To quote Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery - in not so few words - “the REME keeps the punch in the Army’s fist”. To do this, the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers (REME) utilize specially adapted versions of existing vehicles. The Churchill Armoured Recovery Vehicle (ARV), developed in the middle of the Second World War, was one of the first of these REME-specific vehicles.

The Churchill ARV was one of the first tank-based ARVs to serve in the British Army. The vehicle first appeared in 1942, the same year that the REME was created. The initial ARV was simply a turretless Churchill outfitted with various pieces of towing equipment - this became known as the Mk. I. A second version, equipped with a faux turret, lifting jibs, and a powerful winch, appeared in 1944 - this became the Mk. II.

Both the Mk. I and Mk. II ARV served until the end of the Second World War, with the Mk. II’s service continuing into the Korean War of the early 1950s. It wasn’t long after this that it was finally replaced by the FV4006 Centurion ARV.

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An article by Mark Nash

Video mounted by Jim Zawacki

Audio edited by Kraiger

Voicing by Stan Lucian