The Tank Museum
Published 19 Jun 2026Lacking firepower. Thin skinned. Many believe it was obsolete before it even went into combat.
Except … that isn’t all true.
Because the Cromwell didn’t just fight its way through Normandy, it was pivotal in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
After that, it held off Soviet expansion in Europe, held ground in Korea, and stayed in British service well into the 1950s.
So how did a tank everyone calls a failure end up doing all that?
In this video, we’re going to wade through the hate mail and see if we can convince you that actually the Cromwell did rather well.
00:00 | Introduction
00:52 | A Dysfunctional Start
04:42 | Built for Speed in a Slow War
09:48 | Failure in the Bocage, Victory in the Breakout
15:44 | The Tank That Wouldn’t Go AwayThis video features archive footage courtesy of British Pathé.
In this video, join our historian James Donaldson in defence of the oft-maligned Cromwell. Emerging from troubled development, the Cromwell proved itself in the European theatre as an exceptional reconnaissance tank and continued to be used well beyond the end of the Second World War. It was fast and versatile, utterly devastating when used properly, and stayed in service longer than many of its critics would care to admit.
Want to learn more about the Cromwell? Here are some of the sources we used to make this film:
Cromwell Tank: Vehicle History and Specification, David Fletcher, 1983.
British Battle Tanks: British-made tanks of World War II, David Fletcher, 2017.
The Desert Rats: The History of the 7th Armoured Division, G. L. Verney, 1954.
The Great Tank Scandal: British Armour in the Second World War – Part 1, David Fletcher, 1989.
The Universal Tank: British Armour in the Second World War – Part 2, David Fletcher, 1993.
British Tanks of WWII: France & Belgium 1944, David Fletcher, 2000.
British Tanks of WWII: Holland & Germany 1944-1945, David Fletcher, 2001.Support The Tank Museum!
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October 17, 2026
Everyone is Wrong about the Cromwell Tank
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