Book Infantry Tank 'Valentine' Infantry Tank 'Valentine' Books Armament Author: M. Baryatinsky Format: pdf Size: 12 Language: Russian0 (Votes: 0) Rating:Creation history, design description, numerous modifications and combat use. Built on the initiative of Vickers-Armstrong , "Valentine" tank corresponded to the basic principle, which was adopted in the interwar period in the British army and provided for the presence of two types of cruisers. operations , .................................. previously held by the cavalry, and heavy tanks to support infantry. For these latter, the booking prevailed over all other combat qualities. However, in the process of development of "Valentine" designers of the company "Vickers" used a number of units and units from their cruiser tanks, built by order of the military Ministry, which allowed to save time and labor costs on the development of "their" tank. As a result, when the Valentine was born, it was a well-armored cruiser tank rather than a purely infantry one. However, its low speed was the disadvantage that constantly made itself felt when acting in open terrain. The tank owes its name to St. Valentine, on whose day - February 14, 1938 - the project was submitted to the Ministry of War. The order was placed only in July 1939, when the Minister demanded to produce 275 new tanks in the shortest possible time. The first machines entered service in May 1940, and some tanks went to equip cavalry units to compensate for the losses suffered at Dunkirk, and only later they appeared in tank brigades, where they began to perform their proper role of supporting the infantry. Serial production of infantry tanks "Valentine" ended in early 1944, but before that from the assembly lines of factories managed to get 8275 cars. About 1,420 tanks were built in Canada.[citation needed] 1,290 of them, together with 1,300 cars assembled in the UK, under the Lend-Lease program went to the USSR. In the Soviet Union, new tanks were immediately delivered to the front-line tank units, where they immediately won the love of the tankers with the simplicity of design and the reliability of the engine and transmission. But the armament of the "Valentines" completely disappointed them: the caliber of the gun mounted on the tank has long been a complete anachronism on the Eastern Front. In some cases, instead of weak British guns, Soviet specialists installed excellent domestic 76.2-mm tank guns, which proved themselves well on T-34 tanks. No other tank had as many modifications as the Valentine. As a combat tank, the car was built in eleven versions, one after the other. To them should be added floating tanks "Valentine" DD, bridgelayers, flamethrower tanks and several types of minesweepers. The basic model was perfect for the most incredible experiments. Armor collection.