Tanks in the Great War, 1914-1918

Accepting war as a science and an art, that it is founded on definite principles which are applied according to the conditions of the moment, we may scientifically reduce it to...

It is not proposed in this chapter to give an answer to the question: “Who first thought of the tank?” The idea of combining mobility with offensive power and armour, as the pre...

The existence of the French Tank Corps was due to the untiring energy of one man--Colonel (now General) Estienne. On December 1, 1915, this officer, then commanding the 6th Fren...

The following very brief account of the mechanical characteristics of tanks, it is hoped, will prove sufficiently simple and complete to give to the non-mechanical reader some i...

On October 20, the project, which had been constantly in the mind of the General Staff of the Tank Corps for nearly three months and in anticipation of which preparations had al...

On July 15 the renewed German offensive on the Château-Thierry--Reims front had been launched and failed. Strategically and tactically placed in as unenviable a position as any...

On September 4 all Tank Brigades were withdrawn from Armies and placed in G.H.Q. reserve to refit and reorganise. When this had been completed Tank Brigades were constituted as...

Like all other human energies, war may be reduced to a science, and had this, throughout history, been better understood, how many countless thousands of lives and millions of m...

In war the main problem to solve is--“How to give blows without receiving them”; it has always been so and is likely always to remain so, for battles are two-act tragedies: the...

The first comprises the fighting in the devastated area, the second the breaking through of the Hindenburg system of trenches, and the third open warfare east of this system. Ea...

The former placed nine-tenths of the German Army in the west, in a huge salient Ostend-Noyon-Nancy; the latter a considerable portion of that Army in a smaller one, Arras-Gommec...

de B. Doucet, O.C. Tank Carrier Units, and so commander of the first supply fleet which ever “set sail” on land, for information to be found in Chapter XXII; to Lieutenant-Colon...

Towards the middle of May it was decided that all three Brigades of Tanks, that is, the whole Heavy Branch, should take part in the forthcoming operations of the Fifth Army east...

Prior to July 1, 1918, no definite aeroplane and tank co-operation had been organised, though the want of such co-operation had been long felt, and in one of the attacks on Bour...

In March 1918 the 17th Tank Battalion was in process of formation at the Tank Training Centre at Wool, when the German spring offensive resulted in so great a demand being made...

During June and July three tank actions were fought: the first was a night raid on June 22-23, the second the battle of Hamel, and the third the battle of Moreuil or Sauvillers.

In order to record the personal experiences of each tank Crew Commander in battle, and to collect statistics as to the work of the tanks themselves, shortly before the battle of...

In this history space has forbidden any extensive reference to individual tank actions, though when all is said and done it was on these actions that not only was the efficiency...

The word “Reorganisation” is a word which will never be forgotten by any member of the Tank Corps Headquarters Staff; it was their one persistent companion for over two years. I...

Early in February 1916 a Conference was held at the War Office, to decide as to the training of the personnel for the tank units it was now decided to raise. At this Conference,...

With the close of the battle of Cambrai the British Army abandoned the offensive, which had been initiated on April 9, and a period of passive defence was developed. At this tim...

From September 1916 onwards to the conclusion of the war, German anti-tank tactics passed through three phases. Firstly, the enemy had no anti-tank defence at all, or what he de...

On July 1, 1916, the battle of the Somme opened with a successful advance on the British right between Maricourt and Ovillers, and a check on the British left between Ovillers a...

Tanks, like every other arm of the Army, require a highly organised supply service, and being cross-country machines they must be served by machines of similar powers of locomot...

On April 2, 1917, the United States of America entered the Great War. Up to this date tanks had not accomplished much. British machines had taken part in the battles of the Somm...

On October 12, the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 15th Battalions were withdrawn and placed in G.H.Q. reserve, and on the following day the 6th Battalion was transferred to the 4th Tan...

The tardy development of both tanks and anti-tank defences has been referred to; from this it is evident that the Germans did not take kindly to the tank idea. In the tank they...

The training of the Heavy Branch having been laid down, it was next necessary to discover and decide upon a common method of tactics,[21] so that directly individual instruction...

The battles of 1914 were primarily infantry battles based on the power of the rifle, and it was not until 1915 that the quick-firing gun and the heavy howitzer began to replace...

The organisation of the “mechanical engineering” side of the Tank Corps constituted the backbone of the whole formation, for on its efficiency depended the efficiency of the fig...

The Mark I tank was the direct produce of the experimental machine which was officially tested on February 2, 1916. It may be defined as “a mechanically-propelled cross-country...

In battle, co-operation between the commander and his troops, and between the troops themselves, depends very largely on the efficiency of the signal organisation. In a formatio...

As soon as the position resulting from the great German attack of March 21 began to stabilise steps were taken by the Headquarters of the Tank Corps to reorganise and refit its...

On account of the assistance rendered to the British infantry by tanks during the battle of the Somme a decision was arrived at in England to despatch a number of these machines...

During the many battles and engagements in which the Tank Corps took part many appreciative special orders and letters were received from the Higher Commanders under whose order...

The situation at the end of April 1917 was a difficult one for the Allies. The failure to penetrate the Drocourt-Queant line had rendered the whole plan of the British attack ea...

As a result of the repulse sustained by the British forces at the Second Battle of Gaza in April 1917, the troops operating were withdrawn from their exposed position and the Ta...

The first “Instructions on Training” were issued to battalions of the Heavy Branch towards the end of December 1916. They are of some interest, as the _esprit de corps_ and the...

The foundations of the success or non-success of a battle rest on its organisation, that is, on the preparations made for it. This is the duty of the General and Administrative...

In spite of the fact that throughout the war the Germans never had at their disposal more than some fifteen tanks of their own manufacture and some twenty-five captured and repa...

The battle of Messines may be looked upon as the high-water mark of the artillery attack, which was first developed by the British Army during the battle of the Somme. The time,...

[22] Major O. A. Forsyth-Major (Second in Command of the Egyptian Tank Detachment), on whose report this chapter is based, lost all his documents and maps at sea in May 1918 whe...