Light Tank Mk VI The Tank , Light , Mk VI was a British light tank , produced by Vickers - Armstrongs in the late 1930s , which saw service during World War II . Development history . The Tank , Light , Mk VI was the sixth in the line of light tanks built by Vickers - Armstrongs for the British Army during the interwar period . The company had achieved a degree of standardization with their previous five models , and the Mark VI was identical in all but a few respects . The turret , which had been expanded in the Mk V to allow a three - man crew to operate the tank , was further expanded to give room in its rear for a wireless set . The weight of the tank was increased to , which although heavier than previous models actually improved its handling characteristics , and an engine was added to the model to increase its maximum speed to . It had the Horstmann coil - spring suspension system which was found to be durable and reliable , although the fact that the tank was short in relation to its width and that it pitched violently on rough ground made accurate gunnery whilst moving exceptionally difficult . The Mk VI possessed a crew of three consisting of a driver , gunner and commander who also doubled as the radio operator , between and of armour , which could resist rifle and machine gun bullets , and its armament consisted of one water - cooled . 303 inch and one . 50 inch Vickers machine gun . Production of the Mk VI began in 1936 and ended in 1940 with approximately 1 , 000 Mark VI tanks having been built . Many of those produced were actually variants designed to solve problems found with the original design . The Mk VIA had a return roller removed from the top of the leading bogey and attached to the hull sides instead , and also possessed a faceted cupola . The Mk VIB was mechanically identical to the Mk VIA but with a few minor differences to make production simpler , including a one - piece armoured louvre over the radiator instead of a two - piece louvre , and a plain circular cupola instead of the faceted type . The Mk VIC , which was the last in the MK VI series , had the commanders cupola removed and had wider bogies and three carburettors to improve engine performance ; it was also more powerfully armed than the other models , replacing the . 303 and . 50 Vickers machine gun s with co - axial and Besa machine gun s . A small number of specialized variations were also built based on the Mk VI chassis . The Tank , Light , AA Mk I was built in the aftermath of the Battle of France and was intended to act as a counter - measure against attacks by German aircraft . It featured a power - operated turret fitted with four 7 . 92 mm Besa machine guns ; a Mk II was produced which was mechanically similar but had improvements , such as better quality sights for the machine guns and a larger turret for easier access . A variant on the Mk VIB was produced for service with the British Indian Army , in which the commanders cupola was removed and replaced with a hatch in the turret roof . Operational history . When the Mk VI was first produced in 1936 , the Imperial General Staff considered the tank to be superior to any light tank produced by other nations , and well suited to the dual roles of reconnaissance and colonial warfare . Like many of its predecessors , the Mark VI was used by the British Army to perform imperial policing duties in British India and other colonies in the British Empire , a role for which it and the other Vickers - Armstrongs light tanks were found to be well suited . When the British government began its rearmament process in 1937 , the Mk VI was the only tank with which the War Office was ready to proceed with manufacturing ; the development of a medium tank for the Army had hit severe problems after the cancellation of the proposed " Sixteen Tonner " medium tank in 1932 due to the costs involved , and cheaper models only existed as prototypes with a number of mechanical problems . As a result of this , when the Second World War began in September 1939 , the vast majority of the tanks available to the British Army were Mk VIs ; there were 1 , 002 Mk VI Light Tanks , seventy - nine Mk I and Mk II Cruiser Tanks and sixty - seven Mk I Infantry Tanks . Of these tanks , only 196 light tanks and fifty Infantry Tanks were in use by operational units of the Army . When the Battle of France began in May 1940 , the majority of the tanks possessed by the British Expeditionary Force were Mark VI variants ; the seven Royal Armoured Corps divisional cavalry regiments , the principal armoured formations of the BEF , were each equipped with twenty - eight Mk IVs . The 1st Armoured Division , elements of which landed in France in April , was equipped with 257 tanks , of which a large number were Mk VIB and Mk VICs . The 3rd Royal Tank Regiment , which formed part of the division ' s 3rd Armoured Brigade , possessed by this time twenty - one Mark VI light tanks . The Mk VIb was also in action in North Africa against the Italians late in 1940 with the 3rd Hussars and the 7th Armoured division . Late in 1940 , the British had 200 light tanks ( presumably the Mk VIb ) along with 75 medium tanks ( A9 , A10 , A13 ) and 45 Matildas . An attack by the 3rd Hussars on December 12 , 1940 resulted in them getting bogged down in salt pans and severely mauled . The 7th Armoured division had 100 left on January 3 , 1941 and 120 tanks on January 21 at which time they were used in flanking far into the rear and gathering up scattered Italian troops , sometimes joining or leaving the main attacks to the Cruiser and Matilda tanks . 2nd RTR continued to battle the Italians with light tanks as late as Feb 6 , 1941 .