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I read in the Osprey books about a Indian Centurion tank commander in the Indo-Pakistani war kicking his gunner in the back for firing the main gun without being ordered too. The gunner said that he hadn't fired the main gun? It wasn't until later that the crew realised they had taken a direct hit from a Pakistani T-55, and survived. That's a tank the crews can trust.

If the Centurion MBT had been in time to serve in WW2, it would've been the dominant MBT in the field, anywhere in Europe. Bloody fine tank, in my humble, amateur opinion!

Centurion is my favourite tank and probably the best value tank ever.

Imagine a Centurion with: 1) Chobham armour 2) A modern diesel 3) 105mm smoothbore gun or rifle 4) Modern fire control and optics 5) Either gun launched top attack anti tank missiles or 6) Turret mounted TOW2 missiles 7) CROWS 8) An autoloader 9) Spotting drone launchers That would be pretty amazing I think.

Funny. When I joined the Danish Army in 1984 we still had the Centurion as the main battle tank at my regiment. They were of course a little antiquated at that point, particularly when compared to the Leopard that later replaced them, but they were still magnificent brutes when seen from an infantry soldiers perspective. We also had the M41 Walker Bulldog that, as far as I recall, remained in service in an upgraded DK-1 version until the late 1990's.

My uncle was a gunner in one of them in Angola he loved his tank and it did good by him

I was a Centurion commander and can testify to this machine being the precursor of both the UK and US main battle tank. Curiously, I had my best experience in a Swedish Centurion in 1996! Still truckin’

As a kid my pride and joy was a Centurion tank (Dinky I think) with the carrier vehicle. I also had a cannon that fired matchsticks.

I enjoyed this video very much, very well edited, scripted, and narrated. I really didn't know how widely used the Centurion actually was. Talk about the most successful British tank ever.

This channel is a hidden treasure. Good, objective, accurate information. Please keep up the great work.

i was stationed at fallingbostel in germany from 56 to 1959 and spent a lot of time driving cents they were not an easy tank to drive in heavy clinging mud ,the hills they would go up was amazing but you had to know what you were doing or the engine would stall,happy memories

The Centurion is also one of the best looking tanks in the world.

People tends to forget that even before the 6 days war of 1967 the centurion tanks were successfully used by the Indian army in the Indo Pak war of 1965

The best selling Tank in its time. I crawled over this tank as a kid.

saved a lot of Aussie infantry in South Vietnam

As a young British Soldier in the early 80s , based at Armoured Vehicle Depot Ludgershall , i drove one of these Tanks. Have you seen the size of the Gearstick on these things.

We Nuked one at Maralinga in Australia. Its still kicking about I believe display at a Armed Forces Base ( cant remember RAAF or Army ?) gate somewhere in South Australia. I think that particular Centurion went to Nam and took a hit that maybe killed(?) but definately injured some crew and it was driveable after. I read about it before forget all the details.

The Centurion is my favourite tank. It was the roll model for all future tanks and the best tank in the world for decades.

The engine used in the Centurion was called the RR Meteor (later the Meteor). Yes, it was a derivative of the Merlin, but it had many differences, such as the reversing of the direction of rotation of the engine, the omission of the supercharger, reduction gear, de-rating of the engine and the replacement of a lot of light alloy parts with cheaper, steel ones. Hence it got a new designation. Early engines were modified from aero-engines that had to be taken out of service, but later the engines were built specifically for use in tanks (and some other uses, such as fast sea going boats).

Thanx so much for this comprehensive history of my favorate tank.

Fantastic collection of footage. Cheers

Another great video. Keep’em comming lads! 😄🙏

My first tank was a cent 105 engineer gun tank. Later a 165mm demolition centurion. Had them till at least 91 in the gulf war.

Terrific video with great use of contemporary film and pictures!

Great job well done, one of the best researched videos I have seen on this subject, I like, cheers

A good vid. I didn't learn anything new of the Cent but I did hear for the first time ever of a "first" Cold war.

The one piece of the Centurion that is beloved by all tankers everywhere, even if they did not know it came from the Centurion, is the water heater built into it. Beforehand all tank crews had to get out an brew up outside. The builders built and fitted into the tank was a water heater. This allowed them to remain in the tank, hatches closed, and have a hot meal or cup of tea. I believe other tanks crews were envious of Centurion crews for just that piece of equipment! I also believe, though I may be wrong, that the American M1 Abrams has it fitted which is a direct copy?

Tanks for the great video!

Great video on the Centurion thank you and thumbs up. :)

I'd say the Centurion was the best tank in the world up to the 1970's. A solid, good design.

The centurion is my favorite tank, great video!

Great vid on a great tank.

OH MY SOMEBODY TELLING THE TRUTH OUTSTANDING CLEAR AND UNDERSTANDABLE. 👌

Great video mate👍

The Centurion tank was the best tank that ever was period.

Challenger every bit as good. Best tank of the Gulf war.

Excellent video

Worked on a MOD site in Dorset in the "90"s where they were developing the C2 , on the far side of the range were old stripped out centurion"s being used for target practice - There till the end! :)

magnificent video

hi i remember these at Lulworth army camp in 19B67,they had Rolls Royce engines, but were not automatic,good old days and loads of Bedford RLs at that time and land rovers

An elegant and good tank. My interest in tanks began when, as a teenager (in the mid-70s), I got to be a youth home guard at royal/ kunglig Göta pansarlivgarde ( P 1) and climb, just centurions. 😄

An interesting video. Thank you 👍 I like the storage bins on either side of the turret. It looks like the Centurion has ears :-)

great video

Excellent show. ++

No other Tank has had the Service History the Centurion has, what kept it alive was the fact it could be modified with bigger guns & new power plants, the only complaints I heard was the the steering, the old lever method. Not bad for a Tank designed in 1943. Apart from Museums, will any of Todays Tanks be around in 70 years?

Dont forget the Comet, which also had the 17 pounder, or a slightly downgraded version atleast. It did participate in last weeks of WW2.

Excellent informative video, these old tanks could still be very effective in modern warfare, top quality bit of kit.

Thanks for the great video. My 1st long video of centurion tanks.

Centurion was good in Israel very upgraded version! With 105MM GUN and was kind of the start point of the Merkava project!

Good run through - worth noting the exceptional cross country capability and the ability to fire at a significant depression - both of which proved decisive in action.

What made the Centurion as effective as it was was not the armour, gun or hull or electronics; it was the Austin 8 hip auxilliary generator. People forget the immense electrical loads upon armoured vehicles. Such kills more armour than other items.

I love the Centurion, I think the reason that it was so successful and became a standard for Western MBTs is that it started the trend of large but ergonomic tank design. Nothing on the Centurion is new but the design helped the crew make the most out of the features of the tank.

I read it on my local magazine TSM so lovely ,it tell about Yom Kippur war in Gollan again the Syran forces and the AT -3 sagger atm

Nice video about British producing centurion versions M1,M2....M7 tanks with clear explaining of its characters and abilities with its production history..Israel armies used centurion with excellent talent against its aggressive neighbour's during 1967 war

Centurion as versatile as the post war Sherman. Compliment given as a great tank, that could be modified and upgraded for many many years after introduction.

lol. Yeah they got rid of WP launchers only after they had reduced most of Salisbury plain's vegetation to ash in wildfires no doubt heh. Cheers for the upload.

Nice video man, when are you gonna do the CV90 family? :)

The could probably upgrade a Centurion today to rival modern MBTs. Very adaptable platform.

The best tank ever made change my mind

About the Singapore, no documents that talk about the use of Centurion by the Singapore Army, only some Ex-Tanker that Claim that

At 2:24 pretty sure these are Marders, since the Archer was setup with the gun over the back deck - i.e. If they are Archers, then they are reversing at a speed a bit too high for Valentine chassis (oh and the road wheels are much more like Pz38(t) which formed the basis for the Marder)?

The most handsome British Tank!

The tank engine variant of the Merlin engine was a cut-down version called the 'Meteor', and used by the British for many years. FUN FACTS: Many (most?) of the Centurians used by European NATO forces were bought by the US and provided as military aid. AN Australian Cent is the only tank to serve (even combat in Vietnam!) after surviving a nuclear explosion!

Trust the Brits to develop the best main battle tank of the second world war just in time for the war to end and the first tank knocked out by a Centurion to be a captured British one. Thank God for the Navy!

I was quite shocked at learning how close Israel came to defeat on the Golan Heights in 1973. Good though the Centurion was, it was the IDF's speedy mobilisation of reserves that saved their position on that front.

The Centurion is the Chuck Norris of tanks

Pound for pound it was the best tank ever made, even to date, according to many tank experts I've watched and read.

The engine was a Meteor, the ground version of the Merlin.

Amazing that the best tank ever built came from the British after their blocky, under-gunned, and heavy predecessors.

Hi I thought you said the Centurion was linked to the First World War. When you said First Cold War. Anyway awsome video very interesting.

I've never heard the Cold War divided into parts as the narrator has by referring to some of it as "the First Cold War". Could you tell me what the divisions are marked by with dates? This is a first for me.

Not mentioned conflicts the Centurion was involved in was the 1956 Suez Crisis and Jordan used them in 1967 war with Israel against Centurions from Israel though Israel had the upgrades and captured about 30 Jordanian ones whom replenished there stocks after the war. Jordanian Centurion tanks where involved in combat in the 1970 war with Syria called Black September which the Jordanians did well against Syria in the end beating them back. The British used a version in the Falklands war a Beach armored recovery vehicle and Ironically the last user to use the Centurion in a combat zone was its maker the British but the AVRE version with the 165mm demolition gun.

The cents used in the Syrian attack on yom Kippur battle were simply superb...the milk ratio against t54,t55th was 8:1...

We [4H] had mark 5s & 7s - One thing not mentioned is that if you raised the gun then the breech made a very good bed & you could lay back, relax & listen to radio Luxembourg on the 19 set - One more thing anyone remember the "screw retaining intermediate firing needle withdrawal lever" ?

Wonder if anyone has ever Compiled the Centurions Kill to Death ratio against Soviet/WP Built Armour?

The Vietnam Veteran Museum in Newhaven (Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia) has among it artifacts a Centurion. I was so damned surprised at how big it actually is when I stood next to it. Australia used Centurions quite effectively during the Vietnam War and proved it could be used in jungle warfare (after experience) quite well.

The British infantry tank mission seems similar to the original mission of the Stug.

From the centurians shape, you can see the similarities wiith the Churchill, more so with the earlier models, shame the British had a two tank doctrine, they could have had a battle tank a lot earlier.

The opening scenes is partly from Denmark

The best of it's time!

Hi WD, New Subscriber. Could you do a Vid on the Chieftain? Especially its Most Glorious Fight @ The Battle of the Bridges in 1990? Shamefully Bad Engine but the Kuwaiti Chiefs Mullered (No Pun Intended) the Iraqi Republican Guard.

the centurion entered service in 1944 with 7th armoured div. it arrived on the front line in Germany 2 days after Germany surrendered. They swapped their challenger tanks for the centurion. 7th armoured got pulled out of the front line after D day tpo go back to the UK to be equped with the centurrion but as it was a lot motr complex to use than prevoius tanks it took them 6 months to learn how to use them. As for the cruiser tanks they had better armour than the German tanks til the panther and tigers came along. event the british light tanks had better armour than the German tanks and as for the heavy tanks they had better armour than the tiger 2. the MK 1 matilda used in 1938 had thicker armour than the tiger 1. British tank problems were more down to logistics than anything else. MOD tended to buy tanks from all the tank makers as long as they met the minimum specs. My foster dad was in 1st experiental div in 1938 later renamed 7th armoured div. it was 1 of Percy Hobarts creation and was the 1st armoured div in the world. It was made up of light tanks for scouting and breakthrough. cruiser tanks to take on German tanks if they met any that the light tanks were not able to take out. draggons mounted in rams whichh were cruiser tanks with the turret removed roof taken off and seat put inside to carry troops so they could keep up with the tanks. other tanks were convrted to carry mortars, artillery anti air guns and engineering equipement. it had RAF fighters and tactical bombers assigned to it for air support. It was a fully combined arms unit and no other country had anything like it. Rommel came across that div in Belgium 1940 and got destoyed by it so he coppied it and used it in the DAK in 1941 But they didnt have any decent tanks and not enough of them to convert any into troop carriers. At the start of the war Germany didnt really have any tanks that were combat ready. what tey had was PZ1 which had 10mm armour and 1 medium machine gun. the pz II which had 13mm armour and twin heavy machine guns. neither had anti tank capabilties. the only other tank they had was a Vickers A24 which Germany bought in 1938 and called it the PZ38(t) that was a a British reject as it didnt meet the minumum specs for a light tank as it had 28mm armour. minimum specs for British tanks was 30mm for light tanks. 50mm for cruiser tanks and 100mm for infantry tanks. Poland bought the A24 and called it the PT7. Soviets as the T24 and china as the type 24 they were the full version with 28mm armour and 20mm cannons. the version sold to Germany was downgraded to 26mm armour and heavy machine gun. Another very good vickers thank was the A32. again rejected by the British army as lacking armour and sold to the soviets with a production license. they called it the T32 at 1st as thats when they bought them. but they didnt make them to the plans and bolted on the armour instead of welding and riveting. during the border clashes with Japan in 1933 they found they leaked when it rained and when they got hit the bolts flew off inside the tank killing the crew. so in 1934 they went back to the factory removed the bolts and welded and riveted the armour instead and renamed it the T34. During the battle for Belguim and france no British tanks were knocked out at all. some were damaged or had mecahincal failures and were captured when the BEF was ordered to retreat after Germany surrendered after suffering heavy losses. but got rejected by the allies. germany took the caputured British tanks and repiared them and put german markings on them ans used them instead of their own tanks and if they couldnt get enough British and French tanks they used Italian tanks. they only used German tanks when they couldnt get enough of better tanks. Rommel tended to use mostly Captured British and French tanks in North Africa. But those were taken away from him to be sent against the soviets tanks. Only effective anti tank weapon Germany had early war was the stuka. they found by accident the 88MM anti air gun was good against the british tanks so started using that for anti tank work. that started being used by Rommel in North africa in 1941 when a battery of them were atacked by british tanks and they fired at them and knocked some out. which their own tanks could not do. By then they had the PZIII whih proved inefftive against British tanks but were very good against the US tanks which were called tommy boilers by the british as they burst into flames when they got hit by heavy machine guns with tracer rounds. Even now the centurion tanks r far suppiior to most other tanks in the world. its rated as the 4th best tank in the world behind the challenger II, challenger I, and cheiftain tanks. My artillery unit specilised in anti tank roles. we had 105mm light guns with HESH rounds and HE rounds. on r target range we had centurions and couldnt knock them out. the M60's we could take out with HE rounds. the M1A1 we could take out with HESH easy. During the 1st Gulf war a British challenger I came under fire from an M1A1 it got hit in the rear armour and didnt even dent the armour. the crew got on the radio and told command that a US tank is firing at them please kindly ask them to stop. After another 9 hits in the rear armour still no dents the crew got permission to fire back. so they swung the turret around 1 shot front armour no more M1A1. RTR was given an M1A1 for testing to see how good it was they couldnt take out the mk1 centrurions on the target range. The USA was caught stealing the plans for the Challengers Chobham armour to put on the M1A1. so the plans were altered a bit to make it totoaly useless lol. So the challeneger II was given new armour called Dorchester that was even better than Chobham armour. 1 of them came under fire in Iraq and the weak point was found. they just threw mud on all the extrior sighting equiments to blind it so it had to stop and wait for infanrty to come and rescue it. it was stuck for 12 hrs and being hit by everything except the kitchen sink at point blank range and the crew just sat their drinking tea till help arrived. not 1 single dent on it despite being hit by T55.s T60.s, T72, RPG's and everything else they could find to try and knock it out.

Good tank porn! This is my favourite British tank - ever.

Good tank

The Sho't chassis is the basis of the Swedish Strv 104 upgrade of it's hull and powerplant.

It was very succesful in Israel as IDF even added early Blazer ERA package on it but the Strv 105 has better frontal ERA.

Fkn awesome tank

Had the pleasure of serving with 32 armoured engineers in Germany might fine tank and mighty fine blokes as well

It was the most successful tank because it was a great tank. In my opinion, all things considered, maybe the greatest tank ever made

i kept hearing "the first cold war" is there a second cold war i'm not aware of?

ABSOLUTELY STUNNING with a PERFECT balance between armour, firepower and mobility. The Syrians and the Egyptians would come to pay the price of underestimating it.

Australia used these brilliant thanks in Vietnam...don't think the enemy liked them

Great British engineering.

Suprised you didnt mention the atomic tank, took a nuke survived than survived in vietnam.

if we accept the term "first cold war": please help, than what means "second cold war"? or even "third cold war"?

As a South Korean I like a Centution mk.3

Fun fact: the centurion was featured in the new Sonic Movie

Magnificent vehicle, the most experienced of the Cold War in my opinion. The israelis showed why many times.

It just looks right......even today. Maybe because it is. Long live the Centurion.