The thing about the Comet tank and Korean War.

[Steben]

Hi guys.

Is there anyone who can elaborate on the Comet tank in Korea?

The internet as always is a mixed bag of crap and truth. This subject goes from one side to the other in one click.

[John Tapsell]

There was only one British Armoured Regiment deployed to Korea at any given time and they handed over to the the next regiment after approx 12 months - all of them operated Centurions. The recce troop in each armoured regiment operated Cromwells (usually around 8 tanks).

 

Comets were deployed to Hong Kong because the local bridges were unable to cope with the heavier and wider Centurions and there are a couple of images of the HK garrison Comets that are sometimes mis-captioned as being in Korea. As far as I'm aware, Comets were never issued to recce troops in any British armoured regiments.

 

The only British tanks used in Korea were the Churchill (specifically the Mk VII Crocodiles of C Sqn 7 RTR, but only for the first 12 months of the war and never as flamethrowers), Cromwells (used as recce tanks in the deployed armoured regiment and as OP tanks in the artillery regiments) and of course the Centurion. You'll also find a few Churchill ARV Mk II, Churchill Bridgelayers and early Centurion ARVs.