10 
LAND 6? WATER 
November 21, 1918 
The Tanks : 
By Major-General E. D. Swinton, C.B., D.S.O., R,E, 
(By request and with permission) 
" A little more of the Truth" 
I HAVE been invited to give some further information 
about the Tank — the most striking military invention 
of the war — and one which, during its short life, has 
probably had as great an influence on tactical methods 
and the course of operations on land as any other 
weapon. On its own element, indeed, its introduction has 
had a revolutionary effect ranking with that brought about 
by the power of the submarine at sea. 
The motto adopted for a previous very guarded article 
on this subject, written during 1917, and published in Sep- 
tember of that year in the World's Work in America, and the 
Strand Magazine in England, was ; " The Truth ; nothing but 
the Truth ; but not the Whole Truth." If any caption be 
necessary for this further discreet dissertation, none more 
suitable in the writer's opinion could be selected than that 
printed above. For. though over two years have passed 
since the Tanks burst before an astonished world, and more 
than twelve months since my last article appeared, almost 
the same limitations apply now, as then, as to what can 
and cannot be made public. It is true that the Allies seem 
by now — October. 1918 — to have climbed the steepest slope 
of adversity, to have passed the summit, and to be pressing 
the unspeakable Hun on the down-grade ; but the war is by 
no means over, and the moment therefore not yet come for 
• a complete revelation as to the birth and evolution of this 
still novel and not yet fully fledged arm. This, of course, 
refers to the necessity of not giving away information to the 
enemy. But there are other limitat ons to a full and frank 
discourse. A detailed account of the historical aspect of 
the development of the Tank would be of undoubted interest, 
but much would be of a controversial nature to be avoided ; 
whilst in a narrative of its actual employment there can be 
little of that comment which might season and quicken a 
dull statement of fact. 
Since September, 1917, the writer has been fortunate 
enough to have made two visits to the United States. Dur- 
ing the later visit he was for some three months touring the 
country, "spel binding" for the Third Liberty Loan and the 
United States Shipping Board. Besides being accorded a most 
cordial and more than friendly reception, he was afforded 
the unique privilege of being a witness of the awakening 
of a whole country — of a giant amongst nations — to the 
nature and extent of the present world crisis. And it seemed 
to him that to those millions of minds turned so steadfastly 
and inquiringly towards the progress of events in Europe, 
no single detail as to the conduct of operations or the methods 
of waging warfare was so welcome as any scrap of informa- 
tion about the Tanks, their nature, the history of their 
inception, their development, the method of their use, the 
results attained, and the possibilities of their employment 
in the future. This engine of war, owing to its novelty, 
its mechanical nature, and to the fact that, though an entirely 
British invention, its possibility was suggested to some extent 
by an existing American machine, seems to have captivated 
the imagination, almost the affection, of the American 
public. To prevent disappointment, therefore, to those 
readers of this article who may expect more enlightenment 
than they will receive, it is necessary to point out at once 
the unavoidable restrictions under which the matter must 
be handled. 
Firstly, a few words as to evolution. As was explained 
in September, 19 17, the basic conception of employing an 
engine of war to perform, under the different tactical con- 
ditions of the moment, what is now effected by the Tanks 
, is not new. And references were made to ancient and 
mediaeval equivalents of the Tank, and to a more modern 
suggestion of M. Albert Robeida, of Paris, in 1883. More 
recently the military critic of the Neue Freie Presse, in an 
article on the subject of the changes of tactics brought about 
by the action of Tanks (September 15, 1918), draws atten- 
tion to the fact that nearly four and a half centuries ago 
Leonardo da Vinci had conceived the idea of a similar engine, 
and in 1482 placed his views on record in a' letter to the 
Duke Ludovici Sforza. 
A year ago it was explained by the present writer that 
the possibility of creating a Tank was suggested at the very 
beginning of the war by the knowledge of the existence 
a«d performance of an American machine, the Holt tractor. 
But beyond this inspiration of what might be practicable, 
the Tank as used by the British Army to-day is an entirely 
British production. During the year 1915 the problem of 
constructing "Landships" or "Land-Cruisers," as they were 
then called, was seriously taken in hand in England by more 
than one body of officials. Some conceived the project of 
constructing a machine with very large wheels. Others 
pinned their faith on the employment of coupled steam road 
rollers, and one at least on the Hornsby-Ackroyd Cater- 
pillar. Trials were also made with certain existing tractors 
propelled on the caterpillar principle. Amongst the machines 
of the latter type experimented with as they stood, or of 
which certain parts were tried separately, the following were 
of American manufacture : the Holt, the Bullock, and the 
Killen Strait tractors. Neither the entire machines nor the 
separate parts of them, however, were found to be suitable 
for the purpose required, and all idea of making use of them 
was dropped. The final machine evolved — "Mother" — the 
prototype of all the British Tanks, which was officially 
tested in February, 1916, was, except for the adoption of 
the known system of caterpillar propulsion, the product of 
the brains of British engineers, both in regard to the general 
design and mechanical details. 
With the exception of certain small fittings, also, the 
machines were made entirely by British workmen, of Britisk 
materials, in the British Isles. 
The Magnitude of the Task 
In regard to production, partly owing to the mystery 
surrounding the whole subject, the nature of the task achieved 
by the directing Committee, and the British manufacturers 
and workmen engaged in making the first batch or instal- 
ment of Tanks, is neither appreciated nor even recognised. 
After the military authorities had seen "Mother" perform 
and come to the conclusion the Tanks might be of service 
to the Army, it was decided that some of these machines 
should be made. In Fe|)ruary, 1916, the order was placed 
for 100 machines, shortly after being increased to 150. The 
execution of this order entailed the lay out, the making of 
special tools for constructing a machine of a hitherto unknown 
type, the manufacture of special armour-plate, guns, gun 
ammunition, engines and gearing, the adaptation of certain 
machine-guns, and the manufacture of various minor fittings, 
all of which were the subject of searching experimental 
work. By September 15, or just over six months later, 
a number of Tanks were in action. The manufacture of a 
new and complicated machine, of which the type had not 
been sufficiently established nor the demand sufficiently 
large to enable output to be properly standardised, at a time 
when British factories were congested with other war work, 
was a tour deforce. Moreover, the necessity for maintaining 
secrecy as to what was going on complicated the work and 
handicapped progress. And the way that the secret was in 
fact kept by the thousands of men concerned is not the least 
remarkable feature of the whole business of the first pro- 
duction of this new weapon, which was a credit to Britisli 
patriotism, industry, and organisation. 
During 1916 the French were also busy inaugurating a 
similar weapon. It was known in England during that 
year that our Allies were constructing armoured climbing 
motors, the idea for which, according to M. Abel Ferry, 
writing in the Petit Parisian of August 22 of this year, 
was initiated in the summer of 1915. But the actual machines 
were' not seen by those engaged in producing the British 
Tanks until after the latter had already been "blooded" 
upon the field of battle. The lines upon which the French 
machines were developed were somewhat different from those 
adopted on this side of the Channel. 
To turn to the operations of the British Tanks. Un- 
luckily space does not admit of a full account of what the\- 
have done ; it is only possible to touch upon the high spots 
of their achievements. Their first employment in Sep- 
tember, 1916, was really in the nature of an experiment, 
since the new machines were not only untried in the field, 
but were the very first of their species, and were bound, 
under the acid test of actual service, to develop defects such 
as are inevitable in the infancy of every new invention. 
