The British had three types of tanks in service in the Second World War, namely, the Light Tanks, the Cruiser Tanks and the Infantry Tanks.
The light tanks were to serve the reconnaissance role. The cruiser tanks were to serve in the cavalry role as in screening, scouting, breaking through enemy lines, etc. The infantry tanks were to accompany infantry.
The artificial division of tanks into these types were in a way a holdover from the conservative thinking prevalent in the British army and was reflective of the organisation. Despite an earlier experiment in multi-turreted landships and mechanised divisions in the Salisbury plains, there was little real advance in British armoured doctrine. These concepts were to prove obsolecent ultimately in a war of combined arms. The tanks that were created reflected that.
The Covenanter was a cruiser tank armed with a 2-pounder gun (40mm) on a chassis with the Horstmann suspension.
The number of Covenanters built numbered 1771 and were only used for training until 1943. The Covenanter was a cruiser type in a long line of development and was essentially obsolete by the time it was fielded.
Tank Museum, Bovington: July 2006
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