History and military technology: April 2025

A former Centurion driver in the Royal Netherlands Army kindly accepted to be interviewed for the blog. D. was trained as a driver when he was conscripted, and drove a variant with the original petrol engine.

1. What do you think were the strong and weak points of the Centurion tanks?

Almost everything was mechanical everything needed a lot off maintenance

2. Centurions kept a gasoline engine in an era when other tanks moved to diesel. What was your impression of the engine?

The engine was good and still is, it only uses a lot of fuel, you almost didn't hear the tank coming in terms of sound, if you compare that with the leopard 1 or 2, can understand that many have switched to diesel, I think it saves half in terms of fuel consumption

3. Can you describe the ‘double-clutch’ when changing gears? Was there any gear which was more complicated to put into?

Clutch in, then put in 2nd gear, let clutch come up and drive, clutch in, gear in its free clutch in and shift to its 3, let the clutch come up and drive, in the terrain I do stiff shifting, which is then clutch in, pull on the left steering stick and immediately to the next gear, with downshifting the same as with double scrambling only with intermediate throttle

4. In terms of maintenance, was there any component or system that was more delicate? Were there any issues with the supply chain?

As a driver we only helped the chassis, lubricate, check running wheels, top rollers and the sprocket and of course the correct tension of the tracks, if there was something more serious, the tank was taken to the tank workshop where it was repaired

5. What was the maximum distance you covered in a day during deployments or exercises? Did the tank cope well or needed extra maintenance?

With Atlantic Lyon I think we drove about 50 or 60 km a day, it was only the refueling with jerry cans that they brought and checking the chassis and the oil oil of the main engine and auxiliary engine

6. Can you comment on the type of terrain that you drove on in the Netherlands? Historically a large area has been reclaimed from the sea, does this soil have any special characteristic?

We practiced most of it on the Leusderheide, which is a bit in the middle of the country and is more sandy soil, that area has never been sea, you did have more wear and tear on the tracks and sprocket on this ground

7. What was the maximum speed you managed to get in a Centurion? And in reverse?

Full throttle forward 35 km, but that was also the maximum, I don't dare to say

8. Can you remember the firing exercises? What was the maximum rate of fire? And the typical and maximum distance to the objectives? Did you fire on the move or it was done after a stop?

Yes I can remember that, we did the shooting series on the plateau near Berge Hohne, the tanks were there on line and shot at targets in the terrain that were up to 2 km away, as a driver we had peace and did not have to do anything, was more for the commander, gunner and loader

9. Did you practise NBC situations? What was the approach? How did it affect the crew performance?

In the training we had to go into the gas chamber that was filled with tear gas, and put on your gas mask there, that also went wrong if your mask did not close properly, also had regular gas alarms on exercises, but that certainly hinders, especially the view

10. Did you participate in any exercise with Leopard 1 (or any other tank)? How did the Centurion tank performed in comparison?

With Altantic Lyon practiced with the Leopard 1, the Centurion was much slower and slower compared to the Leopard 1

11. Did you train with personnel from other countries? Did you use any of their equipment? What were your impressions (training and equipment)?

No I never did that

12. You trained as a driver after being conscripted. Did you think the Centurion was a suitable tank for a conscript Army? Did you find the training (~2 months) was long enough?

Then it did, but yes I had never seen a tank, to learn the basics that is enough, the rest you learned in the ready time through exercises, you can compare it to your driver's license you pass but then you are not yet a driver, you learn to drive along the way

13. Have you had access to Soviet equipment now that the Cold War is finished? What were your impressions? Was there a system you liked or disliked?

Not so far, only have access to material that was used in the Dutch army from the early 1900s to 1990

14. Is there an anecdote you would like to share before finishing the interview?

No not really, the goal was to make our squadron a close-knit group which we succeeded, it was quite serious what we did, in the evening in the bar downstairs in the alloy building it was always fun while enjoying several beers.

Other interviews:

I am always looking for more veterans, active members or people related with the defence industry to accept interviews. If you enjoyed reading the material and would be happy to accept an anonimous interview you can get in contact with me. My e-mail can be found in this link at the heading. Otherwise leave a message in the comment sections.

History and military technology

Saturday, 12 April 2025

interview with a former Centurion driver in the Royal Netherlands Army