AEC Mk I icon 617

[Charles M]

Suggested commentary: These were Winston Churchill's white elephants, and a post-war British report on armour in the Mediterranean theatre observed that they never employed an important part in the war*, being used to pull stranded vehicles out of soft sand (Fletcher, Universal Tank, p. 6). 122 were built, using the Valentine tank turret, and apart from trials first went into action in April 1943*. They were under-powered, clumsy, conspicuous and tiring as well as difficult to drive*.

* Armoured Fighting Vehicles in the Mediterranean Theatre 1939-1945 by Lt. Col. F.W.S. Gordon-Hall, for Military College of Science, January 1946, pp. 79-80, and 83.