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And the solution was quite ingenious, in it's days. The British Mk I was much more stable than the first German tank, the A7V, which was prone to toppling over, and had a much better parapet-climbing ability than the first French attempts, the CA 1 and the S:t Chamond. It was however underpowered, making it extremely slow - a man walking on foot had no problem to keep up. It was also very difficult to drive. The driver could only engage the two lower of the four gears, the upper two being controlled by two special gearsmen at the rear of the vehicle, who reacted to his signal - usually the banging on the engine with his right hand, as the engine was so noisy it was impossible to talk or shout, followed by holding one or two fingers in the air. Small changes of direction could be affected by the commander, by carefully engaging the handbrakes, which he, not the driver controlled. In order to make a larger turn, the machine usually first had to be stopped. The Mk I was also a very uncomfortable machine to crew. Beside being extremely noisy, the lack of ventilation made the insides very hot and stuffy, and fumes from both the engine and the guns often entoxicated the men. The suspension was not sprung, and due to the fact that less than two meters of the tracks were in full contact with the ground, the whole vehicle moved with a slight rocking motion. The vision slits where few and small, and the entry hatches as well, making it very difficult for the whole crew to get out in time - especially if was the variant equipped not with guns but with machine guns: there the doors were far to small and cramped. But still it was a formidable weapon, that could inflict horrible casualties on the enemy, if only the conditions were right.
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The Mk I was first used in combat on 15 September 1916, as a part of a renewed offensive on the Somme area. They participated in a local attack by 10 infantry divisions, intending to open a 6 km wide hole in the German trenches at Flers. Some 50 tanks were slated to participate, but due to untried technology, 18 of these broke down even before the assault began. The rest rolled slowly into action, chocking the German defenders and in most cases penetrating their lines.
One of these were Tank no. D17, nicknamned "Dinnaken", commanded by Lt. Stuart Henderson Hastie. It punched through the German barbed wire, paused for a while, sending enfilading fire down a trench. Followed by British troops it then lumbered into the ruined village of Flers, where it went straight up the main road, impervious to both MG fire and handgrenades, shooting up one after the other of the German strongpoints. Then, running almost into the British barrage, it slewed aroud and thundered back, again showering any surviving defenders with fire. Overhead, a British observer flew by, and later dropped this famous report over the British lines: "Tank followed by cheering multitude marching through Flers".
The new weapon had made it's debut. |
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shows the "Female" MG-equipped variant, and is a converted Airfix kit. It portrays Tank no. D9 "Dolly", which attacked right alongside "Dinnaken", but got stuck early while attempting to cross a trench. The tank is shown in it's later guise, post-Flers, without the roof by chicken-wire, that was supposed to protect it from handgrenades, and
without the wheeled tail assembly, that was supposed to be a steering aid, but in practice was useless.
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The Worlds first operational fully tracked armoured fighting vehicle, or "Tank" for short - thelatter as we all
know, it's cover name, purporting it to be a "Water Carrier". It's strange romboid-form with tracks running around the whole hull, was an attempt to counter two of the main draw-backs of the original design: it's inherent instability and it's poor trench-crossing
ability.
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