ADVENT OF THE TANK

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 82, 19 September 1947, Page 3

ADVENT OF THE TANK

STORY OF SOMME BATTLE DIARY OF 1916 Raking through a diary which a digger artilleryman left for us to use whenever we wanted it, we read under the date line September 28, 1916, that the tanks, or rather what was left of them, were limping back from Delville Wood on the Somme. There is a brief comment about the horses shying like mad when they spot these monstrosities and some natural wonder that they can travel over such rough territory and that is about all.

On September 15, the third and successful phase of the Somme offensive opened, the New Zealand Division being assembled in the Delville Wood area. The previous night Britain’s new secret weapon, never before tried in battle—the tank—had made its first appearance in the front line. Much was hoped from this untried weapon, although it was realised that there had been little opportunity of practising cooperation and it was expected that the tanks would act largely as free lances in the field of battle. Four of them were allocated to the New Zealand sector outside Delville Wood, but one broke down at Logueval. They were still in the first stage of development. Their pace was not more than an average of 33 yards a minute, or 15 yards a minute over badly shelled territory. They carried a crate of pigeons for communication with headquarters and different coloured flags to denote to the infantry that they were out of action, or had arrived at their objective. Their mission was, roughly, to move in front of the infantry, attack certain positions at which particular resistance was expected and assist the infantry in clearing/difficult places if called on. The Germans appeared to have heard of the tanks but did not realise their full import. On September 14, it was later discovered from captured documents, German air spotters had seen the tanks moving up into the line and had reported them as heavily armoured cars. At 6.20 on the 15th, the attack opened. The infantry poured over the top behind an artillery screen and steadily moved towards their objectives. Of the tanks, there was no sign. Predetermined lines had been left in the barrage for the tanks to pass, but they had been delayed by the broken ground.

At 7.5 a.m. there was still no sign of the new weapon. The infantry was steadily consolidating and the battalions reached their assembly position in the rear of Brown’s line, well up to time. Just after 8 a.m., the barrage moved forward, but again the tanks it was to cover were not up and 20 minutes later the Second Rifle Battalion started forward unaccompanied by a barrage to fulfil its allotted part in the battle. The history of the New Zealand Division in France makes its first reference to the tanks in action when it states that at 10.30 a.m. the men lying in sullen discomfiture in the shellholes became aware of two tanks, one of which rolled over to the left boundary by the North Road while another smashed the wire and stamped out an enemy machine gun post. The new British weapon was thus to prove of some value. In the wake of the tanks followed a party of. 10 riflemen and bombers of the 4th Battalion, who had pushed forward to add impetus to the attack. The little party, coming on top of the dismay inspired by the tank, actually captured 100 prisoners.

By 11.30, however, the tanks had gone to the right, out of the sector, or had been destroyed. Further on in the history there is a scanty mention of one of the deserted tanks that had become a German stronghold east of Flers, but there the account fritters out.

In actual fact, there can be no doubt that the new weapon was initiated to battle prematurely. As has been stated: “The tactical experience of the officers in command was not at this time equal to their gallantry,” but more important still, the machines were not equal to the terrain they had to cover. The gigantic paralellograms of steel, three times as large as their successors which were used to such effect in the war just ended, could not cope with the pitted, murderous country at that time. By the end of the war, the design had been modified and the many successes recorded later in the war established their claim as one of the most potent fighting machines since the advent of the gun.