British Expeditionary Force vehicles France 1940?

Since WW II is not really my area of expertise, can someone point me a direction, which tanks the BEF used. I don´t want to build Dunkirk, just a few adversaries for my Wehrmacht. I think that Tamiya´s Tilly truck can be added to the list?

There would have been no ‘Tilly’ in the BEF. These were not developed until the outbreak of the war and the Brits realised a need for a Utility vehicle and then went to the car manufacturers with their requirement.

From the top of my head:

For tanks you would be looking at:
Vickers Light VI (a & b)
Cruiser Tank Mk I A9
Cruiser Tank Mk II A10
Cruiser Tank Mk IV A13
Infantry Tank A11 (Matilda Mk 1)
Infantry Tank A12 (Matilda 2 - The Tamiya Kit needs work to backdate it)

Then:
Bren / Scout carrier
Daimler scout car (MK1)

Soft skins:
Bedford MW types C (water Truck) and D (general purpose) (early)
Bedford OY
Morris 8 cwt
Leyland Retriever (Early)

etc

2 Likes

Thanks Peter. :ok_hand:

Hermann - Just to expand slightly to that list if you’re not familiar with WWII British vehicles…

Bren/Scout carriers - the Universal Carrier kitted by a number of manufacturers is a later vehicle so can’t be used. You’d need to backdate the ‘Universal’ to either a Bren Carrier or a Scout Carrier. They were different vehicles on the same basic chassis. As the name suggests, the Universal Carrier was intended to replace several different carriers (Bren, Scout, Cavalry and Light Dragon) with a single multi-purpose vehicle.

Also, Austin Tillies were used by British units in France - probably in units shipped to France in 1940, rather than those that had been there since 1939. Photos exist of them either abandoned in port areas or as captured vehicles.

Remember that the BEF were the first units to go to France in 1939 but later units were not officially defined as BEF - 1st Armoured Div is a good example of a non-BEF unit shipped to France in 1940. They retreated through Normandy and up the Cherbourg peninsular, rather than being evacuated from Dunkirk.

Hi John,
thanks for the information. For now I just collect informations, I am busy with my Wehrmacht vehicles. I found a series of documentations that givens me literally thousands ideas what to build. I just stretched my wallet to get some new kits. :wink: