Weapons of War - The Tank

One of the more famous weapons to emerge from the war was the tank. The tank was nothing more that a farm tractor with armor plating surrounding it. The British Mark I tank was an American built Holt tractor with steel plate welded to it.

The key push for the tank came from originally a navy man, Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of England during World War Two). He proposed that what was needed to break the deadlock of trench warfare was a land battleship. The land battleship would be able to advance through no man's land (through the machine gun bullets and artillery) and take enemy trenches.

The name "tank" comes from the security urrounding the development of the weapon. The British did not want the Germans to know what they were developing, so they used a code word. The British called the new vehicle a "water carrier." The story was spread that these vehicles were being built to carry water to the men fighting in the Sinai Desert. The name stuck with the vehicles when they were shipped to France in crates stamped "Tank." They thought if the German saw the crates anywhere, they would think they were water tanks.

The first tanks were not very successful. They only moved four to six kilometers and hour and weighed 30 tons or more. Most of the tanks were armed with machine guns, but a few were also armed with cannons. Yet the tank was able to drive over trenches, barbwire, mud, trees and machine guns. To compound the limitations of the tank was the decision to use them before they were fully tested.

British General Haig was so desperate to find a way to break through German lines that he forced them to be used as quickly as possible. Without understanding tactics and the necessary support, he sent them into battle in 1916. Of the 49 tanks he was able to scrape together, 17 broke down just driving to the battlefield. Many of the others became stuck in the mud due to their weight and the terrain. Haig had selected a flood plain to launch the first tank attack.

Although only a few tanks made it to the enemy lines during the attack, they were effective. They had done what men had been unable to do. They defeated barbwire, artillery and machine guns. The effect of the tank on the Germans was significant as well. A great deal of panic was spread in the German trenches as many just ran from the giant monsters. It did not seem to matter what they fired at the massive tanks they just kept on coming.

The First Tanks in Action, September 15,1916
We heard strange throbbing noises, and lumbering slowly towards us came three huge mechanical monsters such as we had never seen before. My first impression was that they looked ready to topple on their noses…Instead of going on to the German lines the three tanks assigned to us straddled our front line, stopped and then opened up a murderous machine-gun fire, enfilading us left and right. There they sat, squat monstrous things, noses stuck up in the air, crushing the sides of our trench out of shape with their machine-guns swiveling around and firing like mad.

Everyone dived for cover, except the colonel. He jumped on top of the parapet, shouting at the top of his voice, "Runner, runner, go tell those tanks to stop firing at once. At once, I say." By now the enemy fire had risen t a crescendo but, giving no thought to his own personal safety as the saw the tanks firing on his own men, he ran forward and furiously rained blows with his cane on the side of one of the tanks in the endeavor to attract their attention.

Although, what with the sounds of the engines and the firing in such an enclosed space, no one in the tank could hear him, they finally realized they were in the wrong trench and moved on, freighting the Jerries (Germans) out of their wits and making them scuttle like frightened rabbits.
Bert Chaney