How The Matilda II Tank Earned The Nickname 'Queen Of The Desert'

Throughout World War II, numerous instruments of war achieved legendary status for their various feats of heroism on land, sea, or air. Though it's less talked about than battery mates like the M4 Sherman Firefly when it came to conflicts on land, few tanks were quite as effective as the United Kingdom's Matilda II.

A massively upgraded version of the U.K. military's Matilda tank, the Matilda II made its way through production just in time to take to the battlefields of WWII. Though it was relatively slow on the move and packed less artillery than some of its contemporaries, the second-generation Matilda boasted considerably more armor than most, making it the bane of Axis enemies when it hit the battlefield. In fact, the tank's 3-inch frontal armor made it all but impenetrable to weapons used by Germany's fearsome Panzer tanks during the early days of the war. As the opposing tanks were regular combatants in the dusty battlefields of North Africa, Matilda II's almost unbeatable toughness helped it earn the nickname "Queen of the Desert."

Matilda II held that title until German forces upgraded their arsenal. While those upgrades ultimately meant Matilda II lost its preeminence in the desert, the powerful tank still had a part to play in several other war zones.

[Featured image by Alan Wilson via Flickr | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 2.0]

Not only did the Matilda II continue to impact the success of Allied forces during World War II, it wound up being the longest-tenured British infantry tank in the entire conflict. It may surprise some to learn that Matilda II served Allied forces all the way to the end of the Second World War.

The tank saw its first WWII action in 1940, facing off against Panzer-backed German forces during the Battle of Arras. Though not considered a major battle in the grand scheme of the war, the Battle of Arras was ultimately deemed a failure in its objective to beat back the German Army's advances towards French ports on the English Channel. With the help of tanks like Matilda II, British and French forces were fortunately able to delay German advances long enough to ensure the successful evacuation of Allied forces from the beaches of Dunkirk.

Matilda II would go on to have its biggest impact on the war in the deserts of North Africa. Once the tanks became vulnerable to German weapons, they could no longer serve British interests in Europe, and were last utilized by the U.K. Armed Forces in 1942. However, the tanks continued to serve the Allied forces through the end of WWII as the Australian Army used them during their efforts in New Guinea, making Matilda II one of the more unsung heroes of WWII.