Hello defence lovers! Tanks have been one of the essential equipment of armies around the world for almost the past 100 years. In this article, we are going to discuss how the composition of the Indian armoured corps changed during the post-Independence era.
Inherited British Tanks
After the dissolution of the massive British Indian army following the Independence, the equipment was divided into the two newly born armies-the Indian army and the Pakistani army. Indian army inherited a variety of British Tanks.
M5 Stuart
M3/M5 Stuart was the main light tank of the American army during the second world war. It was supplied to the commonwealth nations during the war. The Indian Army inherited the M5 start tanks from the British-Indian army in considerable numbers.
These Tanks were used in Operation Bison during the 1947 Indo-Pak war in which the Indian army disassembled the tanks and took them to Zojila pass. To date, it is the highest altitude where tanks have been operated. This tank played a critical role in the 1947 Indo-Pak war by winning the Dras and Kargil for India.
Stuart had a 37 mm main gun with 147 rounds. As secondary armament, it had 3 .30 calibre browning machine guns. It was powered by two Cadillac engines which produced 220 horsepower. The Tank only weighed 15 tons and was manned by a crew of four- the driver, the loader, the gunner and the commander.
M4 Sherman
The next tank on our list is the iconic world war II tank “M4 Sherman”. Shermans were the most produced allied tank during the second world war. This was perhaps the T-34 of the west. The British Army operated this tank in huge numbers. After independence both India and Pakistan inherited the Shermans.
Shermans saw action in 1961 operation Vijay, in which Portuguese-controlled territories were liberated. These Shermans also saw action in the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war. In the 1971 Bangladesh war, few heavily upgraded Shermans were used. These tanks were used by the Pakistanis as well. However, they had modern American tanks like M48 Patton by then.
Sherman had a 75 mm main M3 gun with around 100 rounds. Some upgraded variants also had bigger and more powerful guns. As secondary armament, it had a .50 calibre M2HB Browning machine gun and two .30 calibre browning guns. It was operated by a crew of 5- the commander, the gunner, the loader, the driver and the assistant driver.
Centurion
The next tank on our list is the Centurion. Centurion was one of the most advanced western tanks of its time. These were acquired from the United Kingdom after independence. It played a critical role during the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war and the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war. Centurion saw action worldwide, however it proved its worth during the Israel-Arab wars, where it was the backbone of the Israeli armour. During the battle of Asal Uttar in the 1965 war, the Centurion destroyed countless Pakistani Patton tanks which earned its nickname “Patton Killer”.
Centurion was armed with a 20-pounder (87 mm) main gun. Some later variants were upgraded with 105 mm L7 rifled guns which were used on many modern tanks such as leopard and early versions of Abrams. It was powered by a Rolls Royce Meteor engine which produced 650 horsepower. It weighed a little over 51 tons and was manned by a crew of four.
AMX-13
The next tank on our list is the French AMX-13 light tank. Two regiments, the 20th Lancers and the 8th light Cavalry were equipped with these French Tanks. AMX-13 was one of the first tanks which were equipped with an autoloader. It played a crucial role in the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war especially in Chhamb-Jaurian in Jammu & Kashmir under the command of Major Bhaskar Roy, MVC, who prevented the encirclement of the 191th Infantry brigade that day.
AMX 13 was armed with a 75 mm SA 50 rifled gun. It also had a 7.62 mm co-axial machine gun. It was powered by a water-cooled petrol engine which produced 250 horsepower. It just weighed 14 tons. Being so light it earned the nickname “Jumper tank”.
To Be Continued…
In the next part of the article, we will discuss all the soviet main battle tanks along with light tanks, BTRs and BMPs. Note that there are many more tanks, armoured cars and half-track vehicles which served in the British Indian army but weren’t inherited by the Indian Army. Please let us know in the comments if we should cover these tanks and vehicles.
