BEF Infantry tank companies
Hello, If you have a look at Browns "British Cruiser Tanks A9 & A10", Fletchers "British Battle Tanks" and Bevis "British and Commonwealth Armies 1939-43" you will find several discrepancies between what they have and what the game has. These are;
UK Matilda I Infantry tank Brigade tank platoons consisted of 3 tanks, two mounting .303 vickers MMG and one with a .5 Vickers HMG. This is correctly depicted in formation 123, "Matilda I 40 Pl" except the .5 Vickers HMG tank is actually the section leader, not a "support" tank. This means that within the Infantry tank brigades formation 456 Inf tank section (two .5 Matildas) never existed as there was only ever one .5 gunned Matilda I in any 3 tank platoon/section. It also means that formation 11 Inf Tank Troop also never existed as it has 3 .5 gunned matilda I's. Matilda IIs appeared in the Brigade platoons in sets of 3, as is correct in formation 122. .303 vickers Matilda I is an Infantry tank not a Close Support, CS tank. Infantry tank Brigades actually didn't have a CS component, so Formation 69 "Inf Tank CS Sec" didn't exist at this time.
Formation 123 "Matilda I 40 Pl" includes the option to replace the two .303 gunned Matildas with unit 135 A10 CS. This is wrong, A10 CS was never in the infantry tank brigades and always served in the Armoured divisions alongside the other cruisers. A10s designation was heavy cruiser not infantry tank. So formation 270 "A10 Inf Tank Tp" and formation 269 "A10 Inf Tk Sqdn" never existed. A10 CS should be listed as one of the alternatives in the formation 18 "Cruiser CS section". A10 gun tank should be an option in formation 17 "Cruiser troop".
The default Matilda I Independant Brigade squadron formation 119 'Inf Tank Sqdn' comes with platoons entirely composed of .5 Matildas which never happened and can include the A10s which again never happened. Player can 'fix' this by replacing the 011 platoons with 123 platoons, but I would have thought it would be best to provide the player with the authentic Infantry tank squadron formation and let him make a fictitious one himself rather than the other way around.
The HQ of formation 119 'Inf Tank Sqdn' was either one Matilda II or one Matilda I as appropriate and 1 light tank MK VIB and 1-2 staff cars, but no CS tanks.
Formation 121 'Matildas FR '40' is much better except the option to include A10s in it should be removed. Company HQ is same as for formation 119 above
Also the armoured division cruiser tank divisions formation 18 "Cruiser CS Sec" became two CS tanks in North Africa in October. Ist armoured Division as part of BEF had one CS tank and one 2pdr gun tank in Squadron HQ.
At this time in the war, correct terminology for 119 'Inf Tank Sqdn' is Infantry Tank Company, Troops are platoons.
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