By Christopher Miskimon

­­The German town of Goch lay east of the Reichswald forest, a scene of heavy fighting for the British Army as it ground its way steadily into the heart of Germany. The 107th Regiment, Royal Armored Corps, and elements of the 79th Armored Division had taken part in the fighting there through much of February 1945. The poor condition of the local roads had made tough going for the Churchill tanks of both units, as much an enemy as the antitank mines and dogged German resistance.

After clearing the forest, Goch fell. It was February 20, 1945. However, some of the pillboxes on the town’s outer defense line continued to be occupied by German troops still willing to fight. To solve this dilemma the British troops devised a successful technique that would destroy or capture them. First, Churchill tanks armed with either 75mm cannon or 95mm howitzers would shell the bunker in question. If the Germans inside still held out, then Churchill AVREs, an engineer version armed with a large mortar called a Petard and capable of lobbing 40 pounds of explosives, would move in, protected by the gun-armed tanks. The AVRE would hit the bunker, the massive charge doing substantial damage to the emplacement’s interior and hopefully inducing surrender. If that also failed, the Churchill Crocodiles would come in, flamethrowers mounted in their hulls. A stream of flame would be fired, and one last chance for surrender given. If the soldiers in the pillbox still refused to give up, the structure would be doused in fire.

The Churchill tank was one of the most produced British tank designs during World War II, with over 5,600 being built. It was also one of the most widely modified, and Churchills found use in a variety of nonstandard yet vital roles. The Churchill’s beginning, however, was filled with development problems and design changes. Most, or at least enough, of these problems were overcome so that the tank gave good service right up to the end of the European war.

At the start of World War II, British Army doctrine divided tanks and their roles into three distinct categories. Light tanks were intended for reconnaissance. Cruiser tanks were designed to speed through gaps in the enemy’s defenses and plunge deep into their territory, akin to the horse cavalry of an earlier time. Finally, the infantry tank was meant to move with the infantry and support its attacks. Infantry tanks would have heavy armor to defeat antitank guns and a low top speed since they only needed to keep up with the walking pace of the foot soldiers.

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