The Mark III was the first version of Churchill to be built with a six-pounder gun and the only version to be fitted with an all-welded turret
’At Bovington we have a Mark III from the Churchill Trust plus one completed as an AVRE’
When the A20/A22 was first being discussed in the summer of 1940, it was agreed that, if it was available, the new tank should mount the 57mm (six-pounder) gun. The new gun already existed but since its predecessor, the 40mm two-pounder, was deemed adequate for the present, work on the sixpounder was held back.
Then events in France in the summer of 1940 exerted their baleful influence, Britain had lost so many tank and antitank guns due to the German invasion that it made more sense to continue making the two-pounder, than slow production down by introducing a new weapon. The only dissenting voice was that of Brig Vyvyan Pope, who had been RAC adviser to the British Expeditionary Force and considered himself lucky to have got home at all.
Pope, in respect of the Churchill, said that Britain already had enough tanks armed with the 40mm gun and didn’t need any more. He also criticised the idea of installing a three-inch howitzer in the hull as a secondary weapon, on the groun…
