Battle of France 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 the smaller machine-gun armed
A11 Matilda. 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, but not completely, impervious to the guns of the
German tanks and anti-tank guns in France. The Germans found the 88 mm anti-aircraft guns were the only effective counter-measure. In the
counter-attack at Arras of 21 May 1940, 18 All vehicles surviving the battles around
Dunkirk were abandoned when the
British Expeditionary Force evacuated.
North Africa 1940 to 1942 as part of
Operation Compass Up to early 1942, in the
North African campaign the Matilda proved highly effective against Italian and German tanks, although vulnerable 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. 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 practised in the open desert of North Africa, the Matilda's low speed and unreliable steering mechanism became major problems. Another snag was the lack of a high-explosive shell (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 service against the Matilda, causing heavy losses during
Operation Battleaxe, when sixty-four Matildas were lost. The arrival of the more powerful
5 cm Pak 38 and
7.5 cm Pak 40 anti-tank guns also provided a means for 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 break-out 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 tanks of the 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
Afrika Korps showed that the Matilda had become vulnerable to a number of German weapons at ordinary combat ranges. Due to the small size of the turret and the need to balance the gun in it, up-gunning the Matilda, without developing a larger turret, was impractical. There was at least one instance of the turret from the
A24/A27 cruiser tank series being fitted to a Matilda, complete with 6-pounder gun. As the size of the Matilda's turret ring was 54 inches (1.37 m) vs. the 57 inches of the A27, it was possible that a larger turret ring had been superimposed on the hull. The Churchill Mark III also had a 54-inch turret ring but was armed with a 6-pounder and that might have offered an alternative route. It was also somewhat expensive to produce. Vickers proposed an alternative, the
Valentine tank, which had the same gun and a similar level of armour protection but on a faster and cheaper chassis derived from that of their
"heavy cruiser" Cruiser Mk II. 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 being replaced. By the time of the
Second Battle of El Alamein (October 1942), few Matildas were 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 during the
Battle of Crete and all of them were destroyed.
Australian use in the Pacific theatre . in combat at the
Battle of Tarakan (May 1945) A total of 409 Matilda IIs were supplied by Britain to the Australian army between 1942 and 1944, and a further 33 close-support Matildas were transferred from New Zealand to the Australian army in 1944, as New Zealand made the decision to use only close-support Valentine tanks in the Pacific theatre, to minimise supply problems. The
Australian 4th Armoured Brigade used them against
Japanese forces in the
South West Pacific Area, first 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 war. The tanks were often employed in dense jungle with limited visibility, and could be subject to point-blank fire from hidden Japanese heavy artillery pieces. The Matilda's heavy armour (enhanced by the crews with spare track links) proved to be reasonably effective protection against this. In this fighting, the close-support version of the Matilda, armed with an
Ordnance QF 3-inch howitzer, was preferred by the Australians as it was more effective against Japanese bunkers. Local modifications to the tanks included improving the waterproofing, and adding an outside infantry telephone so supporting troops could more easily communicate with the tank crew. Guards were fitted to the suspension to stop it from being tangled with jungle undergrowth, and metal panels fitted to make it harder for Japanese soldiers to attach adhesive demolition charges to the hull. The
Matilda Frog, an Australian-modified version of the tank that replaced the gun with a
flamethrower saw some successful use against the Japanese on Borneo. Another Australian version, the
Matilda Hedgehog, which could fire seven mortar shells, was successfully tested but was developed too late to see combat service. Matilda IIs remained in service with the
Australian Citizen Military Forces until about 1955.
Soviet use The Red Army received 918 of the 1,084 Matildas sent to the USSR. 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 heavy armour on the Matilda was comparable to that of 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.
Captured use Following Operation Battleaxe a dozen Matildas left behind the Axis lines were repaired and put into service by the Germans. Several vehicles were transported to
Kummersdorf where they were evaluated, including trials by live fire. The German designation was
Infanterie Panzerkampfwagen Mk.II 748(e) translating roughly as "Infantry Tank Mk.II Number 748 (English)". The Matildas were well-regarded by their German users although their use in battle caused confusion to both sides, despite extra-prominent German markings.
Czech historian writes that the
Romanians had also captured some Soviet Matildas, but no other source mentions this, so it may be a confusion.
Egyptian use Egypt used Matildas against
Israel during
1948 Arab–Israeli War. ==Variants==