Death by Design

When Britain went to war in 1939, its tank crews were ill-equipped, under-trained and badly led. Compared with German and Soviet tank forces, the performance of British tank units during Worl War II was largely ineffective and the lives of hundreds of British tank crews were wasted unnecessarily. This was not due only to the poor design and construction of British tanks, but also to the lack of thought and planning on the part of successive pre-war governments and the War Office. At the end of World War I, Britain's tank forces were more advanced than any others in the world, and ideas were being developed for the provision and use of progressively more effective tank forces. Had progress been maintained, even on a modest scale, it would have been possible for Britain to have had tank forces comparable with those of Germany in 1936. This was not to be, however, and at no time until 1945, did Britain's armoured capability meet that of the Germans. This text reviews British tank development up to 1945 and attempts to identify the causes that led to those forces being so ill-prepared to fight during World War II.
The author considers the main international events of the period 1919 to 1939 and the response of the British government to those events, particularly relating to the provision of the armed forces, the development of tank doctrine, tanks and tank guns, and the training provided at all levels of the tank forces. The resulting thesis is a warning to governments and military planners: a nation must always be prepared to defend itself and it should take all reasonable steps to ensure that those entrusted with its defence are properly prepared to do so.