Built in more numbers than any other British tank, the Valentine was designed as an infantry tank, but had enough speed to be considered a cruiser as well. Though not the most powerful or the best armored tank operated by the British, it had the major benefit of being reliable and somewhat easy to maintain. Obsolete by mid-war, the chassis of the Valentine went on to be used as the basis for a number of other specialized vehicles.

Not wanting to start a long discourse, but the truth was that British tanks were generally inferior to those operated by other warring powers until near the end of the war. True, the Matilda was superbly armored, but it was slow and had but a 40mm main gun. Of course, few enemy tanks at the start of the war had anything much bigger, but it was soon found to be quite lacking.

The design of the Valentine was first shown to the Army on 14 Feb 1938 (hence the name), and by mid 1940, the first variants were being delivered to units. The Army used them as cruiser tanks and they first saw combat during Operation Crusader in November of 1941. Their reliability was much appreciated in the harsh desert climate and while not well utilized, they performed sterling service. They were also used during the Italian campaign. By the time of the Normandy invasion, they were little used as gun tanks, despite the later marks being upgraded from the 2 pnd gun to a larger 6 pnd variant. They did see quite a bit of use by the New Zealanders, who modified their old 2pnd guns to a 3 inch howitzer, where it was very useful in troop support. Valentine tanks were also used in jungle fighting during the India/Burma campaign.

It was natural for such a reliable chassis to be used for other purposes and that includes a command tank, flail tank, the Archer SPG as well as the less built and taller Bishop, SPG. The Valentine bridge-layer was always in demand and in short supply.

Author Dick Taylor covers the full history of the Valentine from its initial development to its acceptance and its delayed production. All of the different variants are covered highlighting the changes between versions as well as the positive and negative aspects of each version. For instance, the 2 pnd gun was only capable of firing armor piercing rounds, making it somewhat less useful when covering troops, where a high explosive round would be wanted. Of course, that was not fixed until the Valentine's front line use was nearly done.

There are also sections on the tank's combat career, the various camouflage schemes it wore as well as a photo walkaround of preserved tanks. All of the different chassis uses are also covered in some detail and the book has many pages of full color profiles. As you would expect from MMP, there are a bevy of period photographs and illustrations from the tech manuals. Post war use of the vehicle is covered as are the various nations that used the Valentine.

It makes for another superlative effort from the folks at MMP books and like all their other titles, is highly recommended.

March 2012

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Many thanks to Mushroom Model Publications for providing the review copy. Your support is appreciated.

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