List of specialist Churchill tank variants

A Churchill Mark II or Mark III with a flamethrower. Developed for the amphibious raid on Dieppe in 1942, the Oke flamethrowing tank was named after its designer, Major J.M. Oke. The design was basically 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. Three (named "Boar", "Beetle" and "Bull") were present in the first wave at Dieppe; they were quickly lost, and abandoned. == Assault Vehicle Royal Engineers ==

Proposed by a Canadian engineer as a result of experience from the Dieppe Raid, the Assault Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE) was a Churchill Mark III or IV equipped with the "Mortar, Recoiling Spigot, Mark II" (or Petard), a spigot mortar that throws the Bomb Demolition Number 1 ("Flying dustbin") with a 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 'broken' vertically, and the co-driver would slide open his hatch. The co-driver would then push the projectile into the barrel. The barrel would then be closed, the Petard traversed back down, and the turret rotated back to its original position. which was used to protect the tracks of a tank from mines. It could also carry fascines, 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 bobbins: massive reels of canvas on 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 Churchill over soft sand, While the driver came from the Royal Armoured Corps, the five other crew were drawn from the Royal Engineers. 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, new Churchill AVREs were developed on the basis of a modified Churchill Mk VII armed with a breech-loading low velocity 165mm Royal Ordnance L9 demolition gun that fired a HESH round with about of C4 explosive. The name of the AVRE was later changed to "Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers". == Armoured Recovery Vehicle ==

Two marks of armoured recovery vehicle were built from the Churchill 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. It mounted a front jib with a 7.5 ton capacity, a rear jib rated for 15 ton and a winch that could pull 25 tons. With just a three-man crew, there was enough room to carry the crew of the tank being recovered. Armament was a single Besa machine gun. == Armoured Ramp Carrier ==

crossing the Senio in Italy on two stacked Churchill ARKs, April 1945 The Armoured Ramp Carrier (ARK) 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 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 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. == Bridgelayers ==

in action during a demonstration in the Mezzano area, 30 March 1945. The British already had experience of bridge-laying tanks with the Valentine tank and the Covenanter tank, and began work on a Churchill-based bridge-layer in 1942. The bridge ("Bridge, Tank, 30 ft, No.2 "), which could support a tank of 60 tons or be used by Class 40 wheeled traffic, was carried on top of a turretless Mk III or Mk VI chassis. 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. The Churchill Mk VII was used with the No. 3 bridge from 1945 to 1946. == Churchill Crocodile ==

The Churchill Crocodile was a Churchill VII that was converted by replacing the hull machine gun with a flamethrower projector. The fuel, and the compressed gas to drive it, was in an armoured wheeled trailer towed behind. It could fire several one second bursts out to a distance of 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. The combination of projector and trailer was produced as a kit that could be fitted to a Churchill; no more than 800 kits were produced. == Gun Carrier, 3-inch, Mk I, Churchill (A22D) ==

, 25 March 1943 Coming out of a General Staff request in 1941 to investigate fitting high velocity large calibre guns on infantry and cruiser tanks specifically for use against German tanks. Of the infantry 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. The QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft gun had been replaced by the 3.7-inch gun so these were selected and Vauxhall was provided with 100 guns and given the task of producing the vehicle. The design used a fixed square thick plate superstructure with the gun in a ball mount low in the front next to the driver. The front was , sides with overall weight of 39 tons. Internal stowage included a provision for 12 HE explosive rounds as well as the AP ones. As an anti-tank gun, the 3-inch gun had a maximum range of 12,000 yards and was a bit more effective than the 57 mm QF 6-pounder at 1,000 yards but less than the 76.2 mm QF 17-pounder under development. The pilot vehicles were ready for testing in early 1942 and found to be satisfactory. However, in order not to impede production of the Churchill (with the 6-pounder gun) the order was reduced to 24 vehicles. Vauxhall, the main designer and lead manufacturer of the Churchill was already set up for full production of the Gun Carrier with parts and armour ordered and complained with the result that the full order was re-instated before being cut back to 50. == 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. == Goat ==

A chargelayer, like the Double Onion device. == 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. == Kangaroo ==

The Churchill Kangaroo was a turretless Churchill hull converted to an armoured personnel carrier. ==Notes==