Churchill Tank: Vehicle History and Specification

Disappointing! Little History and Coverage Limited to Mk.VII and Mk.VIII

It's hard for me to start this review by saying this book has been a little disappointing when it will obviously be such a wonderful mine of information to others. I sought this book out to sit alongside another of David Flecher's books: "Tiger! The Tiger Tank: A British View" so as to complete a piece of research I'm doing into the capture of Tiger 131. Being that the Bovington Tank Museum has been so central to Tiger 131's story, their book "Tiger 131, The Forgotten Battle" being the pinnacle of their own research into its capture, I was hoping this book "Churchill Tank, Vehicle History ad Specification" would have provided further information and pictures of the Churchill Mk.IIIs involved in that 1943 Tunisian battle. As it turned out, of the apx 160 pages, apx 20 are dedicated to a very brief history of the Churchill Tank with the Mk.III receiving just a cursory mention. The remaining apx 140 pages is an abridged version of the 1944 Service Instruction Book for the Churchill Mk.VII and MK.VIII. No mention of it being limited to these Mks is made in the Tank Museum's overview of the book, as had it been, I would naturally not have bought it. If, however, it is the technical detail on the later Mk.VII and Mk.VIII, from 1944 onwards, that you are interested in, then the very comprehensive Service Instruction Book may be just what you're after. I wouldn't however recommend this book for those interested in reading about the history of the Churchill Tank, as sadly, you could get more information from just reading Wikipedia!

The Churchill

Another good potted history of this famous tank, with good photos too.

Not quite what the title suggests, but very useful

The first 14 pages provide a brief into to the development of the Churchill. Suddenly on page 23 we get a reproduction of the Service Instruction book for the Churchill VII and VIII and that makes up the rest of the book. In parts it is very technical (inevitably), with instructions about lubrication, drawings of the transmission, wiring diagrams for the turret for example. There are excellent plans of these two Marks of tank and the chapter covering the ammo carried and used is particularly good. On balance I preferred the Haynes Manual.