Having spent the last 3 years as a rust-filled antique in our museum, it is finally the turn of the Sexton Mark I tank to head through the workshop for a full re-build to be brought back to former glory and prepare for the shows later in the year. Read on for information on the history of this war-horse and what is happening to our Sexton here on site at Armourgeddon.

The Sexton tank, full name 25pdr SP tracked Sexton was a self-propelled artillery vehicle active in World War II. To be classed as a self-propelled mean that the vehicle and artillery gun were able to move under their own power as opposed to being towed gun that relies upon a vehicle or other means to get onto the battlefield.

Our Sexton arrived on site at Armourgeddon about 3 years ago where it has spent most of it’s time in the museum in it’s original state- seriously rusty! But it’s the Sextons turn for a facelift at the workshop here on site.

The Sexton was based on Canadian-built versions of the M3 Lee and M4 Sherman tanks which entered production in Canada as the Ram and Grizzly in order to provide better artillery support in the highly mobile desert warfare of the North African Campaign. Fighting in North Africa started with the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940. On 14 June, the British 11th Hussars regiment, assisted by the 1st Royal Tank crossed the border from Egypt to Libya to capture the Italian Fort Capuzzo. An Italian counter-offensive into Egypt followed by a Commonwealth reply destroying the Italian 10th Army saw the dispatch of the Afrika Corps commanded by Erwin Rommel dispatched to the area to reinforce Italian forces and halt the complete defeat of Axis, which was starting to look possible.

The British Army quickly adapted a number of obsolete Valentine tanks with 25-pounder guns and introduced them as the Bishop. However, significant issues in service around a lack of room for elevation of the gun meant the Bishop was quickly replaced by the US-built M7 Priest- a 107mm gun mounted on the obsolete M3 Lee tank chassis. Ammunition supply issues of using the dual nationality M7 lead to the US attempting to 25 pounder to the M7 Priest making the T-51 in mid-1942 but delays occurred due to failures of the prototype during live-firing exercises. The US were unable to supply a vehicle solely for the British army so they turned to Canada for help.

The Canadian Army Engineering Design Branch were briefed to provide a vehicle similar to the M& but on a Ram chassis. The Ram had ben a Canadian tank design that used an American M3 base- as did the Priest. The Ram had been sidelined in a previous decision to standardise the Sherman tank for British and Canadian army regiments. A prototype was delivered on the 23rd June 1942 and following successful trials in Canada, shipped to the UK in early 1943. Passing further trials, the vehicle was found to be highly satisfactory and named the Sexton in May 1943. 300 Sextons were ordered in the summer of 1943, but these were built on Grizzly tank hulls (the Canadian built M4A1 Sherman) instead of Ram tank hulls. The Ram based Sexton was named Sexton Mark I and the Grizzly base tank, the Sexton Mark II.

After the end of the war, a number of Sextons were sold to Portugal where they were used in dessert colours through to the 1980s.

The Sexton here at Armourgeddon is branded with the number 1 in the serial number position. We believe that this means it was the first of the Sexton Mark I vehicles to roll off production. We know that our Sexton was sold to the USA after completing active duty in Portugal- following the journey of many of these tanks through production in Canada, active duty for the British Army and then on to Portugal. We acquired the tank from the USA in 2012. The engine was not able to be restored, so a new one has been sourced- from Australia.

The team here at Armourgeddon is now in the process of a complete re-build of the Sexton. The panels are being needle-gunned, and there is major rust repair of the driver’s compartment to be finished. An 80 tonne press was required to remove the pins from the wheel stations, but they are out and under repair. The undercoat is on one side panel and the rust repair is starting to fill the holes!

The target is to have the Sexton returned to its former glory and ready to go on show at the Victory Show at Cosby in September this year, complete with live-firing gun.

The Sexton would have held a 6-man crew; Commander, Gunner, Driver, Radio Operator and two Loaders and as such is quite a sizable vehicle. We have many full sized tanks and military vehicles in our museum on site at Armourgeddon and lots of other military memorabilia. The museum is open year round an can be combined with a tank driving activity or just as a visit on its own.

If you would rather see us at a show, we are at the Lutterworth Vintage and Classic Vehicle Day on the 26th April from 11am-5pm at The Lutterworth Museum. To see the Sexton in full glory, you may need to wait until the Victory Show in Cosby from the 4th -6th September which is the 10th Anniversary of this excellent weekend of entertainment.

We will keep you updated on progress as the re-fit continues and once the engine is in situ, we will upload video of the first trial runs of this history-filled machine being brought back to former glory.

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