A First World War machine gun in use against a German aircraft in 1917

The tanks, with their limited vision, passed by many enemy machine guns (of which there were great and increasing

numbers). These machine guns, unnoticed by the tanks, then caused heavy losses among the infantry. This made any

advances worthless because the tanks on their own had no way of holding the territory they had captured.

 

Adapted from T. Wilson, The Myriad Faces of War, 1986

A line of British soldiers blinded by gas

Although they gave valuable assistance to the infantry [soldiers on foot], they could not swim. Most of the day's history for tank commanders could be summed up in the

words, 'Bellied in boggy ground'. Many managed to struggle out of the oozy slime but the majority sank lower and lower, until the water came in through the gun doors and stopped

the engines. 

Lieutenant F. Mitchell in I Was There!

A Mark I tank – the type used on the Somme. Note the wire netting on the top. This was to stop grenades being thrown in. This is the first official photograph of a tank going into

action.

A British Mark V tank, 1918. This tank had a top speed of 7 kph. It had a crew of eight and it communicated using

carrier pigeons.

The tank advancing over firm ground crushed the German wire defences like so much paper, and left a clear pathway through which the infantry followed. Suddenly I noticed a

brick wall right up against the nose of the tank, but as we had been through so many before I did not hesitate, but just trod on the gas and charged straight through. A terrific rumble of masonry followed ... Gosh, we were inside a church, and had

routed [destroyed] a machine-gun nest. 

A.W. Bacon in I Was There!

A modern illustration showing how tanks dealt with enemy trenches. One tank is carrying a bundle of wooden stakes (a

‘fascine‘) bound with wire. This could be released from inside the tank into a trench that was too wide for the tank to cross. In this way the gap was filled and allowed the tank to cross. The other tank is using a large hook to uproot the enemy barbed wire and pull it away to let the infantry pass

through the gap.

Each section of tanks moved off in arrowhead formation. A platoon of infantry followed behind. Belts of barbed wire,

skilfully erected by the Germans, were trampled down by the tanks. Here and there the barbed wire was forcibly pulled out

and thrown aside by the grapnel hooks. German trenches, which were expected to cost many British casualties to

capture, fell to the tanks for half-a-dozen casualties. The number of infantry lives they saved is beyond calculation.

 

Adapted from A.J. Smithers The New Excalibur