The TOG 2, officially known as the Heavy Tank, TOG II, was a British
super-heavy tank
A super-heavy tank is any tank that is notably beyond the standard of the class heavy tank in either size or weight relative to contemporary vehicles.
Programs have been initiated on several occasions with the aim of creating an extremely resi ...
design produced during the early stages of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
for a scenario where the battlefields of northern France and Belgium devolved into a morass of mud, trenches, and craters as had happened during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. When this did not happen, the tank was deemed unnecessary, and the project terminated. A development of the
TOG I design, only a single prototype was built before its termination.
History
The second design to come out of the Special Vehicle Development Committee (nicknamed "The Old Gang" as it was made up of people who had worked on the original British tanks of the First World War) the TOG 2 was similar to the
TOG 1 and kept many of its features. Instead of the
track path arrangement of the TOG 1 which – like that of the
First World War British tanks – ran up over the top of the hull and back down, the track path was lower on the return run and the doors were above the tracks. Ordered in 1940, built by
Foster's of Lincoln, the prototype ran for the first time in March 1941. In April 1941 an enquiry was made by the Deputy Director-General of Tanks and Transport to the
English Electric Company see if 100 could be produced.
In June 1941 the Minister of Supply enquired about the production of 50 tanks.
Neither of these inquiries lead to production orders.
The design included a 6-pounder gun and side
sponsons. For "initial trials" it was fitted with a mockup turret with dummy guns – a 2-pdr gun, 3-inch howitzer and a Besa machine gun – together with a 3-inch howitzer in the hull.
The second turret fitted was simplified mounting a
QF 3-inch 16 cwt anti-tank gun derived from the current anti-aircraft gun. The planned sponsons were never fitted.
[Chamberlain & Ellis (1969) p 78] The tank is currently fitted with a
28 pounder gun derived from the
QF 3.7-inch AA gun but with a
Ordnance QF 17-pounder breech and muzzle brake.
Although equipped with the same
electrical drive as originally fitted to the TOG 1, the TOG 2 used twin generators and no problems were reported. It was modified to include, among other things, a change from the unsprung tracks to a
torsion bar suspension
A torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension, is any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight-bearing spring. One end of a long metal bar is attached firmly to the vehicle chassis; the opposite end ...
and went through successful trials in May 1943. No further development occurred, although a revised version, the TOG 2 (R) was proposed. The 'R' would have been shorter, used torsion bar suspension and had no sponsons.
[
The single TOG 2 prototype in the TOG II* configuration can be seen at ]The Tank Museum
The Tank Museum (previously the Bovington Tank Museum) is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about north of the village of Wool and west of the major port of Poole. The collectio ...
where it has been since the 1950s.
See also
*Neubaufahrzeug
The German ("new construction vehicle"—a cover name), abbreviated as PzKpfw Nb.Fz, series of tank prototypes were a first attempt to create a medium tank for the Wehrmacht after Adolf Hitler had come to power. Multi-turreted, heavy and slow, ...
* M6 heavy tank
Notes
References
Bibliography
*Andrew Hills, ''The Tanks of TOG: The work, designs, and tanks of the Special Vehicle Development Committee in World War II'', 2017, CreateSpace Publishing,
*Chamberlain, P; Ellis, C;
British and American Tanks of World War II
', 1969, Arco Publishing
*White BT, ''British Tanks 1915-1945'', 1963, Ian Allan,
*
External links
*
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Abandoned military projects of the United Kingdom
Super-heavy tanks
World War II tanks of the United Kingdom
History of the tank