REMEMBERED

NUFFIELD: THE WAR LORD

Apart from making cars and having an

lifelong interest in medicine, before and during the

Second World War, Lord Nuffield and his companies

designed, manufactured and acted as ‘parent’ in the

manufacture of armoured vehicles.

D type chassis at Adderley Park

Of course, Morris Commercial Cars was

involved in the design and manufacture of a number

of well-known “soft” military vehicles and gun

tractors. Examples include the D-Type six-wheeler

lorry and a number of lorries with Roadless Traction

adaptations to provide off-road traction for

conventional vehicles.

D Type: fitting track to rear wheels

Also, during the Second World War, Nuffield

companies made all kinds of other war material,

including mines and torpedoes, aircraft and their

components, guns, amphibious vehicles and many

other things.

William Morris, as he then was, became

involved in military hardware through an approach

by one Lt Gen Sir Giffard Le Quesne Martel.

Morris-Martel One-man Tankette

In the 1920s Martel had designed one-man

and two-man ‘Tankettes’, which Morris arranged to

build for him. These were based on Morris

Commercial ‘D’-Type mechanicals and some six

prototypes were produced. They were not entirely

successful; however, Crossley Motors also produced

a similar, and equally unsuccessful, machine.

Morris- Martel Two-man Tankette

Later, in 1937, Lt. Gen. Martel and Field

Marshall Lord Wavell were invited to Russia to

observe manoeuvres and had seen Russian light and

medium tanks on exercise that were much faster

than any in the British arsenal. This was achieved by

using a suspension system designed by Charles

Christie, an American designer.

Christie T3E2 Tank

In 1938, Martel arranged for Nuffield to

acquire a sample Christie tank for examination, the

result of which was the setting up of a design team

from Morris Commercial and the incorporation of a

new company, Nuffield Mechanization and Aero Ltd,

located next to the Wolseley works in Birmingham.

Nuffield director, Oliver Boden, oversaw the

operation and Lord Nuffield acquired the rights to the

Christie suspension system. The company was staffed

by people from Wolseley Aero Engines and a core

group of engineers from Morris Commercial at

Adderley Park.

In 1939, the outcome was the first two

examples of a line of heavy Cruiser tanks. Under the

designation A13: this became the Cruiser Mark V. It

used an updated World War One aero engine

designed in America and named in the UK as a Liberty

engine, of V12 configuration. The tank had epicyclic

steering, armour plating to 30 mm standard,

allegedly of Austrian manufacture (obviously, Hitler

was completely aware of our armour!), a 2-pounder

40 mm gun and at least one machine gun.

Most of the early Cruiser tanks were lost in

France before the evacuation at Dunkirk. Nuffield

Mechanization was unenthusiastic over this machine

and elected to develop its own version.

So, in parallel with the Cruiser, the

Covenanter was developed by Nuffield, fitted with a

Meadows horizontally-opposed 12-cylinder engine

and simpler steering. Both tanks were similar in

construction. Originally designed to have welded

armour plate, a potential shortage of skilled welders

meant that production hulls were riveted.

A13 Cruiser Mark III Covenanter: Fastest Tank in 1940

Armour plate was increased to 40 mm

standard, but the Christie suspension remained,

consisting of four road wheels with sprockets front

and rear, the rear one being the driver.

They were never that successful, particularly

in the desert, where they were under-gunned and

susceptible to excessive wear due to sand ingress. In

common with many military projects, changes in

specification and the rush into production had meant

that there was little development work carried out

initially, and in some cases not at all, machines being

ordered off the drawing board, with rectification and

modifications being carried out in the field.

A15 Cruiser Mark VI Crusader

Not only that, tanks designed to fight in the

relatively benign regions of northern Europe could

not then be expected to work seamlessly in the harsh

environment of the desert with sand and extreme

heat. What this costs in terms of wasted effort is

incalculable, but continues to this day. No military

project seems immune from MoD intervention and

micro-management.

Increases in gun power and armament, and

with a change of engine to the Rolls-Royce Meteor

V12 (a de-tuned version of the Merlin aero engine),

the suspension had to be beefed up by the addition

of a further road wheel. This machine became the

Crusader and was used mainly as a fast

reconnaissance tank.

It is said that a team of staff from Nuffield

Aero were flown out to the desert to sand-proof

many of the vehicles. Earlier, when on delivery,

mechanical staff had travelled with the tanks,

working on them throughout the long sea voyage

around the Cape of Good Hope to Egypt. Pre-delivery

inspections were never so arduous as this!

A35 Cruiser Cromwell Mark IV

The Christie suspension gave the tank a top

speed in the region of 25 – 27 mph, against some 12

mph of the heavier battle tanks. In this role, they

played an important part of the success in North

Africa after El Alamein, and into Italy. Later, they,

together with the later Cromwell, Cavalier, Centaur

and Comet tanks performed well into the post-

invasion battles alongside the heavier American

Sherman and Patten tanks.

Most later became training vehicles or

converted into bridge layers, armoured dozers or

recovery vehicles.

Of course, Nuffield was not the only

manufacturer of Cruiser tanks. Leyland also was a

major constructor, as was the London, Midland and

Scottish Railway among many others, but Nuffield

was the ‘parent’ organisation, holding the rights to

the suspension system, the key to the speed and

manoeuvrability of a whole generation of British

armoured fighting machines.

Altogether, Nuffield Mechanizations

constructed 205 Cruisers and 300 Crusaders.

However, nine other constructors built the majority,

totalling some 3500 Crusaders, 500 Cavaliers and 113

Centaurs.

Cruiser Comet Mark I

Examples of some of the Nuffield tanks are

preserved in the Tank Museum at Bovingdon, in

Dorset, together with a real monster that never

entered production, the Tortoise, also a Nuffield

Mechanizations and Aero development.

Very heavy and slow, with a crew of seven,

and not ready until 1947, it was never going to be a

practical proposition. All that can be said of it is that

it devastated German roads and bridges while on test

after the War!

Prototype Tortoise Self-propelled Gun

Later British tanks, such as Centurion,

Scorpion, and those up to the present day, still owe a

great deal to the original partnership of Lord Nuffield

and Sir Giffard Le Quesne Martel, the adoption of the

Christie suspension and the engineers from Morris

Commercial.

David Pusey © morriscommercialremembered.uk 2017