One of the more interesting exhibits at the Tank Museum in Bovington is a light tank inside what looks like a wooden frame. It turns out the frame is from a Hamilcar Glider from WWII, designed to bring larger equipment right to the front line in airborne operations. In 1944 they were used to carry a special light tank called the Tetrarch to the landing zones of the 5th Parachute Brigade.
The Tetrarch (officially the Light Tank Mk VII) was designed in 1938 and first saw service in 1941. It had a 2pdr gun which was the standard for most tanks at this time, but by 1944 it was only really suitable for a support role. Only about 20 Tetrarchs were used in Normandy although most were lost in accidents and those that did survive found themselves inferior in firepower to the AFV's of the German Forces. However, that being said, if you are behind enemy lines and haven't got any tank support, a Tetrarch has got to be better than nothing!
Because they were so few in number and didn't play a huge part in the Normandy campaign I found it very hard to lay hands on a 15mm model of a Tetrarch. In the end, I discovered thetankfactory.uk who could make a 3D printed version. This technology isn't perfect, and there were some printing lines still visible on the model when it arrived, but at least I had a model of the tank. Some careful sanding and varnish to smooth out the print lines and the resulting model looked a lot better. Actually, it painted up a lot better than I had thought it would and certainly good enough for my Chain of Command games.
(Scoring: 1x15mm Vehicle = 8 points)
Lee, Lee, Lee...this is simply unacceptable. There were twenty of these used in Normandy, so we expect you to paint up all twenty. And then some Locust tanks for the '45 Rhine crossing.
Freddie Gough (on being told that his 1st Airborne Recce Squadron were to mount a coup de main attack on Arnhem Bridge) did request that a troop of Tetrarch tanks from the 6th Airborne be attached to his force, but the request was denied.
Tamsin
Excellent little tank Lee.
ReplyDeleteTamsin, Lee also needs the ones that were lend leased to the Soviets plus the ones used in the invasion of Madagascar
Never heard of these Lee??? Great work though!
ReplyDeleteThey are dinky little things about the size of an average saloon car. Perfect for inner city parking!
DeleteFantastic! I must build mine
ReplyDeleteCheers
Matt
Not something you want to tackle a Tiger with, but a cool little tank nonetheless. Nice work.
ReplyDeleteTeeny tiny tankette! Good fun for 'What a tanker!'
ReplyDeleteLovely looking Tetrach!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Ooh - lovely work!
ReplyDelete