Pehotnye tanki Vtoroy Mirovoy - "Matil'da", "Valentayn", "Cherchill'"

"Queen of Battlefield* ("Koroleva polya boya") - etot pochetnyy titul i slavu "neuyazvimogo" britanskiy pehotnyy tank Mk II Matilda II zasluzhil, srazhayas' protiv Rommelya. Anglichane byli edinstvennymi, kto sohranil do Vtoroy Mirovoy klassifikaciyu tankov ne po masse, a po naznacheniyu, delya ih na kreyserskie (Cruiser Tanks), sozdannye dlya samostoyatel'nyh manevrennyh deystviy v proryve, i pehotnye (Infantry Tanks), prizvannye podderzhivat' "caricu poley" neposredstvenno na pole boya, tihohodnye, no nadezhnye i velikolepno bronirovannye - 68-mm bronyu "Valentayna" i tem bolee 78-mm "lob" "Matil'dy" mogli probit' lish' legendarnye zenitki "aht-aht", a nazvannyy v chest' britanskogo prem'era Mk IV Churchill s ego usilennoy do 152-mm broney (v poltora raza tolsche, chem u "Tigra"!) po pravu schitaetsya naibolee zaschischennym tankom Vtoroy Mirovoy, hotya sam Cherchill' ostril, chto u ego "tezki" nedostatkov bol'she, chem u nego samogo. Seru Uinstonu vtorit sovetskaya propaganda, kotoraya tozhe ne nashla dlya pehotnyh tankov, postavlyavshihsya v SSSR, dobrogo slova.