A production order for 500, of what was designated the A24, was placed with the Nuffield Mechanization and Aero Firm in June 1941. The new tank had to be no more than 24 tons in weight and have a maximum speed of 24mph. What they came up with was a new specification incorporating improved mechanical and maintenance reliability, a studier 75mm armored turret able to mount a 57mm cannon, and 65mm armor hull protection. As a result, the British looked to create a new tank with those characteristics. But as the Churchill was finally rolling off the assembly lines, the War Office-reviewing the combat experiences in North Africa, decided in early 1941 that speed and reliability were more important than heavy armor. Referred to as the Churchill, it weighed almost 42 tons, had 102mm of armor, sported a 57mm main gun, and attained a maximum speed of 15mph. With the need to add major modifications to the design due to mechanical faults, the now renamed A22, Infantry Mark IV tank, went into production in 1942. Fitted with a 2-pounder main gun, trials for the new machine began in June 1940. The design arrived at was the A20, essentially a refinement of the “lozenge” shape tanks built by the British in 1916-1918. Further, it wanted a tank with a wide trench crossing capacity, and able to negotiate ground churned up by shell fire. It therefore wanted a very heavy infantry tank that would be invulnerable to known anti-tank guns of the time. At the outbreak of World War II, the British War Office assumed that conditions on the Western Front in France would be the same as those experienced in the Great War of 1914-1918.
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