Churchill Tank

The Churchill is a British infantry tank of the Second World War, entering service in 1941 and notable for unusually heavy armor and an exceptional ability to climb steep slopes and cross difficult terrain compared with other Allied tanks of the period, qualities that suited its intended role of supporting infantry at walking pace across ground other tanks could not manage. Despite its name, the tank was not named for the wartime prime minister Winston Churchill but for John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough, continuing the British convention of naming infantry tanks after historical military leaders, though Winston Churchill's own famously self-deprecating remark about the tank named after him, made after early mechanical problems, has left many with the impression the connection was to him personally. The Churchill served across North Africa, Italy and Northwest Europe, proving especially valuable in operations such as the Normandy campaign that required crossing obstacles including anti-tank ditches and flooded ground, and roughly 5,640 were built between 1941 and 1945 across numerous variants.