The Cromwell Tank 

For clarity, the "17-Pounder" used on the Comet was an evolution of the 17-pounder best referred to as the 77mm High Velocity. It fired the same caliber ammunition as the 17-pounder but the ammunition was not interchangeable.

Named after a leader so well loved sometime after his death his corpse was put on trial and then beheaded. I think it's fair to say the vehicle got more love than it's namesake.

Oliver Cromwell _really_ got on the bad side of the Crown. After Charles II came to power (the Restoration) they dug up Cromwell's remains, lopped off his head, and displayed it for years on a spike on the Tower of London. He eventually got it back and his remains have been hidden for hundreds of years since. Regarding the Cromwell tank, I read an anecdote in which several Cromwells used their speed to pull off Dukes of Hazzard jumps over a canal when they were on their way to Germany. I cannot imagine what that must have been like for the crews inside.

The cromwell destroyed in korea is actually the first tank kill of the centurian. Mark Felton has a great video on it.

Suprised to find some of my own footage on here! Thanks for using it, Post Scriptum has alot to see and show - great videos overall!

Thanks for that, the Cromwell is a much overlooked tank and part of the evolutionary designs that eventually led to the Centurion.

This was a wellcrom addition to the repertoire Sir Johnny. 💪👍🔥

“The Intruder” (1953) - a unique blend of British army humour, war heroics and moving drama. A fine film.

Intresting fact connected to cromwell is that one crew got accidentally sent to front with a practice version of the tank which was far less armoured. It conclusion they were able to achieve higher speeds couse they were lighter and crew refused to give the tank up XD

It was a good tank with relatively decent armour and a wonderful engine resulting in one of the fastest tanks. The factories really dragged their feet and was hampered with the old Liberty engines! The beauty of all this was that already it was urgent to develop a better tank in 1940 and already somewhere the experts was scavenging old Merlins...

A good book to check out is 'Troop leader' by BIll Bellamy. It's a biography of when he was a tank commander of a Cromwell tank in WW2.

The original World of Tanks comic series made me fall in love with this tank!😂

In the BoB clips, the Cromwells were actually used during this battle, they were from A Sqn The 15th/19th The Kings Royal Hussars, who were the Armoured Recce Regt of the British 11th Armoured Division, attached to the 506th PIR, the Sherman's in the same clips weren't there, I served with the 15/19Hussars for 12 years

Can you do a video on the Krag Jorgensen?

Interesting Fact: A Polish tank battalion was equipped with Cromwells and Fireflys that fought in Normandy. They earned the nickname "Black Devils" for their aggressiveness!

I have zero idea why but I really like the Cromwell and Churchill designs.

Interestingly enough about that Cromwell the Centurion took out: I’m like 90% sure it was the first ever combat kill for the Centurion.

Have you already covered the crusader? I feel it'd be fun to learn about.

Never thought I'd see Vades footage used anywhere, I love it. Awesome work as always.

I fucking love the intro, it cuts from a 17th century cannon firing to Cromwell tank firing

I just read ‘Warriors for the Working Day’ which is an IWM classic. Worth a read. Really captures the stress of tank warfare. Great vid. As usual. Blah blah:)

In the Overloon war museum there is such a Cromwell tank that ran into a riegel mine during the tank battle.

Loved that first cut, very well done Johnny!

I love your videos, Johnny. Very informative, very accurate, very digestible, and absolutely smattered with war cinema, which I’m a huge fan of. Great channel.

That intro was really cool! Thanks for yet another great video. Somehow I'd never heard of the Comet.

Great info, superb visuals. As always

The 17 Pounder was NOT used in the Comet. The Vickers "75mm High Velocity Gun" first designed for the Cromwell was based on the old 3inch Anti-Aircraft Gun with a new breach and chamber fitted. This used a short bottle-neck case better suited to tank use, only the projectile was similar to the 17 Pounder as they had the same caliber. To avoid confusion the gun was later renamed the Vickers 77mm HV when mounted in the Comet tank. Though it was a totally different gun it is often classed as a 17 Pounder as it used the same 17 lb projectile.

Nice Job Johnny!

Thank you for using our video. Corvus Legio send thumbs up and greetings!

Well done. Happy Easter.

2 Cromwell tanks lept across a canal in Belgium!!

One of my favourite tanks. Some of the stories from the crews are quite funny. Particularly when a group of Cromwells interrupted a German 88mm anti aircraft battery and they all had to turn around and jump across a river in their tanks to get away from them.🤣

I can't believe you actually went back in time to record this magnificent tank

1:12 And this, my children, is how tanks are born ^,^

Hammer film studios are famous for horror movies, but they did make a few war movies too. One of them called "Steel Bayonet", set in Tunisia in 1943, had Cromwell tanks doubling as German panzers and, in this capacity, they did resemble German tanks far more closely than the Centurions that played German armour in another studio's desert war movie, "Tank Force" a.k.a "No Time to Die", made around the same time, the late fifties, and starring Victor Mature. But then, in that movie, Cromwells were playing the British tanks, so it would have made sense to have used something different.

I was wondering when you would get to the ironside. Thanks for the information Johnny, catch ya next time.

Always liked the clean design.

Love the Cromwell film/Cromwell tank transitions, Johnny. The one weakness was when the tank was hit - the tank commander would find it difficult to escape from the main hatch.

I never knew the Cromwell appeared in more films (although in very few) beside Band of Brothers. Thanks for the clips Johnny! It always puzzles me as to why the Cromwell wasn't used more in old-school war films. With the unavaibility of German WWII tanks, I always figured the Comet or Cromwell would be a suitable substitute for say Pz 4s and Tigers. So much better than using M48s, Shermans, etc.

Great video opening,Johnny!

Never thought I would see a vade video

Thank for doing this video! It is my favourite tank, as you can see from my channel. Keep up the good work!

these videos are so bingeable my dude, keep em rollin! but don't burn urself out of course

Very good video, Johnny. 👍

Loving the Company of heroes clips!

@Johnny Johnson - thank you for using this specific fragment from the Battle of Britain. This is the oldest use of DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA I've stumbled upon. Are you a Warhammer 40k fan by any chance? :)

i bought a 1/72 cromwell some days ago it looks very nice

I like the Cromwell in Battlegroup. It's not that much different from M4s and Panzer IVs, but it's fast and you can take them as recon units. So while your opponent brings in armoured cars and light infantry, you're rocking a medium tank.

The Cromwell showed Britain starting to get it's act together with tank design after this I believe came the Centurion.

Great video

Yoooooo my favorite ww2 tank got a video letsss goooo Btw could u do a video on the m36 jackson?

An excellent analysis of Cromwell. The British approach was the infantry tank slow well armed and armoured for breakthrough and the cruiser tank for exploitation. The first issue was the government binned the tank development organisation, only to restart it late in the 1930’s consequently they were always running to catch up, until Centurion were they dumped all previous doctrine. The issue for Cromwell has with other WW2 British equipment has been the effect of poorly informed declinist historians from the 70 and 80’s. This is now being addressed and debunked by the revisionist historians so Cromwell and Churchill particularly the AVRE Crocodile are being seen has a significant success, than a failure. Indeed British medical statistics identify there is a significant difference between the casualty rates from Cromwell and Sherman. If hit by artillery or anti tank fire an average of 55% of the Cromwell crew would escape unhurt against 33% for Sherman. If injured a greater number of Sherman crews died 46% from their injuries than Cromwell 33%. General Bayerlein’s analysis of Cromwell, the Germans were impressed with its speed low profile and adequate armament, sometimes referred to as the Western T34. The advantage of Cromwell was the great swan battle Normandy breakout to the Dutch border . The Sherman wasn’t fast enough and suffered breakdowns because of the speed of advance. Comet is an enlarged Cromwell has the final development before Centurion where the requirements to travel on British railways was dumped.

I like you edit at the intro of Lord Oliver Cromwell shout to fire his cannon then suddenly a tank named after him firing at German Half track 😂😂 Plus, my opinion...it one of those tank platform that potential candidates to mount the 17 pdr before firefly and even the comet.

Thank Jonny my favurite tank of all the time love it my dream is to use one of them in a fantasy movie

Love seeing some Bo time gaming.

1:53 quite the accomplished actor, the cromwell

Another home run vid!

funy crom

A bit late but keep up the good content johnny :)

You have a rather splendid Cromwell reporting for duty.

coolest tank of the war, hands down

That jump in the tank must have been so sore on the landing

"How’s the work going on that silly, harmless old bomb, eh? Oh, you were all frightened of nothing, you know. " "This line the Major spoke from inside a suit of armour, inside a Cromwell tank."

Aside from the Tog 2 for the memes of it. The Cromwell is my favorite British tank. I like the look of it and enjoy the assorted versions of it in WOT Blitz.

Cromwell was also the code name to be given out if the Germans had invaded the UK. Thank you for the video and thumbs up.

Idea for next video "Browing 1919 MG

2 Cromwell tanks actually jumped a canal in Holland

British tanks really need more love. Hope to see the Churchill, the Centurion, and the Tetrarch more on other fictional works (especially animation, since live action is getting way more dodgy at times) and in YT channels like this.

1:38 is that where the picture of a flying Cromwell comes from?

Ah yes, a rather splendid Cromwell

I may be two days late but I m back with a vengeance for the m16!

You still going to make that video of the chinook gunship?

Thing hits like a truck in bf5

What film is at 4 .33 ?

2:02 lmao

I'm not completely getting the British system: what does a gun make a 17pdr? Is it just the weight of the projectile? Could a 17pdr have different calibres?

There were two Cromwell's used by Israel as far as I know. Left behind by British sympathiser. During development it did suffer from a lack of leadership, though it also suffered at time from to many leaders. At one point it was to have the Liberty engine of WW1 vintage but would instead get the Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 petrol; 600 hp engine which gave it its 40 mph top speed. Though it was fitted with the 75 mm gun it did account for at least two Tiger tanks during the same engagement. As a sidenote, a much improved version of the 6-pounder was just brought out when the 75 mm went into service. It could fire APDS rounds with excellent penetration capabilities but lacked a decent HE round.

At 3:52 is a RU-vidr named Bo Time Gaming

Make the t62 tank in the movies or the t72 tank

It's not that the 75 had a good HE shell, it was more that if you have something going a decent velocity such as the British 6pdr, you tend to need to have more shell wall and less exsplosive payload or else it loses integrity in flight- also known as a bad thing. The old French model 1898 field gun of which the US tank gun was a derivative was never intended to breach the armoured hulls of tanks, as they had not been invented yet and thus its pretty well set up for slinging HE at things.

Churchill next?

0:01-0:06 - I think the cut to the firing Cromwell tank should have been emitted. Would have had a more comedic effect here.

The few tanks unbothered by rumours and dramatisation

Btw the comet used a 77mm, great vid tho

1:44 was that a ork flying that fighter?

Surprisingly no Cromwell tanks in anime? Or is there any anime that have the tank in it? (I don't know if Girls Und Panzer had this fancy little tank in the show)

That's my favorite British tank.

Bo Time with Botime Gaming!

P.S. To be honest, I DO miss the days when all you had to do was get a few M47s or M48s, either paint them gray or sand yellow, plaster them with black crosses, and call them "Tigers".

How about the silliest tank ever constructed? The Bob Semple tank? Or better known as the Big Bob?🤣

Hey

Johnny, a back...😅..excellent...E..

Warts n all

Wonder if any Cromwells managed to get the 6 pounder apds

ChingChangChong said a bad word at 2:03. Might want to censor that.

Cromwell was a fine tank. Remember that it's most likely enemy was a Panzer III or IV and not a Tiger (rare) or Panther (kaputt). Against those the 75mm worked nicely, armor was compareable (or better in the welded versions) and both mobility and reliability was better (by that time P IV was a tad overweight) Yes, a Panther (assuming you could find a working one in the West) was better (Comet would take care of that) but overall Cromwell was a nice vehicle for killing Krauts.

Another nice video. I got nothing to contribute regarding British armour. Hopefully a comment helps a little with the algorithm.

1:40 *Get Some*

sorry if i haven't talked in awhile, how was your day? (don't ask why im doing this.)

Yesssssssss