Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers Information

Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE), also known as Assault Vehicle Royal Engineers is the title given to a series of armoured military engineering vehicles operated by the Royal Engineers (RE) for the purpose of protecting engineers during frontline battlefield operations.

In protecting engineers, the vehicles also became a mobile platform for a variety of engineering purposes, mounting large calibre weapons for demolition, carrying engineering stores, mine clearance explosives, a variety of deployable roadways, and modified engineering bridges for gaps that the related Armoured Ramp Carrier ("ARK") vehicles could not overcome.

Extremely high casualty rates among engineers was one of the primary reasons for the failure of the Dieppe raid of August 1942. Engineers were tasked with getting the tanks off the beach, destroying obstacles and building ramps. In the assault, the engineers were prone to gunfire while setting charges, and became a priority target for the defending forces. Those that did make it to the point where ramps could be built had lost much of their supplies on sunken landing craft. With tanks unable to leave the beaches, the raid stalled and failed.

Following failure of the raid, a Canadian engineer attached to the Department of Tank Design proposed a vehicle to protect engineers during assault operations. Development commenced based on the experiences at Dieppe. Experiments used Churchill, Sherman and Ram tanks. The side door became a critical component for the new vehicle, allowing engineers to exit the vehicle under protection, and retreat back inside while blasting. In October 1942 a prototype based on the Churchill tank was ordered. The Churchill proved ideal, having a large amount of space inside for demolition stores, and side exit doors. The interior munition storage was removed, as was the turret basket and co-drivers seat, replaced with stowage. This provided space for 36 cu. ft. of demolition supplies and tools.

The turret, initially not required, was retained allowing a petard mortar to be added. The petard mortar was a separate development, firing a large demolition charge, the "Bomb, Demolition Number I", that became known as the "flying dustbin". Development on this began in September 1942 and was united with the Churchill turret following experimental use on a Covenanter tank. With plenty of space inside the Churchill, a number of "flying dustbins" could be carried in addition to the demolitions stores. The petard was reloaded through a sliding cover that replaced one of the forward drivers hatches in the top of the hull.

Together the vehicle was named Assault Vehicle Royal Engineers. Trials of the new vehicle were undertaken throughout 1943.Note that the vehicle was not known as "Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers" at this time.

Production commenced in 1944 based on a mixed fleet of Churchill III and IV vehicles. These were assigned to three regiments of the Royal Engineers forming the new 1st Assault Brigade Royal Engineers, part of the 79th Armoured Division. The vehicles became the basis for a range of modifications and additions as part of Hobarts Funnies.

AVRE vehicles have been known by several different names through their lifespan.

Secrecy over the meaning of the codenames given to Hobarts Funnies in the lead-in to D-Day led many to refer to the AVRE simply as an "engineer tank", most not knowing the AVRE name or what AVRE stood for. This led to confusion with other types of engineer tank, such as recovery vehicles. In October 1943 an army training memorandum was issued removing the ambiguity in naming and defining the "Assault Vehicle Royal Engineers" name for all users.

The majority of documentation continued to refer to the abbreviated "AVRE" (or "A.Vs.R.E." in plural). Even the Churchill AVREs own instruction book did not explain what A.V.R.E. stood for. With infrequent use of the full form, naming became confused.

At the end of the war, the Final Report of the 79th Armoured Division, the records of the Department of Tank Design, and the official history of the 1st Assault Brigade Royal Engineers, all use the "Assault Vehicle" terminology. The official history of the 79th Armoured Division states "Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers" however, although notes that it was rushed into print. As the latter was provided to all members of the division, the "Armoured Vehicle" terminology gained significant traction.

The vehicles continue to be referred to primarily in the abbreviated "AVRE" form. When rarely defined, both the Churchill VII AVRE and the Centurion AVRE became known by both Assault and Armoured terms interchangeably, with the latter Armoured term becoming more common. Nomenclature settled on Armoured Vehicle with the introduction of the Chieftain Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers. "Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers" has since become the accepted term, retrospectively applied to previous vehicles in most references.

More recently, the AVRE designation appears to have been dropped from Trojan.

Churchill AVRE was a Churchill III or IV armed with a 290 mm petard spigot mortar, officially designated; Mortar, Recoiling, Spigot, 290mm, Mk I or II. The mount replaced the 6 pounder gun in welded turrets on the Mark III and cast turrets on the Mark IV, otherwise the vehicles are identical. The 6 pounder gun mounting was modified, and retained the 6 pounder sights although "flying dustbin" effective range was only around 80 yards of 230 maximum.

Crew was increased to six to accommodate a demolition NCO in addition to driver, commander, gunner, wireless operator, and co-driver/machine gunner.

Internal ammunition stowage and the co-driver / hull gunners seat was removed to provide compartments for demolition charges. This housed stores of the "General Wade" 26 lb explosive charge, and "Beehive" charges of up to 75 lbs of explosive. Both types of charge had to be set manually, but could be detonated from the relative safety of the AVRE interior. In the remaining space, compartments in the sponsons were created fore and aft of the side hatches for "flying dustbin" ammunition.

Post-war, new Churchill AVREs were created using the Churchill VII base vehicle re-armed with a short barrelled L9A1 165 mm demolition gun. This fired a 64 lb (29 kg) HESH round.

FV4003 Centurion Mk 5 AVRE. Armed with a short barrelled L9A1 165 mm demolition gun, it entered service in 1963, replacing the Churchill AVRE. The vehicle was later renamed AVRE 165 relating to its primary armament. The armament was capable of firing a 60 lb (29 kg) high-explosive squash head (HESH) round.

The vehicle front added a dozer blade to the front, and frequently towed the Giant Viper for mine clearance or other trailers for stores. Large turret bins provided stowage. The dozer attachment was also provided on regular tanks as the FV4019 Centurion Mk 5 Bulldozer.

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