Churchill AVRE Petard

This page is about the British heavy tank Churchill AVRE Petard. For other variants, see Churchill (Family).

Churchill AVRE Petard

Churchill AVRE Petard

Britain

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.7	2.7	2.7

Class:

PREMIUM

Heavy tank

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

Description

The Churchill Mk.III AVRE Petard , officially the "Mortar, Recoiling, Spigot, 29mm, Mk I", was the first vehicle to bear the name "AVRE" (Armored Vehicle Royal Engineer) as a breakthrough tank for British Army's Royal Engineers. By 1942, after the dreadful Dieppe raid at very high man cost due to the lack of means for beachhead breakthrough, especially beachheads with extensive bunker/pillbox and during explosive works on breaching obstacles. This led to a program to develop a vehicle specifically for this purpose and serving as a mobile cover for royal engineers while operating in the battlefield; after the evaluations done on different tanks, the Churchill infantry tank became the chosen vehicle for this mission. Aside from some components were replaced by engineering supplies and having larger side doors for infantry operation, a new 290 mm spigot motor dubbed "flying dustbin" was also installed in the turret as the ranged demolition charge without having to leave the vehicle during crossfire. After trials in 1943, the new vehicle now known as the AVRE was ready for service and proved very successful during the breakthrough stage on the Normandy Landings on June 1944, where the 79th Armored Division with their "Hobart's Funnies" vehicles successfully provided reliable support for the first wave of assault groups. The AVRE name would also be retained for all new vehicles designed for these purposes, including the Centurion Mk.5 AVRE which was still in service in Gulf War of 1990s.

Introduced during Update "Alpha Strike" as a reward for the 2024 Operation Overlord event, the vehicle retains most features from a conventional Churchill Mk.III tank with sufficient protection, but when players see the oddly short yet high caliber spigot motor at very close range, the "flying dustbin" will be the very last thing they ever see before the vehicle is blasted into pieces.

General info

Survivability and armour

Smoke grenades

Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle

Armourfront / side / back

Hull89 / 76 / 51

Turret89 / 89 / 76

Crew5 people

Visibility87 %

To conclude the protection of AVRE in one simple sentence: identical to a baseline Churchill III. By its tier, Churchill has a relatively reliable protection thanks to its true identity - a heavy tank (although officially an infantry tank); before jumping straight into a game, the "reliable" protection is not equal to invincible as there are still some cannons that can penetrate the III series i.e Soviet F-34 and German Kwk 42, as well as US 3 inch guns. In most cases, if their shot falls onto sloped parts of the hull, AVRE will very unlikely be harmed at all; be sure to keep the flanks clear and not as aggressive as on standard Churchill series since it takes more than 15 seconds to reload the petard, any missed shot is the worst decision players can ever made.

As for the crew and internal compartments, the overall layout is mostly identical to a III, but the major difference goes to the remaining demolition charges stored inside the vehicle, while the sufficiently spacious interior might migrate some damage, a direct hit on those charges will certainly blow the turret into the height of Big Ben. So pointing the hull at oncoming fire is very essential for the service of Churchill AVRE.

Armour type:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
ull	89 mm Front plate 89 + 89 mm Front plate (MG Port) 38 mm (63°) Front glacis 76.2 mm (19°) Lower glacis	63.5 mm Overall side armour 76.2 mm Side hatch 38.1 mm Side edge||50.8 mm 25.4 mm (60-69°) Bottom	19.05 mm Front 15.87 mm Rear
Turret	89 mm (0-49°) Turret front 89 mm (0-30°) Gun mantlet 19.05 mm (77°) Roof area||76.2 mm (0-47°)||76.2 + 7 mm||19.05 mm

Notes:

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB30 / 3 km/h

RB and SB28 / 3 km/h

Number of gears4 forward

1 back

Weight39.0 t

Engine power

AB668 hp

RB and SB350 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB17.1 hp/t

RB and SB9.0 hp/t

Churchill Mk.III uses identical engine to any previous or later production of Churchill series, namely the Belford "Flat Twelve" 12 cylinder, horizontal petrol engine; maxed at 350 hp, although it can drive the vehicle, but this also means it would never be the first to hit the frontline due to its rather slow acceleration and topped at 24 km/h.

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	30	3	39	_,___	668	__.__	17.13
Realistic	28	3		_,___	350	__.__	8.97

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB566

RB645

SB770

Crew training3 400

Experts23 000

Aces160

Research Aces380 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 40 / 60 / 60 %

2 × 118 / 118 / 118 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Suspension Brake System Filters Transmission Engine	Improved Parts Improved FPE Crew Replenishment Smoke grenade	Horizontal Drive Adjustment of Fire Elevation Mechanism

Armaments

Main armament

230 mm Petard mortar

Ammunition16 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

26.0 → 20.0 s

Vertical guidance-3° / 15°

Players might have some confusion with the official name of the tank and its true caliber; the 29 mm is in fact referring to the spigot (the tube that the ammunition inserted onto), the ammunition itself is 230 mm and known as the Petard or commonly as the "flying dustbin" referring to its dustbin like appearance. With around 17.8 kg TNTe of demolition charge, a single hit can literary demolish most, if not all targets AVRE will face at its tier; be careful of its rather long reload time (reloaded by driver from a overhead hatch into the barrel) and damages to the ammunition itself even from machine gun fire.

230 mm Petard					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	16	-3°/+15°	±180°	-	__._	__._	__._	__._	__._	_.__	_.__	_.__	_.__
Realistic					__._	__._	__._	__._	__._

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
No.1 Demolition Bomb	Rocket	64	64	64	64	64	64

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
No.1 Demolition Bomb	Rocket	50	18.14	0	0.1	17.73	79°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
16	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__

Machine guns

7.92 mm BESA machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition9 450 rounds

Belt capacity225 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate600 shots/min

All British-built tanks in WWII retains a .303 BESA machine gun; in this case, the machine gun is retained in the turret for taking out exposed crews of enemy vehicles.

7.92 mm BESA
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
	___ (___)	___	__°	__°

Usage in battles

Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Huge explosive filler in mortar shell can obliterate anything it touches, even above its BR
• Due to curved arc of the mortar, it can be easily lobbed over obstacles or terrain to hit target hiding behind them
• Extremely thick armour, especially for its BR

Cons:

• Extremely terrible shell velocity; cannot shoot further than 10 meters in a straight line, and has a maximum range of only 150 meters
• Being a mortar shell, the shell takes very long time to lob and descend onto the target if shooting at range, making it nearly impossible to hit moving targets
• Due to very limited range of the mortar, the tank struggle to perform in open terrain where virtually all of the enemy can outrange it
• Mortar shell can be detonated inside the barrel, potentially causing lethal damage
• Very poor top speed and mobility, highly vulnerable to airstrike

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

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• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.