First Tanks

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The tank had an interesting role in World War One. The tank was first used at the little known Battle of Flers. It was then used with less success at the Battle of the Somme. Though the tank was highly unreliable as one would ex ect from a new machine it did a great deal to end the horrors of trench warfare and brought back some mobility to the Western Front. The idea of the tank came from a de!elo ment of farming !ehicles that could cross difficult land with ease by using cater illar tracks. "owe!er# the British army$s hierarchy was dominated by officers from the !arious ca!alry %horses& regiments that existed. 't the start of World War One# the first engagement between the British and (ermans had in!ol!ed ca!alry near )ons. This seemed to em hasise the im ortance of such regiments. "owe!er# trench warfare had made the use of ca!alry null and !oid. *a!alry engagements fought in mud ro!ed !ery costly and from a military oint of !iew# ho eless. +es ite this seemingly ob!ious fact# senior military commanders were hostile to the use of armoured !ehicles# as they would ha!e challenged the use of ca!alry in the field. The leading light in su ort of the tank was ,ieutenant-*olonel .rnest Swinton. In /0/1# he had ro osed the de!elo ment of a new ty e of fighting !ehicle. The (ermans# British# 'ustrians# 2ussians and French all had armoured fighting !ehicles that could fight on 3normal$ terrain# but these !ehicles could not co e with trenches that were soon to dominate the Western Front. Swinton had recei!ed some su ort from those in authority but many in the army$s (eneral Staff were dee ly sus icious. Swinton needed an exam le of the machine that he belie!ed would alter warfare on the Western Front. By 4une 0th /0/5# agreement was made regarding what the new wea on should be. It should6 "a!e a to s eed of 1 m h on flat land The ability to turn shar ly at to s eed The ability to climb a 5-feet ara et The ability to cross an eight feet ga ' working radius of 78 miles ' crew of ten men with two machine guns on board and one light artillery gun. One su orter of the ros ecti!e new wea on was Winston *hurchill.

's the stalemate on the Western Front continued# so the dri!e to find a wea on that could break this lack of mobility became more intense. )ost of the original designs were based on designs from the "olt tractor com any. "owe!er# their !ehicles were designed to o erate on muddy land but not the churned u landsca e of the Western Front. The first 9tank9 to ha!e any form of cater illar track was a !ehicle designed by ,ieutenant W Wilson and William Tritton called :,ittle Willie:. :,ittle Willie: was ne!er designed to fight but to ser!e as a tem late for de!elo ment. :,ittle Willie: de!elo ed in to :Big Willie: which started to bear a resemblance to the first )ark /. :Big Willie: was rhomboid in sha e and had guns mounted in blisters on the sides of the hull. The first tanks arri!ed in .uro e on 'ugust ;8th /0/< but the crews were faced with ma=or roblems. One tank commander wrote6 "I and my crew did not have a tank of our own the whole time we were in England. Ours went wrong the day it arrived. We had no reconnaissance or map reading....no practices or lectures on the compass....we had no signaling....and no practice in considering orders. We had no knowledge of where to look for information that would be necessary for us as tank commanders

On Se tember /5th# ;< tanks made an en masse attack at the Somme. Originally there had been fifty of these machines but these thirty ton machines could not co e with the harsh lunar landsca e of the churned u ground and fourteen had broken down or got bogged down. 2egardless of this a new era in warfare had started.