A small fleet with a distinct national history
Poland's Vickers Mark E tanks were a small imported fleet whose history changed substantially after delivery. The published core account is thirty-eight tanks initially supplied in the twin-turret Type A configuration, followed by conversion of twenty-two to the single-turret Type B arrangement. On that accounting, sixteen remained Type A. The conversions altered the fleet's combat capabilities but did not add twenty-two newly manufactured tanks. Sources
This national study complements the wider Vickers 6-Ton family rather than repeating its complete international history. Polish cooling changes, weapon installations, turret conversions, training and combat service deserve focused treatment. The later 7TP was a separate Polish development, even though its origin and technology are connected. Similarly, a Vickers-based diesel experiment does not turn every imported tank into a 7TP. Sources
Evaluation, purchase and deliveries
The Vickers design offered Poland a comparatively modern light tank at a time when imported equipment and domestic development had to be weighed against limited resources. Accounts describe evaluation around 1930 and technical concerns that included cooling. It associates the procurement contract with September 1931 and records a serial range of 408–445, but delivery dates are not completely consistent among the cited accounts. Sources
The broad delivery interval is 1932–1934. Some summaries describe a larger contract or spare-parts element, but the material does not support treating every contracted item as a complete fighting vehicle. Orders, delivered chassis and spare assemblies need distinct columns in any eventual procurement ledger. Sources
The single-turret change was a subsequent program. Accounts place the turret purchase in March 1934 and the principal conversion work in 1935. These dates describe a modification of the imported fleet, not a second acquisition of twenty-two complete tanks. The surviving secondary accounts do not settle every detail. Sources
Configuration and Polish alterations
The imported Type A used two small turrets with separate machine-gun installations. The converted Type B used one larger turret with a 47 mm gun and a coaxial machine gun. These arrangements changed the distribution of crew work and the targets the tank could engage. The configurations had different outlines and equipment rather than one universal Vickers appearance. Sources
The normal Polish crew reference is three. Local machine-gun patterns and ammunition were part of national adaptation, not simply copied from a British demonstration vehicle. The references identify rifle-caliber Polish weapons as the ordinary Type A reference and also records a limited 13.2 mm Hotchkiss installation. The number and duration of those heavy-machine-gun conversions remain less firmly established. Sources
Polish vehicles acquired visible cooling modifications. Photographs can help identify those external features, but exact workshop dates, universal application and associated internal changes need documentary support. The descriptive dw and jw labels are useful in later literature, yet cannot automatically be presented as period official designations without a source that establishes that usage. Sources
Technical performance and equipment limits
The baseline power plant is the approximately 80 hp Armstrong Siddeley air-cooled petrol engine, with the engine at the rear and drive at the front. Published accounts give the compact bogie suspension and the technical constraints imposed by the imported design. Its tabulated values include a road speed around 37 km/h and a road range around 160 km, while cross-country range is lower. Sources
Armor protection was light, with approximately 13 mm as the maximum reference. Different weapon fits and turret arrangements changed the fighting compartment without eliminating the limits of the hull. The common Type B ammunition estimate of roughly forty-nine or fifty gun rounds also cannot migrate into the Type A specification or be treated as a verified universal load. Sources
A standard radio fit and precise optical equipment are not firmly established. Photographs of a particular fitting do not establish that it was installed throughout the fleet. The V7TP diesel trial recorded for 1936 is therefore kept separate from ordinary petrol-powered vehicles, and the comparison with the domestically produced 7TP remains a relationship rather than an equipment substitution. Sources
Production accounting and service organization
The manufacturing story is principally an import and conversion story. The thirty-eight British-built chassis remained the same vehicles through later turret and weapon changes rather than representing repeated new production. The project's wording of thirty-eight Type A and twenty-two Type B is preserved as evidence, but cannot be summed to sixty without contradicting the conversion account. Sources
Training, maintenance and organization developed around a fleet too small to standardize all Polish armor. Vickers tanks helped establish experience with more capable light tanks, but their industrial impact is distinct from domestic production of this exact model. The published 7TP connection belongs in the cited sources of adaptation and replacement. Sources
Operator records after capture also remain uncertain. A photograph or designation may establish that another army encountered or possessed a vehicle; it does not establish extensive operational reuse. No unsupported post-capture fleet totals have been added to the overview. Sources
From peacetime deployment to the 1939 campaign
The account documents a visible peacetime and prewar role, including exercises, parades and the 1938 deployment connected with Zaolzie. That episode cannot automatically be described as a tank battle. The photographs of parades and roadside movements are useful for equipment and markings, but they do not provide direct evidence of firing or battlefield performance. Sources
In 1939 the Vickers tanks served in the 121st and 12th light-tank companies within different Polish formations. The combination of gun and machine-gun tanks gave those units differing capabilities within the same small fleet. Sources
Accounts emphasize limited armor, cooling and maintenance difficulties, ammunition and supply constraints, and the limits of the older machine-gun configuration. Those factors provide a framework for understanding service, but they are not a substitute for a verified engagement history. Particular combat claims and the fate of captured vehicles remain source-dependent. Sources
The family's wider significance is the practical experience it provided during Polish mechanization. It was neither merely an irrelevant import nor identical to the 7TP that followed. The national changes and small-fleet conversion history are precisely what make a separate Polish-service article useful. Sources
Evidence and historical evidence
The most important unresolved issues are the delivery schedule, the exact timing and distribution of modifications, unit-level loss returns, and the use of radios and specialist weapons. The article does not attempt to repair those gaps with general Vickers specifications from other operators. Sources
All five photographs are historical exterior views, but their uses differ. Some show conspicuous national modifications, others the distinction between turret arrangements, and others public presentation. The photographs show particular events and equipment configurations. A surviving Vickers in a foreign museum is valuable comparative evidence, not a surviving Polish-service tank simply because the overall chassis resembles one. Sources
Photographs and image credits
Background reading and references. Each photograph has its own source and credit.
Sources and further reading
Background reading and references. Each photograph has its own source and credit.
- Tank Museum — Vickers-Armstrongs Mark E collection page.
- Tank Encyclopedia - Type A — Vickers Mark E Type A in Polish Service.
- Tank Encyclopedia - Type B — Vickers Mark E Type B in Polish Service.
- P.I.B. Derela — Polish Vickers E pages.
- P.I.B. Derela — Polish Vickers E pages.
- P.I.B. Derela — Polish Vickers E pages.
- P.I.B. Derela — Polish Vickers E pages.
- World War II Database — Vickers 6-Ton Light Tank.
- Wikimedia Commons / National Digital Archive — Public-domain image of Polish Vickers Mark E Type A, 1932-1933
- Wikimedia Commons / National Digital Archive — File:Defilada 1936 Vickers E 3 1 0 6 2958 25 1 241477.jpg.
- Wikimedia Commons / National Digital Archive — File:Vickers E PIC 1-W-1657-4.jpg.
- Wikimedia Commons / IPN — Public-domain image of Type A tanks in Zaolzie context, 1938
- Wikimedia Commons / National Digital Archive — Public-domain May 1938 image of Vickers Mark E Type B tanks in Warsaw
