German soldiers are photographed standing on the armor of a destroyed British cruiser tank Crusader Mk III (A10) from the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment of the 1st Tank Division of the British Expeditionary Force in Europe. Battle of France, Western Front, World War II.
Source of information about the photo: Baryatinsky M. “Crusader” and others (British tanks Mk.I-Mk.IV) (“Armored Collection”, 2005, No. 6). – M., CJSC “Modelist-Constructor”, 2005
Location: France
Shooting time: May-June 1940
The Crusader Mk III is a British medium cruiser tank of World War II. Developed by Nuffield Mechanization and Aero in 1939-1940 in strict accordance with the British concept of dividing tanks into infantry (heavily armored and slow) and cruising (lightly armored and fast), the Crusader was a typical representative of the cruiser tank class. It was produced in 1940-1943 and fought, in strict accordance with its name, in the North African theater of operations, where it received its baptism of fire.
Initially, the tank was armed with a 40 mm gun (Crusader Mk I/Mk II) typical for English tanks of the first half of World War II, but later it was equipped with a 57 mm gun (Crusader Mk III), which slightly increased its capabilities. Outperforming the Italian M13/40 tanks, the Crusader turned out to be ineffective against late-modified German PzKpfw IVs and PzKpfw IIIs.