The development and introduction of tanks in World War 1.

These landships used the revolutionary caterpillar track design to move the chassis of the tank. To keep the design a secret they called it a “water carrier” to help their troops in Africa with moving water across the dunes”. So the committee would be called the “wc” committee but the name was quickly changed to water tank because WC was another way of saying toilet in Great Britain at the time.

The first men to work on the tanks would be selected from the others for their knowledge of machinery.To keep the wonder weapon of the British a secret they would be told they were working on a water tank used to bring water to the troops in africa.

Development

Churchill and the landship committee had some very strict requirements that would have been very hard to reach very taxing on the equipment that they would be able to use at the time.

The first design would be a armoured tracked box called “Little Willie”, the original can be seen at the Tank Museum in Bovington UK

Little willie had many faults, the main being the tracts were not long enough to bridge the gap of the 8foot trench, also quite narrow to let it easily sink into the ground. Couldn’t do parapet or sharp turns but ok on 4mph. Not long after the Mark1 called Mother, was born, she was first to use the iconic rhomboid shaped hull. It also had wider tracks, and tracts went around the hull instead of beside. meant the front hull could dip into trench using angled front the power of engine make tracts crawl up side of trench and length of tracts meant that the vehicle could be powered as it was bridging the trench. This design meet all specifications. The original armament of Mother would have been 4 sponson mounted machine guns, and one forward facing hull mounted machine gun. This would be known as the female variant of the Mark 1 tank. The male variant would be armed with one forward facing hull mounted machine gun, and 2 sponson mounted light artillery guns. 60 vehicles of these tanks were built proceeding the Battle of the Somme.

The Battle of the Somme was the first combat test of these new land battleships. 60 of them were sent to the front lines to assault the town of Flers, 36 made it to the front line a further 12 made it to the town itself. The rest either destroyed, broke down or bombed. as a first test this was underwhelming “COLE, Charles. Private, Coldstream Guards, British Expeditionary Force, Western Front.

We heard the chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk, then silence! The tank never came “. But the vehicles which had advanced proved an asset to the infantry that followed. The infantry could use the tanks as mobile cover from the German machine guns. The both male and female used their sponson mounted weapons to shoot along the trench as they crossed it. Clearing it for the infantry to capture it. The battle of the Somme was the first time a tank was used in battle and the last time there would be a cavalry charge across no man’s land.

In 1917 there would be the first Tank on Tank encounter. Were a trio of British mark 5 tanks would meet 2 German A7V heavy tanks.Not long after Americans would join the war.

In 1918 The most advanced and widely produced tank of its time would be the French Renault FT17. its 360 degree traversable turret and its small size gave it a Hugh advantage over the bigger and slower German tanks. It also had 2 crew compartments instead of the traditional one large compartment. This meant that they could reduce the amount to men needed to man the tank to 2 people. the British mark5 needed 8 people it also meant they could man more tanks quicker. This design was also given to the Americans in 1918. This lead to its mass production. It was a versatile machine because it could be easily fitted with a 37mm gun or a light machine gun.

SUCCESSES

Though tanks themselves were not overly successful there use in combined arms with infantry made them extremely valuable.

There were 3 main areas of their success

This was brought by the thick armour of the Tanks that made them impervious to machine gun fire which meant they could cross no man’s land with minimal obstruction from the enemy infantry. These behemoths of steel could be used to block machine gun fire from hitting allied infantry which gave the infantry a clear path to cross no man’s land. Its ability to cross the trenches meant it could keep a push going until the tank was either taken out or broken down. The infantry could then easily dispatch the shocked German infantry which had just seen their main advantage i.e. their heavy fortified position and machine guns made null. This will also improve the moral of the men as they could safely move into the much more well prepared German position making their quagmires that they called trenches look like prime real estate.

The shock and awe factor had its first major success on the Somme in 1916. Both the Allies and the Germans were not expecting the tanks to come charging over no man’s land and bridge their trenches. But the Allies soon realised that these tanks were on their side and soon after charged after. this speed factor was used to great success with the Mark 1 “Whippet” or “Greyhound” tank. It was much faster than the heavier Landships but packed much less punch. It was armed only with machine guns. But it used its greater speed to find gaps in the German line and use those gaps to attack the vulnerable rear of the German army which consisted of baggage trains, ammunition dumps and artillery guns. These emplacements were not prepared for the to attack by the Greyhounds of their position and so were easily taken out. With no artillery support the German main line would not be able to withstand the attacks of the allied infantry and their land ships.

The great size of the land ships meant they could soak up a lot of the incoming fire that before the use of tanks would have cut down many ranks of infantry. But because they were so broad it meant you could have many ranks of infantry advancing with the tanks. The tanks if taken out could be used as a large piece of stationary cover that the infantry could advance to with relative safety. The tanks could crush machine guns giving the infantry a clear path to advance to the German trench. They could also stop while traversing the trench to give the allied infantry cover but also a bridge to cross the trench.

INFLUENCE

One of the biggest influences of the tanks is the change of the tactic that were employed when they were paired with the infantry and the command of the tanks should be shared with the command of the infantry“It seems, as the tanks are an auxiliary to the infantry, that they must be counted as infantry and in an operation be under the same command.”Swinton” this was a new type of warfare that was caused by the stalemate that was the western front. this mixture of mechanized warfare and infantry was the most devastating to the opposition and it proved that with the implementation of the tank with the infantry it could be the force that could win the war.

the second and by far the largest overall influence was the way that it changed warfare for the rest of time, we can now see that the tank has major involvement in nearly every major conflict that the human race has been part of since World War 1 to the present day. Because of the tank many generals have become a household name like Patton from the US and Rommel for Nazi Germany. the tactics that these men used are still being studied and they wouldn't have to come to such a prestigious place in history without the tank.