With the development of the British 17 pounder in 1941, there was a pressing need to mount it on a tank. The Crusader was ruled out as too small leaving the Valentine chassis as the basis for Archer 17 Pounder Self Propelled Gun. Given the size of the gun, the design had the 17 pounder pointing to the rear with limited traverse. They served during WWII in NW Europe with British anti tank battalions.