In Algeria there were many damaged Churchill tanks, but around 60 % of them sustained damage to the turret only, and were perfectly drivable. Gee (Sgt), No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Wikimedia In some cases, an entirely new engine had to be installed. Mechanics quickly found a solution – semiaxles from Ford vehicles fit perfectly and were much stronger. For example, when the British Churchill tanks were going through some field tests, crews struggled with gear selector levers – they were bending and breaking because of the light-duty metals used to make these rods. Sometimes working in field conditions required some unconventional methods and creativity. Mapham J (Sgt), No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Wikimedia You can see a Churchill ARV – repair and rescue vehicle – in the background. Broken tracks had to be repaired on the run. Not very fast and not very smoothly, but it is certainly enough to move to a new spot for further repairs. For example, when tracks get broken and lack some segments, they are shortened – as long as they cover the driving star, the tank will move. They would pull immobilized tanks out of the military action zone so that they could be repaired in location or could be sent off to larger repair shops. Some of these vehicles were made using actual tank’s chassis, to give its crew more protection. Therefore, special repair and rescue vehicles used to be sent into the battlefield to recover damaged tanks and other heavy machinery. Abandoning such valuable vehicles was never an option.
Usually, the tanks were not heavily damaged at all, but were immobilized by broken tracks or minor powertrain problems. No 1 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Chetwyn (Sgt), Wikimedia Specialized vehicles had to rescue damaged tanks from the battlefield.
If repairs were not possible (if the tank was too badly damaged), machines were salvaged for spare parts, so that lightly-damaged tanks could be brought back to battle. Not only they were expensive to make, they were extremely valuable in a battle and different units could not afford to wait for new machines to arrive. While that certainly happened in some cases, tanks were usually rescued and repaired. In some places, people still believe in legends and myths that damaged tanks were left behind. Tanks were extremely important in the Second World War.
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