The Carden-Loyd Tankette, designed by Sir John Carden and Vivian Loyd, enjoyed commercial success both domestically in Britain as well as in foreign markets. Production commenced in 1927 and ran through 1935 with the most widely built model being the Mark VI. The Carden-Loyd Mk. VI was a small, lightly armored, two man tankette and it set the standard for future tankette designs. The Mark VI had a combat weight of 1.5 tons, was 8.1 feet long, 6.6 feet wide, and a height of only 4 feet. The typical weapon fit was a single .303in. Vickers machine-gun provided with 1,000 rounds of ammunition. The crew, driver and commander, was provided with 6mm to 9mm of face-hardened armor for protection. Power came from a Ford 4-cylinder, inline engine that developed 20 horsepower and was paired with a Ford 2-speed epicyclic transmission that gave the Mark VI a maximum road speed of 30mph and ten gallons of fuel was carried to give the tankette a operational range of 100 miles.
The British Army was the largest purchaser of the Carden-Loyd Mk. VI, with some 325 of them in service as machine-gun carriers, reconnaissance vehicles, and gun tractors for light artillery among other uses. On the foreign market, sales were brisk with such countries as Bolivia, Canada, China, India, Greece, and more placing orders for the tankette. Thailand was the largest customer, having purchased 60 of the vehicles. Even Japan was a buyer, obtaining six examples with the Imperial Japanese Navy using them in service as the Type 6 Machine-Gun Car (Rokushiki Kikan Jū-sha or Ka-shiki Kijū-sha meaning Carden-Loyd Tankette). Another foreign buyer, among others, was Belgium and what they decided to do with the Carden-Loyd Mk. VI is the subject of the photograph here.
The Belgian Armed Forces were looking for a way to fully mechanize a gun by fitting it to a tracked vehicle. This had the advantage of providing the gun with a self-propelled mounting that didn't need to be towed into combat and could be more rapidly deployed. By being fitted on a tracked vehicle, this also provided for better cross-country mobility. Given the popularity of the Carden-Loyd Mk. VI, Belgium submitted an order for six examples and received them in 1931. Two guns were chosen as the test weapons with the first being the 76mm Canon de 76 Fonderie Royale des Canons (FRC; Royal Cannon Foundry) infantry support gun while the second was the Canon Anti-Char de 47mm Fonderie Royale de Canons Modèle 1931, mercifully shortened to C.47 FRC Mod.31. Each gun was fitted in a fixed mount centered on the front of the Mark VI which meant that while the gun had some elevation capability, to effect traverse, the entire vehicle had to turn in place. A gun shield was fitted to a metal frame that provided some frontal protection for the crew but when the vehicle was not in action, the gun shield could be tilted up and backwards that gave a meager measure of overhead protection from the elements. When testing commenced, the problems with the design were immediate. The biggest problem was the recoil of both guns with the Canon de 76 FRC having the largest amount of recoil despite its hydro-spring recoil mechanism. The recoil forces caused the front of the Mark VI to kick upwards and once the front end hit the ground again, the gun was no longer sighted and the target had to be re-sighted or reacquired. In addition, the violent motion caused undo strain on the chassis and running gear. Another problem was that the addition of the gun to the Mark VI along with the ammunition brought the combat weight of the tankette to 3 tons, a doubling of the weight without any compensation in regards to a larger, more powerful engine. As a consequence, the maximum speed was reduced and both the engine and the transmission suffered from more rapid wear which required additional maintenance hours as well as decreased the service life of the motor and drive components. Other problems included the very weak armor, the lack of crew protection overall, poor off-road handling, too little ammunition carrying capacity, and the fact that two men had to operate guns that normally were crewed by 3 to 5 men. The Canon de 76 FRC equipped Mark VI was refitted with the C.47 FRC Mod.31 and the remaining four were also converted to use the anti-tank gun, turning the vehicles into tank destroyers.
Despite the problems with the tank destroyer Mk. VI, all six were issued to the elite Régiment des Chasseurs Ardennais (Ardennes Chasseur Regiment), a mountain division formed in 1933 and which continues to serve to this day in battalion strength. The C.47 FRC Mod.31 was formidable anti-tank gun, the armor-piercing round having a muzzle velocity of 2,400 feet per second and capable of going through 1.9 inches of armor plate at 300 meters. This put it on par with many of its contemporaries and at the beginning of World War Two, it was a threat to many light and even medium tanks. Unfortunately, the tank destroyers were a disaster in service with the regiment where both the elevation and mountainous terrain degraded not only the mobility but the performance of the already overburdened engine as well. The Régiment des Chasseurs Ardennais hastily dumped the six tank destroyers on the Régiment Territorial des Cyclistes Frontière (border guard regiments) and the vehicle shown in the photograph specifically belonged to the 8e Compagnie, 2e Régiment de Cyclistes-Frontière under the command of Capitaine-Commandant G. Verjans.
At the start of the German invasion of Belgium that commenced on May 10, 1940, 8e Compagnie had only four of the Carden-Loyd tank destroyers left and all four were in poor condition. The remainder of the unit was comprised of six more modern T-13 tank destroyers, also equipped with the C.47 FRC Mod.31 gun. Verjans deployed the four Carden-Loyd tank destroyers into fixed camouflaged positions as part of the third Position Fortifiée de Liège (Fortified Positions of Liège or PFLIII) and in support of the 6e Compagnie under the command of Lt. A. Parent. Their defensive line was situated between the village of Lixhe and a connecting canal between the Maas (Meuse) River and the Albert Canal. The unit went into action on May 11, 1940, sometime in the late morning, early afternoon when German troops were spotted along the banks of the Maas River. Sporadic fire erupted between the Belgians and the Germans but the Germans made no attempt to cross. However, by 3pm that day, German forces had crossed the Albert Canal and at 10:30pm that night, the order to retreat was given. 8e Compagnie abandoned the four Carden-Loyd tank destroyers along with a number of T-13 tank destroyers due to mechanical problems. By May 20, 1940, the company was down to only four T-13s with the last battle being fought by 8e Compagnie on May 24, 1940 when the remaining T-13 tank destroyers covered the Belgian retreat to the Leie (Lys) River where the troops set up a defensive line between the villages of Izegem and Ingelmunster. Interestingly, the Germans did not attack the gathered Belgian forces there but accepted their surrender when Belgium capitulated on May 28, 1940.
