The Man Who Invented the "Tank" 



The Drtadnoufiht of the 

 This is Sir William Triuon beside one of liis newest 

 and liiiKfst tractors, useful in dra«Kin« the lieavie.st 

 artillery. ile and Col. E. D. Suinton are the 

 inventors of the far famed "tank". ConcerninR tlie 

 advent of the tanlcs, the widely-known Eniiliiili 

 writer, Ian Hay, recently wrote: 



"Down in the forest sometliinK stirred. From 

 till- (hiiths of the wood opjiosite came a cracklinK, 

 • riinchinK Honnd, as of »(>me prehistoric beast forc- 

 inK its way throuuh tropical underKrowth. And 

 then, suddenly, out from the thinning edijc there 



Battlefield and Its Father 



loomed a monster — a monstrosity. It did not filide, 

 it did not walk. It wallowed. It lurched, with 

 now and then a laborious heave of its shoulders. 

 It fumbled over a low bank. It cros.sed a ditch, by 

 the simple expedient of rolliuK the ditch out flat. 

 In the middle of the dearinc, twenty yards farther 

 on. Raped an enormous shellcrater. a present from 

 the IC;iiser. Into this the creature plunKed blindlv, to 

 emerRe, pantiiig and puftiiiK, on the farther side. The 

 tank took notice of nothiuR. None whatever. She 

 simply went waddling on, onward — toward Berlin." 



SS8 



