12 
LAND 65? WATER 
November 21, 1918 
Their crews also md been trained in haste, and were not fully 
practised, while no proper tactics for their operations had 
been CTolved ; and the "crumped," otherwise crater-pitted, 
ground over which they had to advance was almost impas- 
sable, even for them. And yet the results of this first essay 
were considered so eminently satisfactory as to justify a 
continuation of the employment and an expansion of the 
new arm, the expediting of every effort to remedy the defects 
that had been brought to light, and the development of the 
proper method of their co-operation. 
On September 15, igi6, the most dramatic episode was 
the capture of the village of Flers by Tanks at the time when 
our infantry had been held up by their usual and hitherto 
unconquered enemies — machine-guns and barbed wire. 
This event, it will be remembered, was thus signalled by 
wireless back to Headquarters by an aviator : " A Tank is 
walking up the High Street of Flers, uilh the British Army 
cheering behifid." A little message which will not only be 
historic because it marks an epoch in tactics, but is remark- 
able because, brief as it is, it accentuates a very important 
point— the great moral effect produced on the infantry 
soldier by the first appearance of his steel-clad brother. 
So far the immense psychological influence of the Tanks 
upon the troops against whom they are employed and upon 
infantry of the side using them has not gained the attention 
it deserves. On this day also, two other Tanks performed 
remarkable feats. One got astride a German trench and 
enfiladed it with its fire, so causing the surrender of 300 
Germans, whilst the other silenced a German battery single- 
handed. Ten days later, during the same battle of the 
Somme, at the attack on the Gird trench, when our infantry 
were again held up on a front of nearly a mile owing to the 
same cause, one Tank came up and waddled along the barbed 
wire, destroying it, and so enabling our riflemen and bombers 
to follow. The trench was captured, many Germans were 
killed by fire from the Tank, and eight German officers and 
362 other ranks, who had "bunched" away from the Tank, 
surrendered. The casualties on our side amounted to five. 
During the battle of the Ancre, in the following November, 
400 Germans surrendered to two Tanks which at the time 
were actually "ditched" and incapable of movement. 
At the battle of Arras in April, 1917, the machines were 
again used, on ground which snow and heavy rain had ren- 
dered extremely unfavourable for their action. They 
assisted the infantry in many cases in ways similar to those 
described, and their performances were such as to earn the 
congratulations of the Commander-in-Chief. Later, at the 
battle of Messines, though the ground over which they 
had to manoeuvre was particularly unfavourable, being 
absolutely honeycombed with craters, the Tanks again proved 
their value. 
In the Yprcs Salient 
The third battle of Ypres, which commenced on July 31, 
1917, and lasted for many weeks, was fought under 
weather conditions and over ground most difficult for the 
new arm, which, indeed, had no chance of showing what it 
could perform. Yet, amongst many failures, most of which 
were due to the mud, there were several instances of highly 
successful action. On one occasion one male Tank, which 
had knocked out a German machine-gun emplacement and 
by its fire enabled our infantry to seize a farm bristling with 
machine-guns, then became ditched and was left isolated by 
the subsequent enforced retirement of our infantry. So soon 
as the latter had withdrawn, the Tank was surrounded by 
the enemy and attacked with machine-gun fire and bombs. 
For 68 hours the crew resisted all the efforts of the Germans, 
and only on the third night, upon the approach of our own 
infantry, evacuated their "bus." This incident is not given 
as an illustration of Tank tactics, but as an example of the 
gallantry and devotion which have been consistently shown 
by the members of the Tank Corps.f*^' ^ ■ 
So far, on every occasion, including their debut on the 15th 
September of the previous year, the new machines had been 
thrown into the fight under conditions adverse to them. 
It was not until the battle of Cambrai, on November 20, 
1917, that they were used on a more favourable terrain in 
large numbers, and in a manner which enabled their special 
powers to be exploited. The first part of this action, indeed, 
was an object-lesson in the launching of a Tank attack. 
As is well known, this battle opened by a surprise, brought 
about by the sudden launching of a mass of Tanks without 
the usual preliminary and tell-tale artillery bombardment. 
The preparation for this, entailing as it did the careful 
co-operation of all arms, the accurate movement and secret 
concentration of large numbers of these slow-moving and 
bulky machines, was a masterpiece of organisation, followed 
by thorough and determined action which produced astonish- 
ing results. Our troops assisted by Tanks broke through 
the boasted Hindenburg line, made an advance of four 
miles depth on a front of over six miles, and captured in one 
day about S,ooo prisoners and 100 guns. One striking and 
very important point of this "push" was the small cost in 
life with which it was executed ; infinitesimal, indeed, in 
comparison with the casualties incurred by us in previous 
offensive actions of a similar scale, which had not even 
resulted in success. As a minor but nevertheless important 
item it may be mentioned that all the gun ammunition 
usually expended on the artillery preparation was saved. 
Later, in defence against the German counter-attack on 
November 30 and subsequent days, the Tanks again proved 
invaluable in a different r61e. On this occasion they assisted 
to stem the onrush of the triumphant German infantry, 
not the least feature of their intervention being the encourage- 
ment it gave to our own men. 
After this, during the winter months, there was a lull in 
the fighting generally, which respite was shared in by fhe 
Tanks ; and it was not till the great effort of the Germans to 
break through between the British and French, which started 
in March, 1918, that the Tanks again played a part. P>om 
March 21 onwards they were thrown into the fight at 
many points to co-operate in fighting rear-guard actions, 
in counter-attacking and recapturing lost villages and strong 
points, and generally to assist to delay, if not to stop, the 
advancing avalanche of the enemy. In this r61e they proved 
as useful as they had been on November 30, 1917. The 
moral effect of their appearance upon the German infantry 
was again most marked. On the 26th of this month the 
new smaller machines, known familiarly as "Whippets," first 
took the field, with the success which was expected from 
their special qualities. An amusing incident in connection 
with their first appearance was that many of the German 
infantry took them for their own Tanks, of whose existence 
they had heard but which they had not seen, and cheered 
our machines as they advanced round the village of 
Colincamps. 
A " Whippet " Feat 
There again ensued a short lull in Tank activity till April 24, 
during the second phase of the great enemy offensive, when 
the momentum of the attack had spent itself and the Ger- 
mans had reached the high-water mark of their advance to 
the east of Amiens. On this day the Whippets distinguished 
themselves in an isolated action which deserves special 
mention. Seven of these machines, sallying forth from the 
village of Cachy, bound on an operation of their own, arrived 
at a ridge, not four miles from their starting-point, and found 
it strongly held by the enemy, with many light machine-gun 
groups ensconced in shell-holes. Darting from one crater 
to another, they engaged the machine-gun nests success- 
fully and then proceeded over the brow of the hill, where 
they discovered three battalions of German infantry in the 
open, apparently forming up to attack. Without hesita- 
tion the machines at once charged this body, shooting right 
and left, at close range, into the huddled mass of men, and 
by their unexpected onslaught caused panic amongst the 
surprised Huns. Some fought where they stood and were 
run down. Others, throwing away their arms and attempt- 
ing to bolt, were shot or were chased and run down. Others 
surrendered. It was the Whippets' day out, and they liter- 
ally ran amok. After having thus broken up the enemy's 
formation, spoiled their contemplated attack, and inflicted 
not less than 400 casualties, the little pack of W'hippets 
returned to their starting-point, having themselves suffered 
a loss of one machine and five officers and men killed and 
wounded. "^ 
The next action of importance in which the Tanks took 
part was on July 4, when they co-operated in the highly 
successful attack carried out by the Australians and Americans 
at Hamel. On this occasion they were specially useful in 
nosing out and destroying the numerous machine-gun nests 
hidden in the standing crops, which would otherwise have 
caused us terrible loss. 
On the i8th the French executed their magnificent counter- 
offensive which may be characterised as the turning-point 
of the war, and in this they were assisted by a large fleet of 
their own Tanks, to which chars d'assaut m'any of the Ger- 
man authorities agree in attributing their defeat. Five days 
later British Tanks co-operated with the further French 
attack near Montdidier, when, amongst other exploits of 
the usual nature, they dispersed the detachments of a Ger- 
man battery at 150 yards range. The prisoners taken here 
again attribute their failure to the presence of the Tanks. 
{To be continued.) 
