Assembled model 1/35 tank Crusader Mk.III British Cruiser Tank Mk. VI Border Model BT-012 Crusader is a British tank of the Second World War. The first prototypes were built in 1939, and serial production lasted from 1940-1943. In total, about 4,900 copies of this tank were built. The crusader is equipped with a Nuffield Liberty Mk II engine with a capacity of 340 hp. The vehicle was armed - depending on the modification - with one 40mm 2-pounder QF gun or one 57mm 6-pounder QF gun and two 7.92mm and 7.7mm machine guns. the Crusader tank was built as a successor to the unsuccessful Covenanter A13 vehicle. Firstly, the new tank was designed more carefully, which means that it had a much lower percentage of failures than its predecessor. Armor has also been improved. Despite these changes, the Crusader, when it entered service, still had too weak armor and, above all, too weak weapons to fight enemy tanks. Its strengths include the aforementioned low failure rate and good mobility. However, after the end of the North African campaign (1940-1943), in which Crusader tanks played a major role, they were systematically and quickly removed from the advanced units. As a result of serial production, several modifications of this tank were created. Chronologically, the first was the Crusader I, which became the first serial version of this tank. In May 1942, the Crusader III version debuted with a new 57 mm gun and reinforced 51 mm armor. After 1943, many special vehicles were built based on the Crusader chassis, such as the Crusader II Gun Traktor or the Crusader III AA Mk. I and II. Crusader tanks ended up in parts of Free France, Australia and New Zealand. They also became part of the equipment of the Armed Forces of Poland in the West (Air Force).
