Inside the Tanks: Matilda II

The A12 Matilda was the Tiger of its day when it first saw combat in 1940. In 1940-41 the 40mm 2 Pounder was the best tank gun in service. The result was that no German tank could take on a Matilda due to its superior armour and firepower. Its only danger on the battlefield was the 8.8cm Flak 36 used in the ground role, and later the 7.5cm Pak.40 anti-tank gun which did not appear until 1942. Its only deficit was the lack of a HE round to to take out those anti-tank guns. This was because the Royal Artillery objected to HE shells being used by other branches of the army.

"Why restore the Matilda II?" Cuz its badass

Grew up in Hong Kong, where doubledecker buses have been a main form of public transportation, the Matilda II being powered by 2x doubledecker bus engines is still my favorite tidbits about this tank. After 9.5yrs of WoT, it is still my most played tanks in the game. And in the game Panzer Corp 2 (where we play as German), I got so excited when I could capture the Matilda 2 and use it in my army. I bet the German (prior to Tiger in service) would feel the same when they could capture a few of these Queens of the Desert too, hehe.

I love that the British are keeping their old vehicles running. I believe they have the most WWII planes, so maybe some day they can have the most tanks. Good Luck on completing the work on the Matilda II.

It looks like those smoke discharges are just cut down Lee Enfield rifles, with a cup on the end. Cool

'The crew couldn't talk back.' Quite right too!

My father was in the very young REME during the war. Had some good memories of this tank . They were a work horse and a very adaptable infantry tank .

Aestetically Valentine and Matilda are my favourite WW2 tanks

Beautiful vehicle. My uncle (many many years ago) worked in a scrapyard that was getting rid of a Matilda. When it was put into the crusher, it broke the entire machine. (We're talking about the 1960's or 70's so there was not the same concern about old vehicles)

Great video of an iconic tank. The more I learn about it, the more I respect its capabilities and service history. Good to see Richard Cutland again, plus the guys from Bovington.

I read a great book when I was a kid in the early 80s, tramp in armor, about the crew of a Matilda making their way to Dunkerque. I wish I still had that book. That one and the one about the mercenaries that took a couple of armored cars to Ethiopia in the early days of Nazi adventurism were fascinating.

I spoke an Australian tank veteran who served in the Matilda. He said that if only made a bigger turret ring would have made it more upgradeable. My dad served in Tarakan in 1945 infantry man, had a very soft spot for Matilda. There are some excellent photos of Matilda in action on Tarakan including a one of blown onto its side by an IED.

G'day from Oz... I worked on Leyland Leopard buses for some time, and have seen inside these pre-select boxes. A common fix for premature band wear (and breakages) was to install an air dump valve on each of the clutch actuators to allow quick exhausting of air when coming out of a gear into the next. Otherwise, the exhausted air would need to travel all the way back through the lines to the gear shift valve, taking a few seconds to do so. Some less-mindful drivers would sometimes not allow a pause between gears and thus the next gear would be selected with the previously selected gear still engaged, with obvious results. The dump valves (a readily available air brake type) solved much of this problem.

I was going to say they just rebuilt that transmission. I went and checked and that was 5 years ago! The Matilda Diaries episode #11.

He is top notch presenter.

A great video. I have to go to Dorset some day.

Do inside of BZ-176, i'd like to know its history better.

Great informative video Much appreciated Thanks

by far my favourite tank in WOT

10:47 Thank you Aaron for starting something I never knew I would be interested in about tanks... from now on, all new "Inside The Tanks" and "Inside the Chieftain's Hatch" videos, please please please also show how the Horn, and Infantry Doorbell (if they have one) sounds! Like Aaron says, "Every Vehicle needs its own horn"!