...and 78mm of nicely sloped armour too.
Hola amigo me dad was a driver in a Matilda tank injured and captured in Tobruk
I was at the tank museum last monday and the matilda was in the workshop then
keep them coming love the vids you do and hope you have a look in person one day
This is all fine and good... But I really want the history of that banana box on the floor