The History of Valentines day

Now that I have established myself as a somewhat reputable source, I think that I should take a stab at clearing up a lot of the misconceptions around this holiday, and the tank that shares its name. I’ve heard a lot of talk about saint valentine, and how it’s a day to share affection with the ones that you love, and all that is kinda right, but misses a lot of the important details. Got a lot of things to cover, so lets just dive right into it.

A lot of people wonder why the Tank, Infantry, Mk III was named the Valentine, thinking that it was perhaps named for the holiday. Let’s just clear this one right up and address the elephant in the room. The tank isn’t named for the holiday, the holiday is named for the tank.

Yes, there was a saint Valentine, but before the tank Valentine was just a name. Latin in origin, Valentine roughly translated to mean valiant or strong, and was common back in the days of the roman empire. But there was no special significance to it, and people didn’t go around celebrating valentine’s day because it didn’t exist, not until 1941 anyway. But our story begins before that, in 1938.

Reading the tea leaves and seeing that war was, if not looming, then certainly becoming more of a possibility, the British war office put out a request for more infantry tanks to be produced. Matilida I was already in production, and Matilda II was being designed by the Vulcan foundry, but things were running behind. So, they turned to Vickers (which had basically given Italy, the Soviet Union, Poland, Greece, China, and Finland their first tanks) and invited them to create a infantry tank of their own.

Their first meeting just laid out specifications, but at the second meeting on Feb 13 1939 they had something of a design figured out, based on the A10 Cruiser tank. However, they wanted a codename. What they went with was Valentine, named as such because it was a clever acronym (Vickers Armstrong Limited Engineers, Newcastle upon TYNE) and also because the late Sir John Carden (chief inventor of the Carden Lloyd gun carrier and former technical director of Vickers) had Valentine as a middle name. Nothing else was thought of it.

However, then the war started, and then Dunkirk happened. Most of Britain’s equipment was lost, and the new tank was still undergoing trials. Immediately after this, the battle of Britain happened, and for a time, until November of 1940, there was a sincere fear of a German invasion. With the winters arrival this fear had abated, but the national mood was dour. Put simply, Britain had had its ass kicked, and was surviving by the skin of its teeth. Something was needed to boost morale.

And that something was Valentine’s day! The Valentine tank had just started production, it was new, modern, and it could show that Britain was not out for the count yet. A holiday to celebrate this symbol of British resilience and will to fight could lift the spirits of the country after a hard 1940. So, the date was picked, moved to the 14th due to superstition around using the 13th as a date for a holiday, and declared by Winston Churchill as a new national holiday. When he flashed the famous V, it wasn’t for Victory (well, it sorta was), it was for Valentine!

Valentines Day was a day to find your loved ones, and for soldiers in training perhaps someone to love, and to feel good about the future of Britain, and know that the war wasn’t over and that there still plenty of fight left in the free world. And after the celebrations, and the good news from Africa, it had worked. Morale was right back on top again.

And helping things was the fact that the tank was pretty good too. It was actually reliable, it was relatively simple to make, its gun and armor for the time were pretty competitive, and it wasn’t even all that slow. People loved it.

Indeed, the valentine soon became not just a symbol of British resistance, but international resistance to fascism. When the soviet union was invaded, Britain offered to help, and sent over several tanks to trial. The soviets wern't picky, and would use whatever they could get their hands on, but they specifically asked that they receive as many Valentines as could be spared until the end of the war.

France too would get Valentines. In starting up its wartime economy, Canada cut it’s teeth producing Valentines, shipped off around the world to Russia, the UK, and elsewhere. Even the United States chipped in, making engines and transmissions for the tank in a show of solidarity.

And as it spread throughout the allies, and throughout the world, so too did Valentine’s day, being celebrated in the UK and Commonwealth, Soviet Union, and United States in 1942.

As the war wore on the tank itself began to wear out its welcome. However, in the UK it was more than a tank, it was a symbol. And so it was modernized.

First with a enlarged turret for a crew of 4,

Then with the 6 pounder,

then the 75mm.

They even used the chassis to make the best anti-tank gun/ worst self propelled gun of the war.

when they started being pulled from mainline service (but the 6 pounder and 75mm ones would fight to the end of the war) the chassis was used for all manner of experiments, like duplex drive,

Bridge layers

mine exploders

and whatever the hell this is.

Despite its age, Britain didn’t want to give up on it. And neither did anyone else. The soviets dutifully used them until the wars end. The little tank had gone as far as it could go though, and was retired in all countries from all service.

But, the holiday remained.

So on this Valentines day, whether you are enjoying a dinner and a movie with someone you cherish, or pounding down a fifth of bourbon to drown your sorrows, just remember where this little holiday comes from.

Have fun figuring out what is accurate, if anything.

is this entire post just a shitpost about the valentine tank for valentines day?

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yes, the shittest shitpost.

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Valentine is a cute little bugger of a tank.