Cromwell and Centaur Tanks

British Army and Royal Marines, North-west Europe, 1944–1945

Dennis Oliver

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781526725417
• eBook ISBN: 9781526725424
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History

"A n excellent resource for one just starting out trying to model one of these beasts . . . great background information." —AMPS
 
Designed with the hard lessons of the North African campaign in mind, including the adoption of a dual-purpose gun capable of firing high-explosive and anti-tank rounds, the Cromwell was one of the most successful of the British cruiser tanks produced during the Second World War. The lack of heavy armor was made up for by the tank's high speed, provided by a Rolls-Royce Meteor engine. The Centaur was externally almost identical to the Cromwell, the major difference being the installation of the less powerful Liberty engine.
 
While the Centaur equipped the Royal Marines during the Normandy battles, the Cromwell served until the end of the war and formed the basis for the Comet. In his fifth book in the TankCraft series, author and illustrator Dennis Oliver uses official wartime photographs and comprehensively researched, exquisitely presented color profiles to tell the story of the penultimate British cruiser tank. As with all the titles in the TankCraft series, the large full-color section features available model kits and accessories as well as aftermarket products.
 
In addition to the color profiles, there is a gallery of expertly constructed and painted models. A separate section explains technical details and modifications made during production and in the field, giving the modeler all the information required to create an authentic replica of one of the tanks that served from the Normandy beaches to the final battles in Germany.

CAMOUFLAGE & MARKINGS

1. Cromwell Mk VIII. AFV Gunnery School, Lulworth. The tanks of the Gunnery School were marked with the large diamond insignia shown here in the colours of the Royal Armoured Corps. This badge often incorporated a stylised cannon (3) which is absent here. The black-and-white arm of service square (4) denotes a training establishment. The different Marks and their characteristics are examined in the Technical section.

2. Cavalier Mk I. 222 Battery, 65th (Highland) Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery. May 1944. Photographed just prior to the Normandy invasion this regiment was attached to 4th Army Group, Royal Artillery (AGRA) during the fighting in France. The red-over-blue arm of service square denoting an artillery unit carries the unit serial number 184 identifying the regiment. The white bar at the lower edge signifies a unit commanded at Army level (5). The small patch of colour to the left of the arm of service square may be poison gas detection paint. The 2nd Army formation badge (6) is completely conjectural but appropriate.

7. Cromwell Mk V. No 100 Royal Armoured Corps Officer Cadet Training Unit, Royal Military College Sandhurst. 1944. During the war the College was the home of this training formation. Note the name, Cameronian II, painted above the main gun (8).

1. Cromwell Mk IV. Baku, spring 1944. One of six Cromwell tanks shipped to the Soviet Union in early 1944, this vehicle retains its shipping markings (2) and waterproofing. All six were either disassembled or used as targets.

3. Cromwell Mk IV. No.2 Squadron, 2nd Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion, Welsh Guards. Britain, spring 1944. This regiment’s position within the Guards Armoured Division is indicated by the white number 45 on a green over blue arm of service square and the Guard’s famous unit insignia (4). The letter A within the white squadron sign identifies the commanding officer’s tank. Note the red-white-red RAC flash, rarely seen, by this time and the name Blenheim (5). This tank was commanded by Major John Ogilvie Spencer, who was later killed in Belgium.

1. Centaur Mk IV. H Troop, No 2 Battery, 1st Armoured Support Regiment, Royal Marines Armoured Support Group. Normandy, June 1944. Although it is impossible to be certain, most of these tanks probably retained their base coat of Standard Camouflage Colour (SCC) 2 which was not superceded until April 1944. All the Royal Marines’ tanks carried the compass bearing markings shown here and their use is explained in the text.

2. Centaur Mk IV. 5th (Independent) Battery, Royal Marines Armoured Support Group. Normandy, June 1944. In common with most, but not all, the Marines’ tanks the outer headlight guards have been painted white.

Arm of service squares in the colours of the Royal Marines shown with the individual battery numbers. The images depicted here are all based on actual examples.

1. Centaur Mk IV. H Troop, No 2 Battery, 1st Armoured Support Regiment, Royal Marines Armoured Support Group. Normandy, June 1944. Note the RAC flash and loading label on the turret front. The box on the turret roof is a cover for the No.12 dial sight with which all these tanks were fitted.

2. Centaur Mk IV. A Troop, No 1 Battery, 1st Armoured Support Regiment, Royal Marines Armoured Support Group. Normandy, June 1944. The photograph at left (3) shows that some of these tanks were repainted in Standard Camouflage Colour (SCC) 15 which was introduced in April 1944, at about the same time that the engines were replaced in these Centaurs. What appear to be patches of SCC 2 can be sen on the lower hull.

1. Cromwell Mk IV. 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars. Normandy, August 1944. The combined arm of service square and unit formation badge was commonly used by the regiments of 7th Armoured Division (2). The white unit serial 45 on a green-overblue rectangle identifies the reconnaissance regiment of an armoured division and is unusually applied to both the front of the right side stowage box and in front of the hull gunner’s position. The white-painted turret roof was common, but not universal, at this time. Note the commander’s all-round vision cupola and early-type blanket box.

3. Cromwell Mk IV. C Squadron, 2nd Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion Welsh Guards. Belgium, September 1944. The fencing wire on the turret was a relatively common means of attaching the hessian tape camouflage depicted here. Note the squadron sign on the side stowage box and the so-called Normandy cowl over the rear exhaust.

The squadrons of the Welsh Guards were identified by different marking styles and examples are shown for A Squadron (4), B Squadron (5) and C Squadron (6).

1. Cromwell Mk IV. 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry. August 1944. This tank is fitted with the rubber strips described below and the side view (2) shows that they were not uniformly applied. The second side view (3) of another C Squadron tank shows that different types of rubber were also utilised and mixed together. The markings on the hull front and their placement were common throughout the regiment although this crew has repeated the division’s formation badge on the ammunition box. All the regiment’s tanks were named, those on this page being Agamemnon and Galahad.

4. Cromwell Mk IV. 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry. August 1944. At some time during the summer of 1944 the tanks of C Squadron were fitted with strips of rubber in an apparent imitation of Zimmerit, an anti-magnetic mine paste applied to German tanks as part of the manufacturing process. The rubber seems to have been taken from various sources, including radiator hoses, and the squadron markings were applied over the new surface. The front view (5) shows the formation badge of 11th Armoured Division (6), the arm of service square and unit serial number identifying the division’s armoured reconnaissance regiment and a rather piratical badge (7) in the regiment’s colour...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• The Regiments of The Royal Armoured Corps
• The Armoured Reconnaissance Regiments
• Camouflage & Markings
• Model Showcase
• Modelling Products
• The Regiments of the Royal Artillery
• The Royal Marines Armoured Support Group
• Technical Details and Modifications
• Product Contact details