The British Matilda II tank is called an infantry tank, the task is to accompany the infantry action, give infantry mobile fire support, and at the same time undertake the task of breaking through the enemy's position and anti-tank, under this operational demand, the army ordnance department to this tank set the index is not high, as long as the speed can keep up with the pace of the infantry charge, the key is that the armor should be thick enough to withstand the attack of the opponent's conventional infantry anti-tank weapons and tanks, and the firepower needs are also very simple, As long as it was able to penetrate the armor of conventional tanks in the countries of the countries of the world at that time, it was enough.

In the early days of the war, Matilda did meet the targets required by the British Army, and his performance on the battlefield was also passable, and he was basically able to complete the tasks assigned to him by the Army as long as he appeared.

Overall, the British Army was satisfied with the performance of this equipment in the French theater, and compared to the other tanks brought by the expeditionary force, the Matilda II caused the Germans the most trouble, and the losses were also the least. Most of the battle losses do not occur in frontal combat, and the general losses are due to close ambush by infantry or anti-tank mines, and the other is self-destruction by tankmen after they are unable to continue the battle, due to the exhaustion of ammunition, depletion of fuel, mechanical failure, etc., which accounts for a large part of the total losses.

Eventually, the British Expeditionary Force was wiped out at Dunkirk, and more than ninety percent of the British tanks were dumped on the beach across the Channel, including almost all of the Matilda tanks, all of which became trophies of the Germans. But in the eyes of the British Army, it was a strategic mistake. It was because the Germans were too cunning and ferocious that it could only be said that it was not a war crime, and it had nothing to do with Matilda's performance.

So until now. Britain is still putting this outdated tank into production as the main equipment, and even because of the threat of the new German medium tank, it deliberately expanded the production scale of this infantry tank, and overtook the share of a large number of weakly armored cruiser tanks.

The latter was considered by some of the top brass in the army to be big, useless, flashy, and behaved in the French theater of disarray, a kind of waste can that even the German 37 knockers could smash through. Because of this, the cruiser tank theory was criticized as useless in the army. If it weren't for the interests of the arms dealers, the British Army even wanted to completely abolish the cruiser tank and specialize in infantry tanks, believing that the tanks needed by the British Army in the future would have to be larger, heavier and more powerful. The work of the cruiser tank can be left to the light tank, which is faster and has smaller targets, but can also be equipped with the same level of firepower as the cruiser, and more importantly, cheaper and less material-intensive. At a time when there is a shortage of such materials and funds. Fulfilling these two conditions is the most important thing.

It can also be seen that the British Army's strategic direction has changed, they have clearly realized the incompetence and fragility of the British Army, so the overall strategy from focusing on offense to focusing on defense, armored weapons are regarded by them as a very important part of the defensive strategy, and in the defensive war, mobility is secondary, protection and firepower are more important indicators, so the British Army's ordnance department is in full swing to develop a new generation of heavy infantry tanks, from the Eye of Odin to get the intelligence shows. That should be the famous A22 heavy infantry tank in the future.

When Xu Jun saw the sketches and technical indicators obtained by the intelligence officers, he immediately sent out, "It turned out to be Churchill." This exclamation. The people present at the time were confused by this inexplicable emotion, and after the Eye of Odin got the follow-up information of this tank and sent it to the Command, people were surprised to find that the British had determined to name this type of tank "Churchill" infantry tank.

The Matilda Tank Battalion of the 1st Panzer Division was reconstituted to replace the 7th Battalion of the Royal Panzer Regiment of the 1st Army Tank Brigade, which surrendered at Dunkirk.

These tanks are a stock of equipment in the UK, and the British will show rodent habits in some places, and they are very fond of hiding things, and they always have a habit of withholding a little bit of each batch of equipment as a reserve, just like squirrels store food for the winter. In times of peace, this was obviously an unnecessary waste of leaving valuable equipment in the warehouses to accumulate dust, but when war came, this habit of the British came in handy. This was the prototype of the future strategic equipment reserve system, and the British Empire was indeed ahead of the world in some concepts.

The British Army dug out two battalions of tanks and supporting vehicles from the warehouse at one time, although this was far from enough to solve the problem at the time, but it was also a slight relief of the equipment crisis of the army's armored forces, and the 1st Armored Division was formed on the basis of these reserves of equipment and training and left-behind vehicles collected from various places.

In fact, as a simple armored division, the first armored division should be equipped with all cruiser tanks, and Matilda's infantry tank should be subordinate to the establishment of the army tank division from the establishment table. However, at present, it has reached this point, where does the British Army still have the mind to pick fat and thin, as long as it is a tank, they will all be grouped together, and then kick to the most important key area, at this time how to resist the landing of the Germans is the most important thing.

This is how the 7th Battalion of the Royal Tank Regiment was incorporated into the 1st Panzer Division, and then followed the large army to the battlefield of Dover.

The battalion was really dragging the whole Panzer Division along the way, and the damn 12 kilometers of cross-country speed was hateful, and if they hadn't slowed down the overall march of the large army, the 1st Panzer Division might have been able to reach Dover that afternoon. As a result, it was dragged out until the second half of the night, when the troops were still busy arranging the garrison, the German heavy artillery unit launched an artillery bombardment on Folkestone, and the whole division was immediately beaten, and the equipment and materials were lost innumerable. It is for this reason that the whole division is now a little unkind to see them.

The officers and men of the 7th Battalion did not see it that way, believing that it was because of the speed with which they killed people. Instead, it saved a lot of people in the armored division. Their reasoning was that if they had not slowed down the march, most of the division might have fallen asleep by the time the German bombardment came, rather than that there were still quite a few tanks still busy finding and moving their positions, as they had done that night, and a large number of tankers had not left their tanks. So in the end, he was able to escape from the German shelling.

Major Philip, the commander of the 1st Company of the 7th Battalion, was one of those who held this view, and he scoffed at the accusations against the 7th Battalion, which he regarded as a jealous slander and slander by some defeated dog whose spine had been broken.

Because the speed at which the 7th Battalion moved was too slow. As a result, it was not placed in the central city, and it was precisely because of this that the tank battalion suffered only a small part of the damage from the German shelling.

The Matilda I tank of the second company suffered some losses in the shelling, because the armor of the thing was only a thin 25 mm. In the opinion of Major Philip. This thing is simply an unqualified infantry tank, this type of tank has suffered serious losses in the French battlefield, and the German infantry can solve it with cluster grenades alone, if it weren't for the current lack of equipment, Philip feels that the army should not have re-launched this model at all.

The station of the second company was bombarded by a large-caliber grenade, and two platoons of tanks were turned into bulk parts on the spot. The grim sight of shattered tank parts and machinery, twisted armor plates, collapsed turrets, charred load wheels, and mutilated bodies scattered inside and outside the crater brought tears to the eyes of even the most cynical soldier in the company.

At that time, the equipment of the first company was parked less than two blocks away from the second company, and it was lucky to escape. From then until the end of the shelling. Not a single German shell ever fell in this area, and the company was eventually preserved unscathed. But he didn't expect to be hostile to his brother units because of this.

Those troops suffered heavy casualties that night, and when they saw that someone was unharmed, not even a piece of oil skin was scratched, and then compared with the miserable condition of their own men, the obvious gap was suddenly turned into jealousy, and all kinds of strange words came at the company of the seventh battalion, such as "the coward hiding in the corner, the first company with a curse, the bastard who let his comrades die for him, the demon who sucked away the luck of his allies" and so on. Major Philip didn't take those nonsense seriously at all, and even felt a little dark, like a demon or something...... Isn't that a cool and trendy title?

After nightfall, the 1st Company was ordered to report to the defensive position of Mount Cox between Minness Trail and Arkham Road, where they were to hold on until reinforcements from London arrived.

In Major Philip's opinion, this is all nonsense used to deceive the soldiers, and the situation in the rear is not clear to others, but Philip is completely aware of it. This was due to the fact that he had an uncle who worked in the War Department, with whom he kept in constant correspondence and occasionally on the phone, which allowed him to learn many secrets that were difficult for ordinary people to access.

From Dover to London, there are now only three units in the whole area, the 1st Panzer Division and the 5th and 6th Infantry Divisions, which are the only mobile forces that the British Army can mobilize at present.

Unless London is willing to mobilize the last of its garrison, it will be able to draw out the elite of a Scottish infantry brigade and a tank brigade, but how can London risk losing its last support and move these troops to Dover.

As for the war with the Germans, Philip thought he was mentally prepared and he was here to take out the Germans. As the viscount of the British Empire, the Philip family has gone through 12 generations, in the long family history, there is no shortage of heroes who shed their blood and sang generously for the country, from the top of Waterloo to the ditch of Verdun, every battlefield has left the blood of Philip family members, and now it is his turn to add another glory to the family coat of arms.

"We should get around this side, Major."

The voice of the deputy company commander, Captain Blanche, woke him from his thoughts, and the major was stunned for a moment, and he turned his head blankly to look around.

"Sir, we may be late, the position is on the top of that slope, behind that woods." The Captain continued to shout in his headphones.

"Huh?! Yes...... Captain, you take a platoon to the front and try to find a way up the mountain. Philip picked up the bakelite microphone hanging from his chest and replied loudly.

The British army's efforts in tank communications equipment have kept up with the Germans in some aspects, such as these infantry tanks, each equipped with Type 11 on-board radios, which can easily communicate with each other. (To be continued......)