The Centurion in the Swiss Army
On 15 October 1946, the Federal Council decided to approve the purchase of 100 G 13 tank destroyers. A further 50 were authorised a year later. A large part of the second series of G 13s ordered was blocked by the Russians, the new occupying power in Czechoslovakia. The tank destroyers were finally delivered after extensive efforts by the Department of Foreign Affairs, but the delivery of spare parts was still a long time coming! It soon became apparent, however, that although the G 13 strengthened the anti-tank defence, it had many disadvantages compared to a tank with a turret. The purchase of the 51 light tank (AMX 13) was more of an emergency solution, as K + W Thun was forced to make a war-ready weapon out of the zero series in three normalisations.
The outbreak of the Korean War meant that the major powers were unwilling to supply battle tanks to a small state, especially as their own delivery problems had to be resolved. Nevertheless, the British government was prepared to supply Switzerland with 26 Centurions in the summer of 1950, but withdrew this offer. It was not until 1952, when the international situation had improved slightly, that it became possible to evaluate battle tanks from the USA and Great Britain. Two M-47 Patton main battle tanks were procured for one million francs each. England made two Centurions available to our army on loan. These four tanks were now “subjected to an extensive test procedure. The Centurion had a number of advantages, such as the conventional 5-speed gearbox, which also demonstrated its superiority in off-road terrain and around obstacles, and the 8.4 cm gun, for which a type of core projectile was already available.
On 29 October 1954, the Federal Assembly decided to approve the Federal Council’s proposal to purchase the tanks. In spring 1955, the first Centurion MK III tanks were delivered by Vickers-Armstrong Ltd in Newcastle upon Tyne. Training on the Panzer 55 was already underway in the summer of 1955, after some Swiss modifications had been made. In autumn 1956, the Suez crisis and the uprising in Hungary made the world sit up and take notice. Under these circumstances, the Federal Council’s request to purchase a further 100 Centurions in the 1957 armaments programme was passed without much discussion. These tanks were also built by Vickers. However, they were the modified Centurion MKVII version, which was given the designation Pz 57. Compared to the Pz 55, they had some important details: an enlarged fuel tank of 1100 litres instead of 540 litres. The floor of the fighting compartment rotated with the turret. But unfortunately the interchangability of parts was difficult because of the different thread-system.
Mission doctrine
According to the doctrine in force at the time (TF82), defence is a mixed form of combat consisting of defence and attack. Our defence relied on the defence of key areas based on the infantry terrain and the attacking deployment of counter-attack units. Against an enemy that had broken through or landed in the air, our own armoured units had to be deployed, which had to be able to take up the fight as quickly as possible on the move. These anti-tank units formed the armoured regiments of the army corps in the mechanised divisions and the armoured battalions of the field divisions.
The large number of Centurions allowed the formation of armoured regiments in the mechanised divisions from 1962 onwards. With the increased influx of Panzer 61 and Panzer 68 tanks, the Centurions were reassigned to the armoured battalions of the field army corps, where they were deployed in Pz Bat Type C until around 1990. This Pz Bat was primarily used for mobile anti-tank defence in the operational areas of the infantry regiments. As a rule, the battalion was subordinated to the infantry regiments on a company basis.
The decisive combat principles:
Freedom of action
surprise and the
possibility of shifting the centre of gravity of the Pzaw fire in the course of the battle,
made it possible to fulfil the main task of destroying enemy tanks. Combat was conducted in the form of fire raids, ambushes over short engagement distances and by quickly moving into barriers. The Pz Kp was not allowed to lose its freedom of movement and action through static integration into infantry bases. The infantry had to provide close protection for the Pz KP, as the Pz Bat Typ C had no Pz Gren and Pz Mw The main characteristics of the Centurion Kp were high firepower and the strong armour of the combat vehicles.
The introduction of the Panzer 87 enabled adjustments to be made (reduction in the number of armour types in order to reduce costs and expenditure on maintenance, training and logistical infrastructure). However, the motto of our army must always be: “Not as good as possible, but as good as necessary!” – because we do not have enough funds and will never achieve the necessary time factor to be “as well equipped as possible”. Despite everything, the 55/57 Centurion tank proved its worth and was one of the most successful armaments procurements.
Special purpose tanks
Bridge- and armoured recovery tanks
A bridge that can be laid quickly and safely under armour protection is needed to ensure the momentum of armoured actions over trenches and other obstacles. After a Swiss delegation consisting of representatives of the Gst, MLT and KTA (now GRD) test staff had inspected the British Centurion Bridgelayer MKV in Chobham, England, an application was submitted on 30 June 1960 for the procurement of a test model. At the beginning of 1961, a Pz55 was shipped directly from South Africa to England for conversion. The armoured bridging vehicle (Brü Pz) arrived in Switzerland in June 1963. The installation of the SE-407 radio station and the usual modifications were again carried out at K+W Thun. The Brü Pz is based on a chassis similar to that of the corresponding main battle tank. The hydraulic unit with the corresponding engine was installed in the former fighting compartment. The discard mechanism is attached to the front plate.
In 1964, a delegation visited a Bridge tank Centurion with a USA folding bridge at the Royal Netherlands Army. From 1963, tests were carried out with two Bridge tanks Centurions. Based on these results, the requirements and specifications for a Swiss solution were drawn up, which then led to the development of the Pz 68 bridge tank (Pz 68 chassis). The Centurion armoured bridging vehicle can be viewed at the Tank Museum in Thun.
The task of the armoured recovery vehicle was to act as a mobile workshop for the armoured vehicles of the armoured formations. Around 30 armoured recovery vehicles were imported into Switzerland (1956 and a further 10 in 1960), which were given the designation Entp Pz 56. The Entp Pz 56 were developed from the Pz 55 and Pz 57. These tanks also underwent various revisions.
Centurion Retrofit-Programm
The rapid progress of weapons technology often forces the modernisation (increase in combat effectiveness) of deployed weapons and equipment in order to be able to use them throughout their technical service life. Operation research studies and battlefield simulations have shown that the vast majority of fire duels are won by the system that fires first; this is the case when fighting from prepared defensive positions.
The use of a combat-value-enhanced Centurion would only have made sense if it had also been deployed as a mobile anti-tank defence. It should be noted that the maintenance costs of old battle tanks are double to three times higher than the procurement costs of new battle tanks.
From 1973 to 1977, two Centurion tanks modified by the Vickers company (diesel powerpack Detroit 12V71T, 720 bhp/Tn 12, semi-automatic transmission) were tested in Switzerland. Due to various technical deficiencies, this programme was not pursued further in 1977.
In January 1982, the deputy director of the Federal Office for Defence Procurement visited the Israeli weapons factory IMI (Israel Military Industry) in Tel Aviv. The Israelis had succeeded in giving the Yom Kippur War a decisive turnaround with the modernised Centurion, among other things. In March 1983, two Israeli Centurion tanks arrived in Switzerland and were tested by the troops. If the results were positive, K + W Thun was to be appointed as the general contractor. The Israeli retrofit Centurion had the following modifications compared to the 55/57 tank: Diesel engine from the US company Teledyne Continental 750 bhp AVDS 1790-2AC (the action radius was increased, and diesel oil is not as flammable as petrol), a new automatic steering gear made it easier to fire while moving, new aiming devices improved accuracy and firing speed thanks to a laser rangefinder (Belgian SABCA Laser Tank Fire Control System, which uses M60A3/Leopard components) and a new fire control system (Delco/Cadillac Gage Weapon/Turret Control and Stabilisation System, warm-up time less than 30 s). Other interested parties in the retrofit programme were Sweden, Nigeria and India. The trials in Switzerland still revealed some shortcomings (e.g. continuous journeys lasting one hour at an average speed of 45 km/h), and test reports came to the following conclusions on the vehicle side: The maximum speed (48 km/h) is rather too high. The brake dosage leaves a lot to be desired. In terms of suspension comfort, suspension and damping tuning, values are achieved that are hardly or only just surpassed by even the most modern armoured vehicles. There were no thermal problems or defects during the entire factory trials, and the vehicle made a reliable impression.
In December 1983, preparatory work for a possible retrofit programme on the Centurion main battle tank was discontinued. According to the EMD, this decision was made primarily for financial reasons in view of the introduction of the new Leopard II (Pz87) main battle tank. A planned Revision III of the Centurion was only concerned with the necessary maintenance of its combat effectiveness (some of the original English spare parts were no longer manufactured). However, the introduction of Israeli arrow ammunition could certainly be counted as part of the increase in combat effectiveness.
