A22F Churchill Mk VII Crocodile

Type: Infantry Tank/Special Purpose Vehicle
Nation: United Kingdom
Period: World War 2
Location: Musée Mémorial de la Bataille de Normandie, Bayeux, France

The Crocodile was a flamethrower conversion of the Churchill Mk VII infantry tank. In battle it was towing a lightly armoured 6.5-ton trailer containing two tanks with 1,800 litres of a thickened incendiary fuel mixture and five cylinders with compressed nitrogen gas propellant. The liquid would be pumped via a strong articulated link through a pipe running underneath the hull all the way to the front and back up through a hole in the floor. The bow machine gun was replaced by a flame projector that was capable of firing 80 one-second bursts with a range of about 100 metres until the tanks were empty.

From the 1944 Normandy campaign onwards, Crocodiles were used by three regiments of the famous 79th Armoured Division which comprised the special engineering vehicles known as “Hobart’s Funnies”. Around 800 Crocodiles were built, but they were usually not deployed in their complete formations. They were rather attached to other units in small numbers, wherever they were needed to attack strongpoints and clear pillboxes. The Crocodiles had an understandably strong psychological impact on the Germans. It is said that a “warning burst” would often be enough to convince a bunker crew to surrender. There was also one brigade of Crocodiles fighting in Italy.

This particular vehicle was allegedly presented to France by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on behalf of the United Kingdom in commemoration of both countries’ wartime cooperation. It is missing its track guards, storage boxes and most importantly the trailer, but it still has the link installed on the back.