Archer (tank destroyer)

The Archer, officially the self-propelled 17-pdr, Valentine, Mk I, was a British tank destroyer of the Second World War built on the chassis of the Valentine infantry tank and armed with the Ordnance QF 17 pounder gun. Vickers-Armstrongs designed and manufactured it, and 655 were produced between March 1943 and May 1945. Its most unusual feature was a gun that faced the rear of the chassis, mounted in a low open-topped superstructure with 11 degrees of traverse to either side. Because the driver could drive away without turning the vehicle around, crews used shoot-and-scoot ambush tactics from behind cover. The Archer entered service in October 1944 and served in north-west Europe and Italy. After the war the Egyptian Army received 200 ex-British vehicles, some of which were used against Israeli armour in 1956, and several Archers survive in museums.