Britain
Inf Tank Mk III (Valentine)

Tweet The Inf Tank Mk III was designed in 1939 based on the existing fully tracked Valentine and was in use from 1939 to 1940. General Details Specifications Operational Date(s) 1939 - 1940 Quantity Produced 350 Weight 16 tonne Crew 3 M.G's small 1 M.G's large(>10mm) n/a Length 5.46 mtr Width 2.65 mtr Height 2.31 mtr Engine Details/Performance Max Road Speed 15 mph Max Cross Country Speed 8 mph Range Road 90 miles Range Cross Country 36 miles Fuel Type Petrol Fuel Capacity unknown Horse Power 135 hp Power/Weight 8 hp/tonne General Information The Inf Tank Mk III was designed in 1939 based on the existing fully tracked Valentine and was in use from 1939 to 1940. The vehicle was powered by AEC 'Petrol' petrol powerplant producing 135 HP which could drive the vehicle on roads at up to 15 mph with a range of about 90 miles before refuelling. Its cross country performance was adequate providing a max speed of about 8 mph and a range of about 36 miles. It was armed with 1 light machine gun. Its main armament consisted of an Ordnance Q.F. 2pdr which could penetrate 59 mm of flat plate at 400 metres The Infantry tank MkIII the Valentine was a redesigned A10 to provide an infantry support tank which could move slowly with the infantry to provide AT and machine gun support. The turret had power traverse with a 2pdr A/T gun. The armour was good for this size of vehicle. Armour Details Turret Front 65mm @ 0° (65mm) Side 60mm @ 0° (60mm) Rear 60mm @ 0° (60mm) Top 10mm @ 90° (10mm) Superstructure Front 30mm @ 68° (80mm) Side 60mm @ 0° (60mm) Rear 60mm @ 0° (60mm) Top 10mm @ 90° (10mm) Hull Front 60mm @ 21° (64mm) Side 60mm @ 0° (60mm) Rear 60mm @ 0° (60mm) Top 10mm @ 90° (10mm) Armour (x)mm @ (y)° (Effective mm @ 0°) Effective Armour - Maximum 80 mm - Minimum 10 mm Weapon Details Ordnance Q.F. 2pdr (Anti Tank Gun) History Used both as an Anti Tank gun and as a Tank gun the 2pdr was first used in Belgium in 1939. The majority of the British guns were captured by the Germans at Dunkirk. However the 2pdr manufacture was continued but was slowly replaced by the 6pdr from 1942. Manufactured 1936 - 1944 Calibre 40mm Length L/50 Rate of Fire 22 rpm   Ammunition Details Name/Id Calibre Weight MVelocity Explosive Content AP/T Mk I (AP Armor Piercing) 40mm 1.08Kg 792M/Sec Quoted Penetration 53mm@455m Range(Mtr) 100 200 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400 Flight Time(Secs) 0.13 0.27 0.56 1.26 2.17 3.37 5.06 7.58 Penetration(mm@30°) 64 58 51 41 33 25 19 13 Penetration(mm@0°) 74 67 59 48 39 30 22 16 Hit Probability(%) 98 98 98 93 60 25 6 2 HE/T Mk II after 1942 (HE High Explosive) 40mm 0.86Kg 792M/Sec 0.085Kg explosive Maximum Range not shown as gun elevation is limited Range(Mtr) 100 200 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400 Flight Time(Secs) 0.13 0.27 0.56 1.26 2.17 3.37 5.06 7.59 Direct Fire Range(Mtr) 100 200 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400 Flight Time(Secs) 0.13 0.27 0.56 1.26 2.17 3.37 5.06 7.59 Hit Probability(%) 98 98 98 93 60 25 6 2 Blast/Fragmentation Effects Burst radius Infantry in open 99% kill 1 mtr Burst radius Infantry in open 66% kill 3 mtr Burst radius Infantry in open 33% kill 9 mtr  Armour Penetration inc roof at 1 mtr 0 mm An explosion within 1 mtr of infantry in the open will cause 99% casualties - lethal. An explosion within 3 mtr of infantry in the open will cause > 66% casualties and could damage some AFV's. An explosion within 9 mtr of infantry in the open will cause 33% casualties. The blast effect of this shell exploding within 1 mtr of an armoured vehicle will not cause any significant armour damage.

Hit probability is based on a static 2 x 2.4 metre panel at 0 degrees(vertical) at the range specified.

The data that has been used to create these records has come from Wikipedia, The Lone Sentry, The Bundes Archive and numerous books and websites that have provided the detailed information that has not been available anywhere else. The information we use to calculate the penetration tables, flight times and the hit probability comes from the Gun Calibre, the Shell Mass(Kg) and the muzzle velocity, plus range reductions to allow for gravity and wind resistance. This calculation originally came from a pre-war Krupp calculation which has been modified, and seems to fit the actual test results.

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