There appears to be some debate as to whether the British Indian Army used the Matilda II tank in the Burma campaign. Any thoughts?
Paul
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The Australians quite liked them, the two pounder was quite effective against Japanese tanks and the armour was virtually impervious to AT gun fire.
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Re my earlier question, it appears that the Matilda II was not used by the Indian Army in Burma.
Paul
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I believe they preferred the CS version with the three-inch howitzer for bunker-busting, to the extent of swopping some of their 2pdr-equipped tanks for New Zealand’s CS variants. The Australians also were good at modifying their Matildas with both properly-engineered and improvised improvements which need to be added for a correct depiction of an antipodean version.
Australia seems to still be awash with Matildas, in conditions varying from restored and running to fragments and wrecks.
The Indian Army Armoured Corps Museum at Ahmednagar does have a Matilda II but how it got there I don’t know…
Cheers,
M
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I know that the Aussies used Matildas in the SW Pacific Theater up until 1945. Were the Aussies deployed to Burma?
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I don’t think so, I believe they were rather busy in jungley places closer to home… The New Zealanders received 33 Matildas (all the CS variant) but found them too heavy for the infrastructure, and standardised on various marks of Valentine, 18 of which were converted to CS with 3-inch howitzers taken from the Matildas. The 3rd NZ Division and it’s Valentines saw action in the Solomons Islands including Guadalcanal, usually in conjunction with the USMC.
Regards,
M
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I’ve never read of the Kiwis fighting on the ground at Guadalcanal. In every history that I’ve ever read on the campaign there, it was the Marines who made the initial landings in August and held the perimeter around Henderson Field. In October Army reinforcements began to arrive, gradually relieving the Marines, expanding the perimeter, and eventually drove the Japanese off of the island in early 1943.
I don’t believe that the New Zealand troops took part until later on in the Solomons campaign, after Guadalcanal had been secured, as the Allies island hopped northwards up the chain.
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Yes, but according to this book, only RAAF:
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IIRC, some of the fighter squadrons at Singapore in 1941/1942 were RAAF.
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You’re right, they didn’t get there until a year after the USMC first landed and about six months after the Japanese left! It was another month before they encountered their first living Japanese on Vella Lavella, and another month later made their first opposed landing (since Gallipoli) in the Treasury Islands. The Division was withdrawn to New Zealand a year after deployment and the personnel either sent to Italy to replenish Kiwi forces there or released to farm or factory where manpower shortages were becoming critical.
Regards,
M
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