Bronco CB35210 A17 Vickers Tetrarch MkI / MkICS Light Tank

The Tetrarch Mk VII A17 was a British light reconnaissance tank from the Second World War. The first prototypes were built in 1938, and serial production was carried out in the period 1938-1940. In total, only about 150 examples of this tank were built. The Tetrarch was powered by an engine Meadows Flat 12 with a power of 165 hp. It was armed with a single 40mm QFSA 2-pounder cannon and 1 7.92mm Besa machine gun.

Initially a light tank Tetrarch was established as a private initiative of the Vickers and Metropolitan-Cammel plants, with foreign markets in mind. However, the British army became interested in the vehicle relatively quickly. In 1938, the first orders for a batch of 120 cars were signed. However, due to the prioritization of the production of other vehicles, as well as the destruction of a large part of the Metropolitan-Cammel plant in 1940 by the Luftwaffe, production quickly ended. Initially, the British army used Tetrarch cars to train drivers. She tried to use them in combat in North Africa, but the high failure rate of these tanks and problems with the cooling system shattered these plans. Tetrarch wagons were used in a marginal way in the capture of Madagascar in 1942. They were also delivered under the Lend-and-Lease program to the USSR, which used them in combat during the fighting in Crimea and the Caucasus in the period 1942-1943. In 1943, the Tetrarch tanks serving in the British Army were adapted for use by airmobile units and as such, as airborne tanks, took part in the Normandy landings in June 1944 and during Operation Varsity in March 1945. Two experimental models of the Tetrarch were created: the DD (a floating tank) and the CS (a self-propelled gun armed with a 76.2 mm howitzer). The serial Tetrarch tanks were withdrawn from the line in 1950.