Matilda II The Infantry Tank Mark II known as the Matilda II ( sometimes referred to as Matilda senior or simply an ' I ' tank ) was a British Infantry tank of the Second World War . It was also identified from its General Staff Specification A12 . It served from the start of the war to its end and became particularly associated with the North Africa Campaign . It was replaced in service by the Infantry Tank Mk III Valentine . When the earlier Infantry Tank Mark I which was also known as " Matilda " was removed from service the Infantry Tank Mk II simply became known as the Matilda . Development history . The Infantry Tank Mk II was designed at the Royal Arsenal , Woolwich to General Staff specification A . 12 and built by the Vulcan Foundry . The design was based on the A7 ( which had started development in 1929 ) rather than on the Infantry Tank Mk I , which was a two man tank with a single machine gun for armament . Design . The Matilda Senior weighed around , more than twice as much as its predecessor , and was armed with a 2 pounder ( 40 mm ) tank gun in a three - man turret . The turret traversed by hydraulic motor or by hand through 360 degrees ; the gun itself could be elevated through an arc from - 15 to + 20 degrees . Like other infantry tank s it was heavily armoured ; from 20 mm at the thinnest it was 78 mm ( 3 . 1 inch ) at the front , much more than most contemporaries . The turret armour was all round , the hull side armour was , and the rear armour , covering the engine , was . The frontal armour was , although the nose plates top and bottom were thinner but angled . The turret roof was the same thickness as the hull roof and engine deck : . The German Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks , of the same period , had thick hull armour . The shape of the nose armour was based on the US Christie design , and came to a narrow point with lockers added on either side . The heavy armour of the Matilda ' s cast turret became legendary ; for a time in 1940 – 41 the Matilda earned the nickname " Queen of the Desert " although its weaknesses made this nickname difficult to justify . At the time it was designed , this armour protection could not be penetrated by any antitank gun in the world , although early models of German 88mm anti - aircraft artillery was able to defeat the Matilda ' s armour at short range . The weight of the armour , together with the relatively weak twin - engine power unit ( the engine adapted from that of a bus ) and complex , troublesome suspension severely limited the speed of the vehicle . For example , in the desert terrain of North Africa the Matilda could average only about . This was not thought to be a problem because the Matilda was specifically designed in accordance with the British doctrine of infantry tanks , that is , heavily - armoured but slow - moving vehicles designed to provide support to infantry . Under this thinking , a speed equal to the walking speed of a man was considered sufficient . Each engine had its own separate coolant and lubrication system . The radiators were to the rear of the engine compartment over the transmission . The twin engine design doubled the maintenance effort for crews and often resulting in uneven wear and tear of components . The twin engine design , however , gave some redundancy . If one engine broke down , the tank could " limp along " on the other . The tank was carried by 5 double wheel bogies on each side . Four of the bogies were paired on a common coil spring . The fifth , rearmost , bogie was sprung against a hull bracket . Between the first bogie and the idler wheel was a " jockey wheel " . The first Matildas had return rollers , these were replaced in later models with track skids which were far easier to manufacture . The turret carried the main armament with the machine gun to the right in a rotating internal mantlet . Two smoke grenade launchers were carried on the right side of the turret . The grenade launcher mechanisms were cut down Lee - Enfield rifles , each firing a single smoke grenade . Production history . The first Matilda was produced in 1937 but only two were in service when war broke out in September 1939 . Some 2 , 987 tanks were produced by the Vulcan Foundry , John Fowler & Co . , Ruston & Hornsby , and later by the London , Midland and Scottish Railway at Horwich Works ; Harland and Wolff , and the North British Locomotive Company . Production was stopped in August 1943 . Peak production was 1 , 330 in 1942 , the most common model being the Mark IV . The Matilda was difficult to manufacture . For example , the pointed nose was a single casting that , upon initial release from the mold , was thicker than required in some areas . To avoid a needless addition to the tank ' s weight , the thick areas were ground away . This process required highly skilled workers and additional time . The complex suspension and multi - piece hull side coverings also added time to manufacturing . Combat history . French Campaign of 1940 . The Matilda was first used in combat by the 7th Royal Tank Regiment in France in 1940 . Only 23 of the unit ' s tanks were Matilda IIs ; the rest of the British Infantry Tanks in France were A11 Matildas . Its 2 - pounder gun was comparable to other tank guns in the 37 to 45 mm range . Due to the thickness of its armour , it was largely immune to the guns of the German tanks and anti - tank guns in France . The famous 88 mm anti - aircraft guns were pressed into the anti - tank role as the only effective counter . In the counterattack at Arras , although British Matilda IIs ( and Matilda Is ) were able briefly to disrupt German progress , being unsupported their losses were high . All vehicles surviving the battles around Dunkirk were abandoned when the BEF evacuated . North Africa 1940 to 1942 . Up to early 1942 , in the war in North Africa , the Matilda again proved highly effective against Italian and German tanks , although vulnerable again to the larger calibre and medium calibre anti - tank guns . In late 1940 , during Operation Compass , Matildas of the British 7th Armoured Division wreaked havoc among the Italian forces in Egypt . The Italians were equipped with L3 tankettes and M11 / 39 medium tanks , neither of which had any chance against the Matildas . In addition , Italian gunners were to discover that the Matildas were impervious to a wide assortment of artillery . Matildas continued to confound the Italians as the British pushed them out of Egypt and entered Libya to take Bardia and Tobruk . Even as late as November 1941 , German infantry combat reports show the impotence of ill - equipped infantry against the Matilda . Ultimately , in the rapid manoeuvre warfare often practiced in the open desert of North Africa , the Matilda ' s low speed and unreliable steering mechanism became major problems . Another problem was the lack of a high - explosive capability ( the appropriate shell existed but was not issued ) . When the German " Afrika Korps " arrived in North Africa , the 88 mm anti - aircraft gun was again pressed into the anti - tank role against the Matilda , causing heavy losses during Operation Battleaxe , when sixty - four Matildas were lost . The arrival of the more powerful 50mm Pak 38 anti - tank gun also provided a means to the German infantry to engage Matilda tanks at combat ranges . Nevertheless , during Operation Crusader Matilda tanks of 1st and 32nd Army Tank Brigades were instrumental in the successful breakout from Tobruk and the capture of the Axis fortress of Bardia . The operation was decided by the infantry tanks after the failure of the cruiser tank equipped 7th Armoured Division to overcome the Axis tank forces in the open desert . As the German army received new tanks with more powerful guns , as well as more powerful anti - tank guns and ammunition , the Matilda proved less and less effective . Firing tests conducted by the Afrikakorps showed that the Matilda had become vulnerable to a number of German weapons at ordinary combat ranges . Due to the " painfully small " size of its turret ring - 54 inches ( 1 . 37 m ) - the tank could also not be up - gunned sufficiently to continue to be effective against more heavily armoured enemy tanks . It was also somewhat expensive to produce . Vickers proposed an alternative , the Valentine tank , which had the same gun , a similar level of armour protection , but on a faster and cheaper chassis derived from that of their " heavy cruiser " tank . With the arrival of the Valentine in autumn 1941 , the Matilda was phased out by the British Army through attrition , with lost vehicles no longer replaced . By the time of the battle of El Alamein ( October 1942 ) , few Matildas were still in service , with many having been lost during Operation Crusader and then the Gazala battles in early summer of 1942 . Around twenty five took part in the battle as mine - clearing , Matilda Scorpion mine flail tanks . Minor Campaigns . In early 1941 , a small number of Matildas were used during the East Africa Campaign at the Battle of Keren . However , the mountainous terrain of East Africa did not allow the tanks of B Squadron 4th Royal Tank Regiment to be as effective as the tanks of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment had been in Egypt and Libya . A few Matildas of the 7th RTR were present on Crete during the German invasion , and all of them were lost . Pacific Theatre . In the Pacific , however , Japan ese forces were lacking in heavy anti - tank guns and the Matilda remained in service with several Australian regiments in the Australian 4th Armoured Brigade , in the South West Pacific Area . They first saw active service in the Huon Peninsula campaign in October 1943 . Matilda II tanks remained in action until the last day of the war in the Wewak , Bougainville and Borneo campaigns , which made the Matilda the only British tank to remain in service throughout the entire war . Foreign Use . The Red Army received 1 , 084 Matildas . The Soviet Matildas saw action as early as the Battle of Moscow and became fairly common during 1942 . Unsurprisingly , the tank was found to be too slow and unreliable . Crews often complained that snow and dirt were accumulating behind the " skirt " panels , clogging the suspension . The slow speed and heavy armour made them comparable to the Red Army ' s KV - 1 heavy tanks , but the Matilda had nowhere near the firepower of the KV . Most Soviet Matildas were expended during 1942 but a few served on as late as 1944 . The Soviets modified the tanks with the addition of sections of steel welded to the tracks to give better grip . Use of captured Matildas . Following Operation Battleaxe a dozen Matildas left behind the Axis lines were repaired and put into service by the Germans . The Matildas were well regarded by their German users although their use in battle caused confusion to both sides , despite extra - prominent German markings . Australian variants : Surviving tanks . Around 45 Matilda II ' s survive in various degrees of preservation . The majority ( around 30 ) are in Australia , either in museums or in private ownership . A notable collection is that of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps Memorial and Tank Museum , at Puckapunyal , Australia , which has five Matilda II ' s on display . In Britain , the Imperial War Museum in London , and the Royal Armoured Corps Tank Museum in Bovington , Dorset , hold examples of the Matilda II . The Matilda II at Bovington is in running condition .