SERVICE HISTORY

The British 9th Armoured Car and Light Tank Company, Royal Tank Corps, were equipped with Vickerscarden-loyd MK.IV light tanks.

They were sent to the North-west Frontier of India and took part in the 1936-1939 Waziristan campaign against the fiercely independent Pashtun tribesmen that inhabited that mountainous region. They were led by the religious leader Mirzali Khan and deployed guerrilla tactics of ambush; they were not drawn into a decisive battle with the welltrained and numerically superior British troops. The use of bulletproof tanks armed with machine guns, and air attacks by six RAF squadrons to support the infantry, saw the support for Mirzali Khan begin to wane. In 1940 the Northwest Frontier quietened down with only the occasional raid on a village by the tribesmen. It remained this way until 1947 and the end of British rule, and the founding of the independent state of Pakistan.

Armoured Engineering Ltd restored this Vickerscarden-loyd Light Tank MK.IV and is currently on display at the Tank Museum Bovington

The ‘tankette’ was intended for reconnaissance and colonial policing roles in countries such as India rather than frontline warfare