captainjack wrote: ↑Sat Apr 25, 2020 9:58 am Wikipedia mentions Matilda III (the CS version) being very popular with Australian forces in the far east. I recall some more reliable sources (probably axis history forum) mentioning the Australians deliberately trying to get as many as possible.
The early cruisers also had CS versions, as did the Valentines. Basically the 3" gun was more of a mortar rather than a real gun and wasn't suited to taking out anti tank guns byond mg range, but good smoke cover hides a lot of things and the proportion of he vs smoke changed over time and from mission to mission so they must have been useful, even if a bit short of what was really needed.
It seems that New Zealand used Valentine CS converted using 3" guns taken from Australian CS Matildas.

Tanks "Matilda" I and II
http://ww2tanki.ru/tanki-vtoroj-mirovoj ... nk-matilda

Another land lease. Matilda Infantry Tank: strange doesn't mean bad
https://topwar.ru/150617-drugoj-lend-li ... lohoj.html

http://military-chronicle.com/ru/maket-1/

Matilda Frog from the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Australian Tank Brigade during battles in Balikpapan. July 1945
https://coollib.com/b/348591/read
so it’s not clear what is supposed to be considered as matilda 3? )








