The Churchill Crocodile is a proud member of what would later be known as "Hobart’s Funnies", specially modified vehicles created under the order of Sir Percy Hobart in preparation for the D-Day landings at Normandy. The Dieppe Raid of 1942 showed that conventional tanks were, in many ways, inadequate for the soft, tractionless sand of beaches, which sparked the need for specialist vehicles such as the Churchill Crocodile and Churchill AVRE Petard to fill those needs. Produced as a field modification kit for the Churchill VII and made ready just in time for D-Day, the Churchill Crocodile proved to be an immovable object on the battlefield, easily clearing out German bunkers with its flamethrower while shrugging off any small arms fire with its thick armour. A major difference from other flamethrower tanks of the time was that the Churchill Crocodile still came equipped with its 75 mm main gun, meaning it could defend itself against enemy armour effectively. After World War II ended, some Churchill Crocodiles saw use until 1951 in Korea, until they were all withdrawn from service by that year.

The Churchill Crocodile was introduced during Update "Fire and Ice" as a reward for Battle Pass: Season IX, "Smell of Victory". A variant of the tech tree Churchill VII, the Crocodile has one key difference from its cousin: it can spew fire from the flamethrower mounted in the spot once occupied by the hull MG. This stream of fire is lethal when coming into contact with open-top vehicles, dealing heavy damage and all but guaranteeing death, much like in real life, but does no meaningful damage to enemies with enclosed tops other than blinding them temporarily. As the tank inherits the thick armour of the Churchill VII but also its poor mobility, the Crocodile plays mostly identically to the Churchill VII it is based on, with a much greater effectiveness against open-top vehicles that are close to it, but also being slightly worse at reversing due to the fuel trailer behind the tank.