Cromwell Tank

1. Lead

The Cromwell (Cruiser Tank Mk VIII, A27M) was the British cruiser tank of the last year of the Second World War, and the fastest tank in British service. Powered by the Rolls-Royce Meteor engine, a detuned version of the Merlin aircraft engine, it could reach 64 km/h on the road, faster than any other British tank of the war and faster than most German tanks, and it was used by the British armoured divisions in Normandy and in the advance across north-west Europe in 1944 and 1945.

Armed with the 75 mm gun and protected by armour up to 76 mm thick, the Cromwell was not the most powerful tank of the war, but it was fast, reliable and well liked by its crews, and it became the standard cruiser tank of the British Army in the last year of the war.

About 4,000 Cromwells and Centaurs were built between 1943 and 1945, and the type remained in service with the British Army into the 1950s.

The Cromwell is named after Oliver Cromwell, the leader of the Parliamentary forces in the English Civil War, and it was the last of the British cruiser tanks, a line that had begun with the fast but lightly armoured cruisers of the late 1930s.

The cruiser tank was designed for speed and mobility, to exploit a breakthrough and to pursue a retreating enemy, and the Cromwell was the best of the cruisers: it was faster than the Crusader that preceded it, better armoured than the Covenanter, and more reliable than both.

Its successor, the Comet, was a Cromwell with a more powerful gun, and its successor in turn, the Centurion, was the first of the main battle tanks. The Cromwell’s story is therefore the story of the British cruiser tank at its best, and of the transition from the cruiser to the main battle tank.

2. Key Facts

Type	Cruiser tank
Origin	Britain
Designers	Leyland Motors; Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Co.
Manufacturers	Leyland; Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon; English Electric; others
In service	1943–1950s (British Army)
Produced	1943–1945; about 4,016 built (Cromwell and Centaur)
Weight	About 28 tonnes
Length	6.35 m (with gun); 5.48 m (hull)
Width	2.90 m
Height	2.49 m
Crew	5 (commander, gunner, loader, driver, hull gunner)
Armour	8–76 mm; 76 mm front (Cromwell VII)
Main armament	QF 75 mm gun (Cromwell IV); QF 6-pounder (Cromwell I); 95 mm howitzer (Cromwell VI)
Secondary armament	Two 7.92 mm Besa machine guns
Engine	Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 petrol, 600 hp
Top speed	About 64 km/h on road
Range	About 270 km on road

3. Background and Development

The failure of the early cruisers

The Cromwell was born of the failure of the early British cruiser tanks. The Covenanter, which entered service in 1940, was so unreliable that it was never used in combat, and the Crusader, which fought in North Africa in 1941 and 1942, was fast but lightly armoured and mechanically unreliable, and it broke down constantly in the desert.

The British Army needed a cruiser tank that was fast, well armoured and reliable, and it needed an engine powerful enough to drive it. The answer was the Rolls-Royce Meteor, a version of the Merlin aircraft engine that had been detuned for use in a tank, and that produced 600 horsepower, more than twice the power of the Liberty engine that had powered the Crusader.

The Meteor was the key to the Cromwell: it gave the tank its speed, and it gave the British Army its first really fast and reliable cruiser tank.

The Cromwell’s design was based on the A24 Cavalier, a cruiser tank that had been designed by Nuffield and that was powered by the Liberty engine, and on the A27, a parallel design by Leyland that was powered by the Meteor engine.

The A27 was built in two versions: the A27L, powered by the Liberty engine and called the Centaur, and the A27M, powered by the Meteor engine and called the Cromwell. The Centaur was built first, because the Meteor engine was not yet ready, but the Cromwell was the better tank, and it was the version that was built in large numbers and that fought in Normandy.

The Cromwell’s hull was of riveted construction, with a Christie suspension, and it was designed to be fast and to be easy to maintain, with the engine and the transmission accessible from the rear of the vehicle.

The Meteor engine

The Meteor engine was the most important part of the Cromwell, and it was a remarkable achievement. The Merlin, which powered the Spitfire and the Lancaster, was one of the best aircraft engines of the war, but it was too powerful and too highly tuned for use in a tank, and it used high-octane aviation fuel.

Rolls-Royce therefore detuned the Merlin, reducing its power from more than 1,000 horsepower to 600 horsepower, and adapting it to run on ordinary petrol, and the result was the Meteor, which was fitted to the Cromwell and which gave it a top speed of 64 km/h.

The Meteor was reliable, powerful and easy to maintain, and it was used in British tanks for the next twenty years, in the Cromwell, the Comet and the Centurion, and it was the basis of the British tank engine until the advent of the diesel.

The Meteor’s success showed that an aircraft engine could be adapted for use in a tank, and it influenced the design of tank engines in other countries after the war.

Production and the Centaur

The Cromwell was built by several firms, including Leyland, the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company and English Electric, and production began in 1943. About 4,016 Cromwells and Centaurs were built between 1943 and 1945, of which about 3,066 were Cromwells and about 950 were Centaurs, although the exact figures vary between sources.

The Centaur, which was powered by the Liberty engine, was slower than the Cromwell and was not used as a tank, but it was used by the Royal Marines on D-Day, in the Centaur IV version armed with the 95 mm howitzer, which provided fire support for the infantry as they landed on the beaches.

The Cromwell was delivered to the armoured divisions in 1943 and 1944, and it was ready in time for the Normandy landings in June 1944, where it was the standard cruiser tank of the British armoured divisions. The Cromwell’s production was a remarkable achievement, given the state of British industry in 1943, and it was made possible by the simplicity of the design and by the use of existing factories.

4. Design

The Christie suspension and the Meteor

The Cromwell’s design was based on the Christie suspension, a system of large road wheels and coil springs that had been used on the Soviet BT tanks and on the British Crusader, and that gave the tank a smooth ride and a high speed.

The Christie’s large road wheels, which were driven by the Meteor engine through a Merritt-Brown gearbox, allowed the Cromwell to reach 64 km/h on the road, and to cross rough ground at speeds that other tanks could not match. The Meteor engine, which was mounted at the rear of the vehicle, was accessible from the rear, and it could be removed and replaced in a few hours, which made the Cromwell easy to maintain.

The Cromwell’s hull was of riveted construction, with armour up to 76 mm thick on the front, and it was designed to be fast and to be easy to produce, with the parts interchangeable between the Cromwell and the Centaur.

The 75 mm gun and the turret

The Cromwell’s main armament was the QF 75 mm gun, a British version of the American 75 mm gun that armed the Sherman, and that was fitted to the Cromwell IV, the most numerous version. The 75 mm gun fired a high-explosive shell that was effective against infantry, gun positions and buildings, and an armour-piercing shell that could penetrate about 68 mm of armour at 500 metres, which was enough to destroy the Panzer IV at ordinary combat ranges, but not enough to destroy the Panther or the Tiger I from the front.

The Cromwell’s turret, which was a large, roomy turret with a commander’s cupola, housed the gun, the commander, the gunner and the loader, and it was fitted with a radio and with a periscope for the commander. The Cromwell’s early versions were armed with the 6-pounder gun, which had better armour penetration but a poor high-explosive shell, and the 75 mm gun was preferred because it was a better all-round weapon.

The crew and the five-man layout

The Cromwell’s crew of five worked in a spacious fighting compartment, and the tank was fitted with a radio, with a commander’s cupola and with a hull machine gun. The commander sat in the turret, with the gunner and the loader, and the driver sat in the front of the hull, with the hull gunner beside him, who operated the Besa machine gun in the front of the hull.

The Cromwell’s crew appreciated the tank’s speed, its reliability and its roominess, and they valued the Meteor engine, which was quieter and smoother than the Liberty engine of the Crusader, and which gave the tank a top speed that no other British tank could match.

The Cromwell’s mechanical reliability was one of its greatest strengths: it broke down far less often than the Crusader, and it could be maintained by crews with little training and few spare parts, which mattered greatly in the advance across France in 1944, when the tanks were moving fast and when the workshops were far behind.

5. Variants

Variant	Year	Key features	Production
Cromwell I	1943	6-pounder gun; Meteor engine	About 357
Cromwell II	1943	6-pounder gun; wider tracks	Small numbers
Cromwell III	1943	6-pounder gun; Centaur hull with Meteor engine	About 200
Cromwell IV	1943–1945	75 mm gun; most numerous version	About 1,935
Cromwell V	1944	75 mm gun; welded hull	Small numbers
Cromwell VI	1944	95 mm howitzer; close support	About 341
Cromwell VII	1944–1945	Uparmoured to 76 mm; wider tracks	About 1,500 (conversions)
Centaur IV	1944	95 mm howitzer; Royal Marines on D-Day	About 114

The gun variants: 6-pounder, 75 mm and 95 mm

The Cromwell was built in several versions, and the difference between them was mainly their armament. The Cromwell I, II and III were armed with the 6-pounder gun, which had good armour penetration but a poor high-explosive shell, and they were built in small numbers, as the 6-pounder was soon replaced by the 75 mm gun.

The Cromwell IV, which was armed with the 75 mm gun, was the most numerous version, with about 1,935 built, and it was the standard Cromwell of the Normandy campaign. The Cromwell VI was armed with the 95 mm howitzer, which fired a high-explosive shell against infantry, gun positions and buildings, and it was used as a close-support tank, with about 341 built.

The Cromwell VII was an uparmoured version of the Cromwell IV, with thicker armour and wider tracks, and it was built by converting existing Cromwell IVs, with about 1,500 converted. The Cromwell VII’s thicker armour and wider tracks made it better suited to the fighting in Normandy, where the ground was soft and where the German anti-tank guns were numerous.

The Centaur and the Royal Marines

The Centaur was the Liberty-engined version of the A27, and it was built in about 950 examples, although it was not used as a tank, because its Liberty engine was underpowered and unreliable. The Centaur IV, which was armed with the 95 mm howitzer, was used by the Royal Marines on D-Day, 6 June 1944, where it provided fire support for the infantry as they landed on the beaches of Normandy.

The Centaur IVs were landed from landing craft, and they fired their howitzers at the German defences, and they were the first tanks to land on the beaches, although they were soon withdrawn and replaced by the Cromwell. The Centaur’s use on D-Day was the only combat use of the Centaur, and it showed that even a tank that was not fit to fight as a tank could still be useful as a fire-support vehicle.

The Royal Marines’ Centaurs were withdrawn after D-Day, but their crews remembered the landing as one of the most dangerous operations of the war.

6. Operational History

Normandy, June–August 1944

The Cromwell first saw action in Normandy, on 6 June 1944, where it was the standard cruiser tank of the British armoured divisions, including the 7th Armoured Division, the 11th Armoured Division and the Guards Armoured Division. The Cromwells fought in the bocage, the hedgerow country of Normandy, where their speed was of little use and where they were vulnerable to German anti-tank guns and to the Panther and Tiger tanks, which could destroy them at long range.

The Cromwells fought at Villers-Bocage, at Caen and at Goodwood, and they lost heavily in men and machines, but they also showed that they were fast, reliable and well liked by their crews, and that they could be used for reconnaissance, for screening and for pursuit, roles in which their speed was a real advantage.

Villers-Bocage and the 7th Armoured Division

At Villers-Bocage on 13 June 1944, the Cromwells of the 7th Armoured Division fought the Tiger of Michael Wittmann, and they lost heavily. The Cromwells, which were armed with the 75 mm gun, could not penetrate the Tiger’s frontal armour, and they were destroyed at long range, while the Tiger’s 88 mm gun could destroy them at any range.

The battle at Villers-Bocage showed the Cromwell’s weakness: it was a cruiser tank, designed for speed and mobility, and it was not designed to fight heavy tanks head-on, and it paid a heavy price when it was used in that role.

The 7th Armoured Division, which had been the “Desert Rats” of North Africa, learned the lesson, and for the rest of the Normandy campaign the Cromwells were used for reconnaissance and for pursuit, rather than for fighting German heavy tanks.

The 7th Armoured Division’s Cromwells were later replaced by Comets, but the division’s men remembered the Cromwell as a fast and reliable tank, and as a worthy successor to the Crusader.

Goodwood and the breakout

At Goodwood in July 1944, the Cromwells fought in the great British offensive to break out of Normandy, and they advanced with the 11th Armoured Division and the Guards Armoured Division, fighting the German Panzer divisions in the open country east of Caen.

The Cromwells lost heavily at Goodwood, where they were destroyed by German anti-tank guns and by the Panther and Tiger tanks, but they also showed that they could advance fast and that they could exploit a breakthrough, and they helped the British to break out of Normandy in August 1944, when the German Army collapsed and the Allied armies advanced across France.

The Cromwell’s speed was at its best in the breakout, when the British armoured divisions advanced hundreds of kilometres in a few weeks, and when the Cromwell’s reliability and its range allowed it to keep up with the advance. The breakout from Normandy was the Cromwell’s finest hour, and it showed what a fast and reliable cruiser tank could do when it was used in the role for which it was designed.

The advance across France and the Low Countries

After the breakout from Normandy, the Cromwell advanced across France and the Low Countries, fighting in the pursuit of the retreating German Army and in the battles for Antwerp, for the Netherlands and for the Rhine. The Cromwell’s speed and its reliability were at their best in the pursuit, when the British armoured divisions advanced rapidly and when the Cromwell’s Meteor engine and its Christie suspension allowed it to cover long distances without breaking down.

The Cromwells fought at Arnhem in September 1944, where they supported the airborne forces, and they fought in the Ardennes in December 1944, where they helped to stop the German offensive, and they fought in the Rhineland in early 1945, where they crossed the Rhine and advanced into Germany.

The Cromwell’s last battles were fought in Germany in the spring of 1945, where it advanced with the British Army to the Elbe and where it met the American and Soviet armies at the end of the war.

7. Performance and Specifications

Specification	Cromwell IV	Cromwell VII
Main gun	QF 75 mm	QF 75 mm
Armour penetration (AP)	About 68 mm at 500 m	About 68 mm at 500 m
Armour (front hull)	64 mm	76 mm
Armour (turret front)	76 mm	76 mm
Armour (side)	32 mm	32 mm
Weight	About 28 tonnes	About 28 tonnes
Engine	Rolls-Royce Meteor, 600 hp	Rolls-Royce Meteor, 600 hp
Power-to-weight	About 21 hp per tonne	About 21 hp per tonne
Top speed (road)	About 64 km/h	About 64 km/h
Range (road)	About 270 km	About 270 km
Crew	5	5
Number built	About 1,935 (Cromwell IV)	About 1,500 (conversions)

Firepower and protection

The Cromwell’s firepower was adequate for a cruiser tank, but it was not enough to fight German heavy tanks. Its 75 mm gun could penetrate about 68 mm of armour at 500 metres, which was enough to destroy the Panzer IV at ordinary combat ranges, but not enough to destroy the Panther, whose frontal armour was 80 mm thick and sloped, or the Tiger I, whose frontal armour was 100 mm thick.

The Cromwell’s protection was also adequate, but not outstanding: its front armour was 64 mm thick on the Cromwell IV and 76 mm thick on the Cromwell VII, which was proof against the 50 mm gun of the Panzer III and the 75 mm gun of the Panzer IV at long range, but not proof against the 75 mm gun of the Panther or the 88 mm gun of the Tiger.

The Cromwell’s real protection was its speed: it could move fast, it could use the ground to hide, and it could avoid being hit, which was the cruiser tank’s doctrine.

Mobility and comparison with the Sherman

The Cromwell’s mobility was its greatest strength. With a top speed of about 64 km/h on the road, it was the fastest tank in British service, and it was faster than the Sherman, which could reach about 48 km/h, and faster than the Panther, which could reach about 55 km/h, and faster than the T-34, which could reach about 55 km/h.

Its Meteor engine, which produced 600 horsepower, gave it a power-to-weight ratio of about 21 horsepower per tonne, which was one of the best of any tank of the war, and its Christie suspension gave it a smooth ride and a high speed across rough ground.

Compared with the Sherman, the Cromwell was faster and more manoeuvrable, but it was less well armed and less well protected, and it was built in smaller numbers, with about 4,000 Cromwells and Centaurs built against about 50,000 Shermans. The Cromwell’s speed made it an excellent reconnaissance and pursuit tank, and it was used for those roles for the rest of the war.

8. Operators

Britain: the armoured divisions

The Cromwell was used by Britain, and it was the standard cruiser tank of the British armoured divisions in Normandy and in north-west Europe. The 7th Armoured Division, the 11th Armoured Division and the Guards Armoured Division were all equipped with Cromwells, and the 6th Airborne Division’s reconnaissance regiment was also equipped with Cromwells, which were used for reconnaissance and for screening.

The Cromwell was also used by the British Army in the post-war period, when it served with the Territorial Army into the 1950s, and it was the standard cruiser tank of the British Army until it was replaced by the Comet and by the Centurion.

The Cromwell’s crews were volunteers, and they valued the tank’s speed, its reliability and its roominess, and they considered it the best British tank of the war. The Cromwell’s crews also appreciated the tank’s roominess, which was greater than that of the Sherman, and which made it more comfortable to fight in for long periods.

Poland, Czechoslovakia and post-war users

The Cromwell was also used by the Polish 1st Armoured Division, which fought in Normandy and in the Low Countries, and which was equipped with Cromwells and with Shermans, and by the Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade, which fought at Dunkirk in 1944 and 1945.

After the war, the Cromwell was used by several countries, including Austria, which received Cromwells as part of the post-war settlement, and Finland, which bought Cromwells in the 1950s, although the exact numbers are uncertain. The Cromwell was also used by Israel, which bought a small number of Cromwells after the war, although they were not used in combat, and by Jordan, which used Cromwells in the 1950s.

The Cromwell’s post-war service was limited, because it was soon replaced by the Centurion, which was a much better tank, and because the British Army had large numbers of Shermans and Comets to dispose of. The Cromwell’s export was limited, because the British Army preferred to export the Sherman, which was available in larger numbers and which was better known to foreign armies.

9. Legacy and Influence

The best of the cruisers

The Cromwell’s legacy is that it was the best of the British cruiser tanks, and the last of them. It showed that a cruiser tank could be fast, well armoured and reliable, and that the Meteor engine was the key to British tank design, and it paved the way for the Comet, which was a Cromwell with a more powerful gun, and for the Centurion, which was the first of the main battle tanks.

The Cromwell’s design, with its Christie suspension, its Meteor engine and its five-man crew, was the basis of British tank design for the next twenty years, and it influenced the design of tanks in other countries, including the United States, which studied the Cromwell’s Meteor engine and its Christie suspension.

The Cromwell’s speed, which was its greatest strength, became the standard for British tanks, and the Centurion, which succeeded it, was designed to be fast as well as well armed and well protected.

The Cromwell in history and memory

The Cromwell is remembered today as the fastest tank of the Second World War, and as the tank of the 7th Armoured Division, the “Desert Rats”, in Normandy and in north-west Europe. Its speed, which was its greatest strength, has made it a popular subject for modellers and for historians, who study its design and its combat record, and it is remembered by the British soldiers who fought in it as a fast, reliable and well-liked tank.

The Cromwell’s story is also a story about the British cruiser tank, and about the transition from the cruiser to the main battle tank, and it is remembered as the tank that bridged the gap between the two, and that showed the way forward for British tank design.

The Cromwell’s name, which was taken from Oliver Cromwell, has become one of the most famous names in British tank history, and it is still used today by the British Army, which named its new reconnaissance vehicle the Ajax, after the Cromwell’s successor, the Comet.

10. Surviving Examples

The Tank Museum, Bovington

Several Cromwells survive, and the best-known examples are held at the Tank Museum in Bovington, England. The museum holds several Cromwells, including a Cromwell IV and a Cromwell VII, and they are displayed alongside the museum’s other British tanks of the war, including the Crusader, the Churchill and the Comet.

The museum’s Cromwells are in running order, and they are a regular sight at the museum’s annual Tankfest, where they are driven around the arena and where visitors can see their speed and their manoeuvrability. For most visitors, the easiest way to see a Cromwell is at Bovington, where the Tank Museum’s Cromwells are displayed in the order in which they were built, and where the Cromwell’s Meteor engine and its Christie suspension can be seen in full.

The museum’s Cromwells are among the most popular vehicles in its collection, and they are regularly driven at Tankfest, where visitors can hear the Meteor engine and see the tank’s speed.

Other survivors and running Cromwells

Other surviving Cromwells are held at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, which holds a Cromwell IV, and at the Muckleburgh Collection in Norfolk, which holds a Cromwell, and at the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum at Cairns, which holds a Cromwell, and at the National Army Museum at Waiouru in New Zealand, which holds a Cromwell.

Many surviving Cromwells are in running order, and they are a familiar sight at military vehicle rallies and at re-enactment events, where their speed and their reliability make them popular with their owners. The Cromwell’s small size and its light weight make it one of the easiest Second World War tanks to own and to maintain, and it is one of the most common British tanks in private collections, and it is often used in films and in television programmes about the Second World War, where it stands in for the British tanks of Normandy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Cromwell tank?
The Cromwell (Cruiser Tank Mk VIII, A27M) was a British cruiser tank of the Second World War, powered by the Rolls-Royce Meteor engine and armed with a 75 mm gun. About 4,016 Cromwells and Centaurs were built.

Why was the Cromwell so fast?
The Cromwell was powered by the Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 engine of 600 horsepower, a detuned version of the Merlin aircraft engine, and it used the Christie suspension. It could reach 64 km/h on the road, the fastest of any British tank of the war.

How many Cromwell tanks were built?
About 4,016 Cromwells and Centaurs were built between 1943 and 1945, of which about 3,066 were Cromwells and about 950 were Centaurs.

What gun did the Cromwell have?
The most numerous version, the Cromwell IV, had the QF 75 mm gun. Early versions had the 6-pounder gun, and the Cromwell VI had the 95 mm howitzer.

Where did the Cromwell fight?
The Cromwell fought in Normandy, in the advance across France and the Low Countries, at Arnhem, in the Ardennes and in the Rhineland, from June 1944 to the end of the war in May 1945.

Where can I see a Cromwell today?
Cromwells survive at the Tank Museum in Bovington, England, at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, at the Muckleburgh Collection in Norfolk, and in museums in Australia and New Zealand. Several are in running order.

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Sources

1. Wikipedia, “Cromwell tank” — production of about 4,016, specifications, variants and service history.
2. The Tank Museum, Bovington, “Cromwell” — the Meteor engine, the Normandy campaign and the surviving examples.
3. David Fletcher, Cromwell Cruiser Tank 1942–50 (Osprey Publishing, 2006) — development, variants and combat record.
4. Steven J. Zaloga, Cromwell vs Jagdpanzer IV (Osprey Publishing, 2013) — the Cromwell in Normandy.
5. George Forty, British Army Handbook 1939–1945 (Sutton Publishing, 1998) — the Cromwell in the armoured divisions.
6. Tank Encyclopedia, “Cruiser Tank Mk.VIII Cromwell (A27M)” — specifications, operators and surviving examples.