Medium Mark III

The Medium Mark III was a British medium tank of the interwar period, developed from the three A6 sixteen-tonner prototypes that Vickers built to replace the Mark II. It was ordered in 1928 and constructed from 1930, with a new turret and improved armour compared with the A6, and with the secondary machine-gun turrets moved forward to improve its stability. Three were built, one by Vickers and two by the Royal Ordnance Factory at Woolwich, and in 1934 they went to the headquarters of the Tank Brigade. By 1933 trials had shown the type to be reliable and a good gun platform, though its suspension remained a weakness, and no orders followed because of its high price. In 1938 Thailand bought the last two examples together with a manufacturing licence and built around thirty more by the end of the Second World War.