Valentine Archer

In the summer of 1943, the first two prototypes of a self-propelled cannon of a non-traditional concept were tested at a test tank site in British Shoeburyness. The company Vickers-Armstrongs used the hulls and chassis of the infantry tank Valentine, on which the seventeen-pound cannon was mounted backwards due to possible overload of the front of the machine.

The self-propelled cannon called Archer (Archer) was initially taken by its crews with considerable contempt, however, the unusual design proved its advantages in combat deployment in Western Europe. In the last period of the war in Europe, the vast majority of the total 655 ( according to some sources 665) produced Archers were included in the armament of anti-tank companies Royal Artillery and Royal Armored Corps. The top-open, welded stationary tower had an armor thickness ranging from 14 to 20 mm. The crew consisted of four men. The vehicles were first deployed in combat in Western Europe in October 1944. A smaller number of them appeared in the ranks 8. army at the front in Italy.

During the shooting, the driver had to get out, because the end of the cannon had a slip to the places where his head. During the ride, it was necessary to lock the barrel and the concept was found to be unsatisfactory, and shortly after the war, the machines were scrapped and partly sold out and partly canceled. Already during the war, they were replaced by American machines M10 with a 17-pound cannon called Achilles. In the ranks of the British Army, the cars lasted until the mid-fifties. After the end of World War II, the Archers were used by the Egyptian army, which deployed them in combat during the Suez War in 1956.