I have just recently read a reference to the French being supplied 200 Cromwells at the end of the war. Does anyone have any info on them?

Sorry Mahross, I've got a load of French Valentine pics but I've never heard of Cromwells being supplied. Now that would make an interesting subject.....Jim

Nice isn't it?

Jim maybe the reference has got it wrong. when is that pic from? The reference is the Osprey Men at Arms book on the French Army of WW2. Osprey have been known to be wrong in the past.

Just because I haven't heard of it doesn't mean to say it didn't happen Personally I wouldn't be at all surprised. French vehicle procurement poicy would deserve a book all on its own. The vehicles operated by the French during and post ww2, is a subject that would reward careful study. I personally have only skimmed the surface and would love to hear more about it....Jim

yes it would jim after the war logsitcs must have been a nightmare for the french, they used iron annies some other German aircaft, 2 regs of panther tanks and loads of allied surplus gear like jeeps,Bren carriers tanks the list goes on

(and stale as well...)

Frenchy

Monte this was quite an interesting (if somewhat esoteric thread). See if you can find another joke-writer, what worked for Rousseau doesn't sound so funny nowadays.... Jim

There's a very good site with pictures of most kind of tanks used by the french army :
http://www.chars-francais.net

Penpen - cheers for that link. I thik that they may have gotten it mixed up as the site does mention the Centaur as being used by the French post war.

Here's another (from the same site). Dunno why they have them labelled as Centaurs...Weird mistake to make...Jim

Jim,

I wonder......... how do you tell the difference between the Centaur and the Cromwell??:-[ ]

I know one has the Liberty engine (A27 L Centaur) and one has the Meteor Engine (A27M Cromwell), but if you cannot see inside the engine compartment, what is it extarnally that tells them apart??

hi there,

look at the two photos,

the main exterior differences are the front parts of the mudguards, the centaurs are flat angular ones, the cromwell has curved ones

the main guns are different, centaur has 6-pdr, cromwell has 75mm or 95mm. different barrel sizes/muzzle breaks etc.

also the exhaust part at the back of the engine deck is different, the cromwells is flat, whereas the centaur has the rear half of it angled down

the track tensioning bulges are not present on the cromwell

centaurs didnt have the prominent air intake on the engine deck, they had plain flush decks

these are the main differences, there are a few others, periscopes, gun sights etc but they are minor ones

cheers

joe

So maybe the 200 they were supplied were a mixture of Centaurs and Cromwells. Any French members no anything?

The pic i posted also seems to have an Covenanter in the background. So was this pic in britian and france and if it was france were they supplied it?

well spotted mate,

it is indeed a covernator in the background,

maybe the pic is shot in britain, does that mean they are british centaurs?

cheers

joe

No i still think the centaurs are french they have the tricolour on the turret and hull front. maybe in some sort of transit camp and have been marked up for transport.

Greatbrit

You were talking about the gun sizes, I think you said the Centaur used the 6pdr, but I don't think the tamiya Centaur has the 6pdr.

Could you please clarify?

Cheers

Cromwell - the Tamiya Centaur is the Close Support version which was armed with a 95mm howitzer.

This is a Centaur (in Normandy) Royal Marines with 95mm close-support Howitzer:





And this, is a Cromwell. Please notice the lack of wires....Jim #:-)

Thanks for the link PenPen. Great site.

And, we learn something new every day. An AMX13 chassis fitted with an M24 Chaffe turret!!!!

I wonder if any of the crew escaped being hospitalized when that sucker hit the ground!

Sorry guys, I know nothing about these tanks... the link was all I had...

Yes Yagdpanzer, that's an awful looking tank... I was even thinking about building a model of the school version (no gun and glass instead) for some time... #:-)