Churchill tank The Tank , Infantry , Mk IV ( A22 ) Churchill was a British heavy infantry tank used in the Second World War , best known for its heavy armour , large longitudinal chassis with all - around tracks with multiple bogie s , and its use as the basis of many specialist vehicles . It was one of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war . The origins of the design lay in the expectation that war in Europe might be fought under similar conditions to those of the First World War , and emphasized the ability to cross difficult ground . The Churchill was rushed into production to build up British defences against a possible German invasion . The first vehicles had flaws that had to be overcome before the Churchill was accepted for wide use . After several Marks had been built , a better armoured version , the Mark VII , entered service . The Churchill was used by British and Commonwealth forces in North Africa , Italy and North - West Europe . In addition , a few hundred were supplied to the USSR and used on the Eastern Front . Name . There is some ambiguity regarding whom the tank is named after . It may have been named after Winston Churchill , who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Minister of Defence at the time , and had been involved with the development of the tank as a weapon during the First World War . Alternatively , and fitting in with other British tank names , it may have been named after John Churchill , 1st Duke of Marlborough , an ancestor of Winston Churchill and the leader of the British Army in the War of the Spanish Succession . History . A20 . Initially specified before the outbreak of the Second World War the ( General Staff designation ) A20 was to be the replacement for the Matilda II and Valentine infantry tanks . In accordance with British infantry tank doctrine and based on the expected needs of World War I - style trench warfare , the tank was required to be capable of navigating shell - cratered ground , demolishing infantry obstacles such as barbed wire , and attacking fixed enemy defences ; for these purposes , great speed and heavy armament were not required . The vehicle was specified initially to be armed with two QF 2 pounder guns each located in a side sponson , with a coaxial BESA machine gun . A third BESA and a smoke projector would be fitted in the front hull . The specification was revised to prefer a turret with 60 mm of armour to protect against ordinary shells from the German 37 mm gun . Outline drawings were produced based on using the A12 Matilda turret and the engine of the Covenanter tank . Detail design and construction of the A20 was given to the Belfast shipbuilders Harland and Wolff who completed four prototypes by June 1940 . During the construction period the armament was reconsidered , including fitting either a 6 pounder or a French 75 mm gun in the forward hull . In the end a 3 - inch howitzer was chosen . The A20 designs were short - lived however , as at roughly the same time the emergency evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk occurred . At 43 tons , with a 300 hp flat - 12 Meadows engine , the A20 had limited power compared to the 18 - ton Covenanter . This was a less serious limitation than it might appear , owing to the British distinction between the high - speed cruiser tank s and the slow - speed infantry tank s . Vauxhall were approached to see if they could build the A20 and one example was sent to Vauxhall at Luton to see if they could provide an alternative engine . To this end they developed a flat - 12 petrol engine . For speed of production , this engine was based on a Bedford six - cylinder lorry engine , giving rise to its name of " Twin - Six " . Although still a sidevalve engine , the engine was developed with high squish pistons , dual ignition and sodium - cooled exhaust valve s in Stellite seats to give 350 bhp . A22 . With France lost , the scenario of trench warfare in Northern Europe was no longer applicable and the design was revised by Henry Merritt , Director of Tank Design at Woolwich Arsenal , based on the combat witnessed in Poland and France . These new specifications , for the A22 or Infantry Tank Mark IV , were given to Vauxhall in June 1940 . With German invasion of Britain looking imminent , and the loss of a substantial amount of military vehicles in the evacuation from France , the War Office specified that the A22 had to enter production within a year . By July 1940 the design was complete and by December of that year the first prototypes were completed ; in June 1941 , almost exactly a year as specified , the first Churchill tanks began rolling off the production line . A leaflet from the manufacturer was added to the User Handbook saying : The document then described known faults , with work - rounds and what was being done to correct the problem . Because of its hasty development , there had been little testing , and the Churchill was plagued with mechanical faults . Most apparent was that the Churchill ' s engine was underpowered , unreliable , and difficult to access for servicing . Another serious shortcoming was the tank ' s weak armament , the 2 pounder ( 40 mm ) gun , which was improved by the addition of a 3 - inch howitzer in the hull to deliver an HE shell , albeit not on a howitzer ' s usual high trajectory . Production of a turret to carry the QF 6 pounder gun began in 1941 , but problems with the plate used in an all - welded design led to an alternative cast turret also being produced . These formed the distinction between Mark III and Mark IV . The poor speed of the Churchill nearly caused production to be ceased in favour of the forthcoming Cromwell tank ; it was saved by the successful use of the Mk III at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 . The second major improved Churchill , the Mk VII , was first used in the Battle of Normandy in 1944 . The Mk VII improved on the already heavy armour of the Churchill with a wider chassis and the British 75 mm gun which had been introduced on the Mk VI . It was primarily this variant , the A22F , which served through the remainder of war . It was re - designated A42 in 1945 . The Churchill was notable for its versatility and was utilised in numerous specialist roles . Design . The hull was made up of simple flat plates which were bolted together in earlier models and were welded in later models . The hull was split into four compartments : the driver ' s position at the front , then the fighting compartment including the turret , the engine compartment , and the gearbox compartment . The suspension was fitted under the two large " panniers " on either side of the hull , the track running over the top . There were eleven bogies either side , each carrying two 10 - inch wheels . Only nine of the bogies were taking the vehicle weight normally , the front coming into play when the vehicle nosed into the ground or against an obstacle , the rear acting in part as a track tensioner . Due to the number of wheels , the tank could survive losing several without much in the way of adverse effects as well as traversing steeper terrain obstacles . As the tracks ran around the panniers , escape hatches in the side could be incorporated into the design . These were retained throughout the revisions of the Churchill and were of particular use when the Churchill was adopted as the AVRE . The Bedford Vehicles engine was effectively two engines in horizontally opposed configuration ( " flat twelve " ) on a common crankshaft . There were four Solex carburettors each on a separate manifold that fed three cylinders formed as a single cylinder head . The elements of the engine and ancillary components were laid out so they could be reached for maintenance through the engine deck covers . Air for the engine was drawn from the fighting compartment through air cleaners . Cooling air was drawn into the engine compartment through louvres on the sides , across the radiators and through the engine compartment by a fan driven by the clutch . This fan blew the air over the gearbox and out the rear of the hull . By opening a flap between the fighting compartment and the engine compartment this airflow could be used to remove fumes produced by firing the armament . The capacity engine was rated at 350 bhp at 2 , 000 rpm delivering torque over an engine speed range from 800 to 1 , 600 rpm . The gearbox featured a regenerative steering system that was controlled by a tiller bar instead of the more commonplace brake levers , or as with the German Tiger I heavy tank , a steering wheel . The tiller was connected with servo assistance , hydraulically to the steering brakes . The Churchill was also the first tank to utilise the Merritt - Brown gearbox , which allowed the tank to be steered by changing the relative speeds of the two tracks ; this effect became more pronounced with each lower gear , ultimately allowing the tank to perform a " neutral turn " when no gear was engaged , where it could fully pivot within its own length . There were final reduction gears , of the planetary type , in the driving wheels . The first turrets were of cast construction and were rounded in shape , providing sufficient space to accommodate the relatively small 2 pounder gun . To fulfil its role as an infantry support vehicle the first models were equipped with a 3 - inch howitzer in the hull in a layout very similar to the French Char B . This enabled the tank to deliver a useful high - explosive capability while retaining the antitank capabilities of the 2 pounder . However , like other multi - gun tanks , it was limited by a poor fire arc - the entire tank had to be turned to change the aim of the hull gun . The Mk II dispensed with the howitzer and replaced it with a bow machine gun and on the Mk III , the 2 pounder was replaced with the 6 pounder , significantly increasing the tank ' s anti - tank capabilities . The tank underwent field modification in North Africa with several Churchills being fitted with the 75 mm gun of destroyed M4 Shermans . These " NA75 " variants were used in Italy . The use of the 75 mm increased the effectiveness of the tank , as it was a generally superior weapon to the 6 pounder , possessing similar anti - tank capabilities , while also being considerably more effective when used in infantry support roles . Churchills made use of the Vickers Tank Periscope MK . IV . In the Mark VII , the driver had two periscopes as well as a vision port in the hull front that could be opened . The hull gunner had a single periscope as well as the sighting telescope on the BESA machine gun mounting . In the turret the gunner and loader each had single periscope and the commander had two fitted in his hatch cupola . The armour on the Churchill , often considered its most important feature , was originally specified to a minimum of and a maximum of ; this was increased with the Mk VII to a range from to . Though this armour was considerably thicker than its rivals ( including the German Tiger I tank , but not the Tiger II ) it was not sloped , reducing its effectiveness . Earlier models were given extra armour by the expedient of welding extra plates on . On the Mark VII , the hull front armour was made up of a lower angled piece of , a nearly flat plate and a vertical 6 inch plate . The hull sides , were for the most part , . The rear was and the hull top . The turret of the Mark VII was to the front and for the other sides . The turret roof was 0 . 79 ( 20 mm ) thick . Plate was specified as IT 80 , the cast sections as IT 90 . The A22F , also known as " Heavy Churchill " was a major revision of the design . The most significant part was the use of welding instead of riveted construction . Welding had been considered earlier for the Churchill but until its future was assured this was no more than testing techniques and hulls at the firing ranges . What welding reduced in the overall weight ( estimates were around 4 % ) , the thicker armour of the A22F made up for . Welding also required fewer man - hours in construction . The hull doors changed from square to round which reduced stresses . A new turret went with the new hull . The sides , which included a flared base to protect the turret ring , were a single casting while the roof , which did not need to be so thick , was a plate fitted to the top . Since the engines on the Churchill were never upgraded , the tank became increasingly slower as additional armour and armament was equipped and weight increased ; while the Mk I weighed and the Mk III weighed 39 , 630 kg , the Mk VII weighed 40 , 640 kg . This caused a reduction in maximum speed of the tank from its original down to . The engines also suffered from many mechanical problems . Another problem was the tank ' s relatively small turret that prevented the use of powerful weapons ; definitive versions of the tank were armed with either the QF 6 - pounder or the derivative QF 75 mm gun . The 6 - pdr was effective against armoured vehicles but less so against other targets ; the 75 mm a better all - round weapon but lacking in effectiveness against armour . Although the Churchills with their 6 pounders could outgun many contemporary German medium tanks ( like the Panzer IV with the short - barrel 75 mm gun and the Panzer III ' s 50 mm gun ) and the thick armour of all Churchill models could usually withstand several hits from any German anti - tank gun , in the later years of the war the German Panther tank had a 75 mm high - velocity cannon as its main armament along with increased protection , against which the Churchills ' own guns often lacked sufficient armour penetration to fight back effectively . The Churchill had many variations , including many specialised modifications . The most significant change to the Churchill was that it was up - gunned from 2 pounder to 6 pounder and then 75 mm guns over the course of the war . By the war ' s end , the late model Churchill Mk VII had exceptional amounts of armour – considerably more than the German Tiger tank . However , the firepower weakness was never fully addressed . The Mark VII turret that was designed for the 75 mm gun was of composite construction – cast with top and bottom plates welded into position . While it had weaknesses , the Churchill could cross terrain obstacles that most other tanks of its era could not . This capacity frequently proved useful , especially during the fighting in Normandy . One action in Normandy where the tank ' s ability to surmount obstacles was found to be of value was the capture of Hill 309 on the 30 and 31 July 1944 ( Operation Bluecoat ) conducted by VIII Corps . Service history . Dieppe Raid . The Churchill first saw combat on 19 August 1942 , in the Dieppe Raid in France . The Dieppe raid was planned to temporarily take control of the French port of Dieppe using a strong force of about 6 , 000 troops – mostly drawn from inexperienced Canadian units . The operation , codenamed Rutter , would test the feasibility of opposed landings . Nearly 60 Churchill tanks from the Calgary Regiment were allocated to support the infantry and commandos ; they would be put ashore by landing craft . Some problems were anticipated and allowed for : waterproofing of the hulls , canvas carpets to aid the tanks crossing the shingle beach , engineer teams to demolish obstacles and a few of the tanks were fitted with flame - throwers . In the event , the German defences were strong and several tanks in each of the four " waves " were lost on or before reaching the beach . Only fourteen got off the shore and past the sea wall . Although the tanks were effective in engaging the defenders in the town ' s buildings , their progress was blocked by concrete defences ; the demolition teams – killed or pinned on the beach – had not been able to accompany the tanks . Some tanks were able to return to the beach once a withdrawal had been signalled but none were taken off . Nearly 70 % of the Canadians were killed , injured or captured and none of the raid ' s objectives were met other than the secret raid on the radar station on a headland . North Africa . Six Mk III Churchills ( with the 6 pounder ) saw action in the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 . This detachment , called " Kingforce " , supported the attack of 7th Motor Brigade . The Churchills were fired on many times by German anti - tank guns , but only one received more than light damage . One tank was said to have been hit up to 80 times . Kingforce was disbanded after El Alamein – it had been formed to test whether the Churchills could operate in Africa . Instead , a full tank brigade ( the 25th Army Tank Brigade ) of three regiments was sent to Africa , and went into action in February 1943 during the Tunisian campaign . Churchill tanks took part in containing the German offensive of Operation Ochsenkopf in February – March 1943 . At a place called Steamroller Farm two Churchill MKIII tanks of 51 RTR got ahead of their squadron . They came across an entire German transport column which they ambushed and completely shot up before they rejoined . The end result was the destruction of two 88 mm , two 75 mm and two 50 mm , four lesser anti - tank guns , twenty - five wheeled vehicles , two 3 inch Mortars , two Panzer III tanks , and infliction of nearly 200 casualties . A Churchill tank in a hull down defensive position made a particular contribution to Allied success . In one encounter on 21 April 1943 during the start of the Battle of Longstop Hill a Churchill tank of the 48th Royal Tank Regiment got the better of a German Tiger I heavy tank . A 6 pounder shot from the Churchill lodged between the Tiger ' s turret and turret ring , jamming the turret and injuring the Tiger crew . The crew abandoned the Tiger , which was subsequently captured by the British . Known as Tiger 131 , this Tiger was the first captured by the Western Allies and was particularly useful for intelligence . Tiger 131 has since been restored to full working condition and is now on display at The Tank Museum in the United Kingdom . Italy . As the mainstay of the Tank Brigades , which operated in support of the infantry , Churchill units were in operation more often than other tank units . The " NA75 " conversions of Churchill Mark III to carry the US 75 mm gun were used in Italy . As the Churchill proved to be a better gun platform than the Sherman , the effective range of the 75 mm was increased . North - West Europe . Churchills saw widespread action in Normandy as well as subsequent operations in the Low Countries and into Germany such as the fighting in the Reichswald during Operation Veritable . The Churchill was able to cross the muddy ground and force through the forests of the Reichswald ; a contemporary report expressed the belief that no other tank could have managed the same conditions . Other theatres . In mid - 1944 , at the request of Britain ' s War Office , the Churchill was tested by the Australian Army , along with the M4 Sherman . The results were to be used to determine any modifications required for use in the tropics ; Matildas were used as a reference point in the tests at Madang , New Guinea . The Churchill was found to be , overall , superior to the other tanks for jungle warfare . It was not used in the Pacific War ; only 46 of the 510 Churchills ordered by Australia were delivered by the end of the war . The remainder of the order was cancelled . Korean War and after . In late 1950 , a Churchill Crocodile squadron ( C squadron , 7 Royal Tank Regiment ) was sent to Korea . In action against the Chinese they mostly fought as gun tanks , for example in the Third Battle of Seoul . To restore 1st Battalion , Royal Northumberland Fusiliers ' position during the defence of Seoul , Brigadier Thomas Brodie of the 29th Infantry Brigade sent four Churchill tanks as reinforcement , and their contributions to the battle was widely praised by British and American historians . These were the last use of the Churchill in action by the British . The tank remained in the service of the British Army until 1952 with one , a bridge - layer , remaining in service well into the 1970s . USSR . The Soviet Union was sent a total of 301 Churchill Mk III and Mk IV types as part of the Lend - Lease programme . Forty - three were lost en route on the Arctic Convoy s . In 1943 , the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army used Churchills in the Battle of Prokhorovka during the Battle of Kursk , and in the Fourth Battle of Kharkov . Irish Army Service . The Irish Army took delivery of three Churchill Mk VI tanks in 1948 and a fourth in 1949 . They were rented from the British War Office as trials vehicles until 1954 , when they were purchased outright . This purchase was despite the fact that the supply and transport corps workshops , who maintained them , had reported that spares had all but run out . Experiments were carried out involving replacing the existing Bedford engine with a Rolls - Royce Merlin engine salvaged from an Irish Air Corps Seafire aircraft . The experiment was not a success , although the reasons are not recorded . By 1967 only one Churchill remained serviceable , and by 1969 all were retired . One remains preserved in the Curragh Camp . Variants . During the course of the war , as well as new production , older vehicles were reworked to bring them up to later standard . For example , 2 - pdr turrets were replaced with the 6 - pdr turret , and the improved commander ' s cupola ( with eight periscopes ) introduced after the first Mark VII was applied to some earlier marks as well . Nearly 3 , 100 Churchills of all marks were rebuilt . Early tanks were produced before the Churchill name was attached and were retroactively known as Churchill Mark I etc . Tanks . Churchill I " ( 303 produced ) " Churchill Mk II " ( 1 , 127 produced ) " Churchill Mk IICS " ( Close Support ) " Churchill Mk III " ( 675 produced ) " Churchill Mk IV " ( 1 , 622 produced ) " Churchill Mk V " ( 241 produced ) " Churchill Mk VI " ( 200 produced ) " Churchill Mk VII ( A22F ) " ( 1 , 600 produced , together with Mark VIII ) " Churchill Mk VIII " ( 1 , 600 produced , together with Mark VII ) " Refitted previous versions . Churchill Mk IX Churchill Mk X Churchill Mk XI Churchill NA75 " ( 200 produced ) " Specialist vehicles . Churchill Oke . A Churchill II or III with a flamethrower . The Oke flamethrowing tank was named after its designer , Major J . M . Oke . The design was basically for a Churchill tank fitted with the Ronson flamethrower equipment . A tank containing the flame fuel was fitted at the rear , with a pipe from it leading to the fixed angle mounting on the front hull to the left , leaving the hull machine gun unobstructed . There were three ( named " Boar " , " Beetle " and " Bull " ) present , in the first wave , at Dieppe which were quickly lost , and abandoned . Churchill AVRE ( Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers ) . Developed by the Canadian Army as a result of experience from the Dieppe Raid , the Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers was a Churchill Mark III or IV equipped with the " Petard " , a 290 mm ( 11 in ) spigot mortar which throws the " Flying dustbin " with its 28 - pound high - explosive warhead . The Petard , developed by MD1 , was designed for the quick levelling of fortifications . The Petard was reloaded by traversing the turret to point front , slightly to the left , with the barrel directly over the co - driver ' s sliding hatch . The regular two piece co - driver ' s hatch was plated over , and a small sliding hatch was installed to allow access to the Petard . The Petard barrel would then be traversed vertically to its maximum elevation , and the co - driver would slide open his hatch . The co - driver would then open the rear of the Petard and push the " Flying dustbin " into the barrel . The barrel would then be closed , the Petard traversed back down , and the turret rotated back to its original position . The co - driver ' s hands were briefly exposed during the process . The AVRE could also be equipped with numerous other attachments , such as the Small Box Girder bridge , which was carried at the front of the tank and laid across ditches or narrow rivers up to 30 feet wide , and the Canadian Indestructible Roller Device ( CIRD ) , which was used to protect the tracks of a tank from mines . It could also carry fascine s , which are large bundles of wood carried on the front of the tank and dropped into trenches to help the Churchill cross over them , devices to place explosive charges against obstacles , and ' Bobbin ' s , which are massive rolls of canvas in drums , that were unrolled in front of the Churchill to help it over soft terrain . They were used during the invasion of Normandy to help the Chuchill over soft sand , and also served to leave a trackway for following vehicles . By the invasion of France in June 1944 , 180 AVREs had been converted . They were first deployed in Normandy by the 79th Armoured Division on D - Day . They were extremely successful and served until the end of the war . A further 574 followed . The crew of six were drawn from the Royal Engineers , except for the driver who came from the Royal Armoured Corps . One of the RE crew was a demolitions NCO sapper responsible for priming the " Flying dustbin " and who led the crew when they dismounted from the tank to place demolition charges ( " Wade " charges ) . Other versions that did not see active service were equipped with anti - mine ploughs , mine rollers , or special demolition charges to destroy reinforced concrete walls . Post - war Churchill AVREs were modified Churchill Mk VII armed with a breech - loading low velocity 165mm demolition gun that fired a HESH round with about of C4 explosive . Churchill ARV ( Armoured Recovery Vehicle ) . Mk I – A turretless Mk I with a jib that could be fitted at front or rear . Production began in early 1942 Mk II – A Churchill Mark III or Mark IV with a fixed turret / superstructure with a dummy gun . It was equipped for recovering other tanks from the battlefield . Mounted a front jib with a 7 . 5 ton capacity , a rear jib rated for 15 ton and winch that could pull 25 tons . Crew was 3 with enough room to carry the crew of the tank being recovered . Armament was single Besa machine gun . Churchill ARK ( Armoured Ramp Carrier ) . The Armoured Ramp Carrier was a turretless Churchill with ramps at either end and trackways along the body to form a mobile bridge . Fifty of these were built on Mark II and Mark IV Churchills . The Link Ark or Twin Ark was two ARKs used side - by - side to give a wide crossing . The ramps on these were folding types giving a longer , , crossing . The Twin - ARK was used for the post - war Conqueror heavy tank . Ark Mk II had a wider , instead of the usual , trackway on the left hand side side so narrower vehicles could also use the ARK . These were conversions of the Ark Mark I in mid - 1944 . The " Italian Pattern " Ark Mk II ( initially called " Octopus " ) was produced in Italy using US ramps on Churchill Mk III chassis and did not have trackways on the tank itself ( vehicles drove on the tank ' s tracks ) . " Lakeman Ark " was an experimental design for attacking very high obstacles . It was a turreted Churchill with the trackways built above the height of the turret , and long ramps at the rear . Churchill bridgelayer . The British already had experience of bridge - laying tanks with the Valentine and Covenanter and began work on a Churchill - based bridge - layer in 1942 . The bridge ( " Tank , 30ft , No . 2 " ) which could support a weight of 60 tons was carried on top of the tank . When the obstacle was reached an arm ( driven by hydraulics in the tank ) pivoted at the front of the tank and placed the bridge in position . Other bridges could be deployed by the Churchill . " Skid Bailey " was a bridge formed from Bailey Bridge parts on skids that was moved into position by two Churchill AVREs – one pulling and one pushing . " Mobile Bailey Bridge " was a complete bridge on unpowered track units ; it was pushed into position by two AVREs . Similarly a bridge could be rested on an AVRE with its turret removed while a second AVRE pushed . Churchill Crocodile . The Churchill Crocodile was a Churchill VII which was converted by replacing the hull machine gun with a flamethrower . The fuel was in an armoured wheeled trailer towed behind . It could fire several 1 second bursts over 150 yards . The Crocodile was one of " Hobart ' s Funnies " – another vehicle used by the 79th Armoured Division . A working example can still be seen at the Cobbaton Combat Collection in North Devon . Gun Carrier , 3 - inch , Mk I , Churchill ( A22D ) . Coming out of a General Staff request in 1941 to investigate fitting high velocity guns tanks . Neither the Churchill nor Valentine could mount a turret with a high velocity gun larger than the 6 pounder but it was proposed that a fixed superstructure could carry a larger gun with limited traverse . Vauxhall were provided with 100 guns and given the task of producing the vehicle . The pilot vehicles were ready for testing in early 1942 and found to be satisfactory but progress with the 17 pounder Challenger cruiser tank and refocussing on a general purpose role ( and 75mm gun ) for the Churchill led to a reduced order . A fixed thick superstructure with the gun in a ball mount was installed on the chassis of a Churchill . The gun was an otherwise obsolete 3 inch 20 cwt anti - aircraft gun . Fifty were built in 1942 but none are known to have been used in combat as the 17 pounder anti - tank gun gave the British the necessary firepower . Some were adapted for experimentation and training with the " Snake " mine - clearing line charge device . Churchill Flail FV3902 or Toad . A 1950s mine - clearing flail tank built on a Churchill chassis using a Rolls - Royce Meteor engine to drive the flails . Churchill Goat . A chargelayer like the Double Onion device . Churchill Great Eastern Ramp . A much larger longer and higher trackway ramp than the ARK for crossing . The 25 - foot long front ramps were launched into position with rockets . Ten built and two delivered in 1945 but not used in action . Churchill Kangaroo . The Kangaroo was a turretless Churchill hull converted to an armoured personnel carrier . Black Prince . In 1943 an attempt was made to produce a 17 pounder armed tank on the Churchill chassis . It was known that sufficient numbers of the 17 pounder Challenger cruiser were not going to be produced in time for the invasion of Europe , and work was only starting on the Centurion cruiser design . Due to the wider turret required , Vauxhall had to redesign the hull though it used as much of the Churchill Mark VII as possible . This resulted in the Tank , Infantry , Black Prince ( A43 ) . Six prototypes were built and delivered in May 1945 just as the war in Europe was ending . The test programme was completed but the project was cancelled due to the success of the new and less complicated Centurion Mark I which offered the same armament and frontal armour , was faster and more manoeuvrable , and had just entered production . Surviving vehicles . A number of Churchills still exist as gate guardian s or war memorials , while many examples reside in museums . Jacques Littlefield ' s Military Vehicle Technology Foundation in California , United States , has a Flail FV3902 " Toad " in its collection ; it was restored to full working order in England , and was acquired by the foundation in May 2008 . There are two Churchill Mark IVs at Normandy in France ; one is residing at Lion - sur - Mer , while the other is located at Graye - sur - Mer . The Churchill Trust is a project that aims to restore existing Churchills to their original condition and working order . So far , a Mark III AVRE with appliqué armour , salvaged from a firing range , and a post - war Mark IV Twin - ARK have been restored to running conditions . The specialist equipment were removed and turrets were added , converting both tanks into their original variants . The project is currently in the process of restoring a Mark VII AVRE that was recovered from a range in northern England . The Tank Museum in Bovington Camp , Dorset , England , currently has two Churchills in its collection : a Mark VII as a static indoors display , and a working Mark III AVRE as a static display , which is brought out during events for tank parades . The museum ' s Mark VII was the last Mark VII produced ; it went directly to the museum from the factory , and in terms of mileage , is virtually brand new . The Mark III AVRE was salvaged from a firing range marker as a complete wreck . It was restored to running order by Mr Bob Grundy of Wigan and his Tracked Armour Group in August 1988 . Note that The Churchill Trust and The Tank Museum are not affiliated or associated with one another in any way ; their tanks are different and owned separately , and the only common ground between both parties is that The Churchill Trust sometimes sends its tanks to participate in The Tank Museum ' s annual Tankfest event . Additionally , The Churchill Trust ' s tanks were all specialist vehicles , but were converted back into the standard turreted heavy tank variants during restoration .