World War 2 In Review: British Wheels and Tracks in View

An example of the ubiquitous British Carden-Loyd tankette.

British Sherman medium tanks, 4th Queen's Own Hussars, North Africa.

British Sherman medium tank, 4th Queen's Own Hussars, North Africa.

British Sherman medium tank, 4th Queen's Own Hussars.

British AEC Matador, near Roermond, Netherlands, November 1944.

RAF Matador with compressor on back pulling trailer with SMT multi-wheel trailer with roller as part of airfield construction company.

RAF Matador communications vehicle.

British Churchill AVREs moving up through Vaucelles, 7 August 1944.

British Churchill AVRE.

British Austin K2 2-ton GS lorry L4674383 “Mary” November 1944. The Austin K2 was a 2-ton lorry produced by the Austin Motor Company. It was popular with British, Commonwealth, and American troops during World War II and the Korean War. The K2 was also known by the affectionate nickname "Katy". The Austin K2 was designed before World War II. The then-Princess Elizabeth was trained to drive a K2 during World War II. The K2 was offered in a 2-ton payload variant. The K2 was also offered in a 5-ton payload variant, known as the Austin K4.

British Sherman BARV (Beach Armored Recovery Vehicle) towing a tractor trailer along a sandy beach.

British 15cwt Bedford MWD 4x2 G.S. truck.

British Army Bedfords.

British Bedford QL 3-ton.

British Black Prince prototype, 1945.

British Grant CDL (Canal Defence Light), Rhine River crossing, March 1945.

British Cruiser Mk. VIII Centaur.

Loading of the fuel trailer for a Churchill Crocdile flame-thrower vehicle. The fuel is poured in by hand.

Loading of the fuel trailer for a Churchill Corcodile flame-thrower vehicle. The nitrogen gas bottles are loaded into the rear.

British Churchill infantry tank crossing a pontoon Bailey bridge.

British Churchill infantry tank.

British Churchill tanks carrying Royal Scots Fusiliers during the advance on St Pierre-Tarentaine, 3 August 1944. (Imperial War Museum B8566)

RAF Ford CMP mobile ground control vehicle, 1945.

British Comet tank of 11th Armoured Division in the Weser bridgehead, Germany, 7 April 1945.

British Commer Q4 seen at War & Peace show 2011, UK. Commer was a British manufacturer of commercial vehicles from 1905 until 1979. Commer vehicles included car-derived vans, light vans, medium to heavy commercial trucks, military vehicles and buses. The company also designed and built some of its own diesel engines for its heavy commercial vehicles. The Commer N-series was introduced in 1935, and was also used by the British armed forces in World War II. Production was halted in 1939 and was not recommenced after the war. Cab-over and bonneted trucks were both available, fitted with petrol or diesel engines. Commer made a range of military vehicles for use during the Second World War, with the range still in use in the 1980s. While serving in the army, British humorist Frank Muir reported a broken-down vehicle over his radio with the words "The Commer has come to a full stop."

British 1939 Commer Q2 30cwt GS.

British Commer Q2 Type 105 Radio Van.

British Commer Q4.

British RASC Commer Q4, Middle East.

British One-off prototype Commer Q2 with RAF Van type Radio Body, the Type "E" Insulated Wireless Shell, also known as the Type "E" Signals Body.

British 1938 Commer Q2 tractor unit.

British Commer Q2.

British 1939 Commer Q2 30cwt GS.

British Cromwell tank in action in Normandy, July 1944.

Two infantrymen watch on as a British Cromwell ARV named 'Adonis' tows away Cromwell T187601 'Athasi' of A Squadron, 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, the Armoured Recce Regiment of 7th Armoured Division.

British Cromwell T188515 from the 1st Royal Tank Regiment, 7th Armoured Division, knocked out by a Panzerfaust that penetrated the driver's hatch, killing him, 30 March 1945.

British Cromwell.

Damaged British cruiser tanks undergoing repairs, April 1941.

British Cruiser tank is unloaded at a port in Egypt, on November 17, 1940. It is one of a large number which had just been shipped there by British forces.

British Crusader tank passes a burning German Panzer IV tank during Operation Crusader, November 27, 1941.

Gunnery instruction using a specially mounted Crusader tank turret fitted with a rifle, firing at a target tank on a miniature range. 6th South African Armoured Division in training in the Middle East, 2 September 1943.

A trainee tank driver at the controls of a British Crusader tank. 6th South African Armoured Division in training in the Middle East, 2 September 1943.

British Crusader Mk II, often used out in front for reconnaissance and probing the enemy. December 1942.

British DD Sherman swimming tank in the process of lowering its wading screen after a river crossing.

British DD Sherman swimming tanks after crossing the Elbe River, 1945.

British DD Sherman with the floatation screen lowered and the driver's head poking out of his hatch. The large tube struts on the bow glacis plate help support the front of the screen when it is erected.

British DD Sherman swimming tanks.

British DD Sherman with canvas float screens folded and screws disconnected.

British DD Sherman amphibious tank. This was a basic Sherman III or V made watertight and fitted with a collapsible canvas screen which although it took fifteen minutes to erect could be dropped immediately on landing. Two propellers gave a maximum speed through the water of about 4 knots and these could also be swiveled for steering, either by a hydraulic system or by means of a tiller operated by a crew member standing on the rear of the turret.

British Diamond T Model 980 tractor towing a trailer loaded with a Churchill tank during preparations for crossing the Rhine River into Germany, 23 March 1945.

British Royal Enfield "Flying Flea" with a Universal Carrier and a Hamilcar glider.

British Royal Enfield "Flying Flea" with a airborne jeep and Horsa glider during training exercises.

British Royal Enfield "Flying Flea", the motorcycle that was parachuted together with airborne troops. The Royal Enfield WD/RE known as the "Flying Flea" was a lightweight British motorcycle developed by Royal Enfield for the British War Office (the WD came from War Department) as a means of transport that could be dropped by parachute or carried in gliders, to quickly carry messages and signals between airborne and assault troops where radio communications were not in place. The Flying Flea only weighed 56 kg and had a fuel tank of about two liters which gave a range of around 240 km at speeds of up to 60 km/h. The engine was paired with a three-speed gearbox and had a very low compression piston which meant it could run impure fuel. When the war started in 1939, Britain had no airborne forces but impressed by German paratroopers, Winston Churchill ordered 5,000 parachute and glider-borne troopers in June 1940. DKW's Dutch distributor Stovkis & Sonen was given the option by the Germans of firing its Jewish directors or lose the rights to selling the German-built bike. The firm chose to give up the German bike and instead took the RT100 to Royal Enfield in Britain who produced a similar bike – the Model RE with a 125cc engine.

British Royal Enfield "Flying Flea".

British trainee crews receiving instruction on the Grant tank. 6th South African Armoured Division in training in the Middle East, 2 September 1943.

Knocked out British Grant medium tank, North Africa.

Canadian cameraman Lt. George Copper talks to his brother-in-law, Captain R. Miller, sitting in a Humber armored car on a street in the French city of Caen.

British Priest self-propelled gun passes a Humber scout car of the British 79th Armoured Division, during Operation 'Charnwood', the attack on Caen, July 8, 1944.

Grizzled machine gunner of the British LRDG (Long Range Desert Group) checks his truck-mounted Lewis gun, Egypt, fall of 1941.

British Matilda, North Africa.

Knocked out British Matildas, North Africa.

British Matilda, North Africa.