Tessa the Tank
Tessa the Tank lives in a shed at Fretwell Tank Museum, in the South Riding of Yorkshire. She is an old tank who retired from duty many years ago.
Tessa is a Tetrarch light tank, and served with the British Army during World War II. She has a small gun, and her armour is not very thick, but she is very fast for a tank. She can drive at up to 40mph on a road, or up to 28mph off-road.
In 1942 Britain sent twenty Tetrarch tanks to the Soviet Union. Six British Tetrarch tanks helped in the invasion of Madagascar, along with six Valentine infantry tanks.
Twenty Tetrarch tanks took part in the famous D-Day landings on 6th June 1944. They were loaded into large gliders, and landed in fields behind enemy lines. Some of them were damaged during the landing. The remaining tanks helped the paratroopers that had also landed behind enemy lines.
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