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The
tank, the dominant weapon of armies today had a humble beginning as a
brainchild of British field reporter Col. Ernest Swinston. Col. Swinston had this idea about the tank when he watched the of machine-gunners
and the massive loss of life when soldiers went 'over the top'. The
Army did not see the potential of this concept so Col. Swinston went to the
Naval Department headed by
Naval Minister Winston Churchill. Minister
Churchill was impressed with this idea so he set up a special "Landships"
Committee to test this revolutionary idea. The specifications for the
tank prototype that the Landships Committee would produce were, the ability
to hold ten men, two machine-gunners, as well as a two pound gun. |
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The produced tank however only contained three crew-members, and only had a
three miles-per-hour top speed. This was one mile-per-hour slower than
what was hoped for by the committee. The tank was first used by the British at the
Flers-Courcelette offensive
which was part of the Battle of the Somme. The tank was a partial
success mainly because the Germans had never seen anything like this tank
before. However, the tank had a major design flaw, it couldn't cross
trenches. This limited the tank's potential as an offensive weapon,
however, when the tank proved to be impervious to gunfire, many nations were
quick to improve the tank's potential. |
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Here is an American
mechanic's perspective on the new tank:
"We heard strange throbbing noises and
lumbering slowly towards us came three huge mechanical monsters such as we
had never seen before. My first impression was that they looked ready
to topple on their noses, but their tails and two little wheels at the back
held them down and kept them level. Big metal things they were with
two sets of caterpillar wheels that went right around the body. There
was a bulge on each side with a door in the bulging part, and machine-guns
on swivels poked out from either side.... |
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As you can see, the tank was a fearsome sight to those who had never
seen anything like it. Also, it was extremely formidable. The
terror it inspired alone, guaranteed it a place in militaries to come.
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