In the early morning
of September 15, 1916,
a strange sound came out of the fog,
floating along the Somme river.
It was a growing monotonous rumble
accompanied by metallic clanging.
The sound grew until, finally,
gigantic shapeless silhouettes
resembling mythical monsters
emerged from the fog.
These seemingly unstoppable monsters
advanced ceaselessly
into the German trench
defensive positions,
spitting fire
and crushing everything in their path.
NM: In the German trenches
of World War I
this guy’s reaction
must have been typical
to the size of this huge
metal monstrosity slithering it’s way
unstoppably across the battlefield.
With a common question “What is it?”
RC: This incredible beast
is the first ever combat tank,
it is the Mark I.
And the last remaining Mark I
in entire World doing exactly
what it designed to do – break through
the defenses of the enemy lines.
NM: And when you come
to the tank museum of Bovington
this is one of the first things to see
and it sets the stage
for the next 100 years of the tank.
It all started with an odd partnership
between an expert
in Agricultural Machinery
and a Royal Naval Air Service Engineer.
Tritton and Wilson were attempting
to solve a very practical problem:
how to break the trench stalemate
that had frozen the Great War for years?
It occurred to them to use
the common farm tractor as a base.
They turned the tractor around,
back to front, the engine was moved
to the center of the vehicle,
and the hull was covered
with a sheet of steel.
Thus was born Little Willie:
the first tank.
NM: So, we’re now surrounded
by the first generations of tanks
RC: We’ve got the Mark II,
the Whippet and the Renault FT-17.
But, taking pride of place,
in the middle, Little Willy.
NM: The progenitor of them all,
the first demonstrated
to be somewhat successful tank
and do say somewhat successful
RC: A result of the Landship committee
formed by sir Winston Churchill
NM: Which, being a naval organization
led to all the naval terms
used to label the tank today
like the bow, the hatch,
the sponson and so on
RC: But there were problems
with Little Willy and the main issue
which were never sorted
past this was the tracks.
It wasn’t fit for purpose.
The tracks just couldn’t cope
with what was design
for crossing these obstacles
NM: No, in terms of the soft ground,
the track were fine,
but when it got to the trenches,
it couldn’t do it.
Which is what led than
to the rhombus design,
which we commonly associate
World War I tanks today.
The machine adopted
a long diamond-shaped hull
to better accomplish its primary goal:
breaching and crossing trenches.
The idler wheels on the vehicle
were lifted up as high as possible
and prevented the tank
from creeping down the trench,
while the sprocket wheels
were put as far back
and low as possible.
In the end, what emerged
were small land-based
ironclad battleships,
equipped with casemate weapons...
the first tanks deployed in battle.
RC: We’re now outside with
this incredible replica of the Mark IV
and the first thing you notice
is it’s not a quick vehicle
NM: No, this is combat speed
about 6 km an hour, 4 miles an hour.
But if you’re looking at it
from a viewers perspective
as a German you see this thing
coming towards you,
spitting fire from the guns,
this is a significant emotional event.
RC: It must have been
absolutely terrifying.
What it does give to us though
is a great outline of rhomboid shape.
Of course, allowing it to go
over obstacles much easier.
NM: Trenches, barbwire,
that sort of things.
You got shorter 6-pounders,
not as long as you've already seen on the Mk1.
RC: And a Lewis gun on the other side here on the sponson.
And, of course, the other differences between this,
the Mk4 and the Mk1 was the armour,
greatly improved over the Mk1.
NM: Not that it'll stop much exept small arms
still but a better chance.
The sponsons, you'll see,
would actually slide in
for rail transport.
RC: And the other biggest difference, of course,
was the engine on the Mk4 as opposed to the Mk1
NM: Which is relocated, but to see that,
we got to go inside.
RC: So, here we are, in the Mk4,
right in front of the vehicle
and in the commander's
and the driver's positions
NM: Right, you call it the driver
and that's because he does have access
to the gear lever,
he's got the brake, he's got the clutch
and the accelerator and retard levers.
Now that's it, he doesn't have
any steering controls
which is a bit of an issue for a driver.
RC: And really, steering of the Mk4
was an issue anyway,
at stages there were up to 4 of the crew,
that's half of the crew involved in steering the vehicle,
which is unbelivable.
That's because on the commander's sides
of the commander
was also the assistant driver,
I've got 2 steering brake leavers,
left & right for me here.
And I was also the bow gunner,
so, busy man the commander.
NM: Down to having a little hole there
for shooting your revolver out of
is across over trenches,
if the tank wasn't enough.
The armor was 10-12 mm thick.
It was enough to withstand
small arms fire, but not much more.
Even with this,
the vision slits were still vulnerable,
and injuries from shattered bullets
were quite common.
NM: So we’ve moved now
to the main crew compartment
and very obviously in the middle,
exposed to all to burn themselves on,
the 105 HP engine
RC: And just behind this engine,
right to the rear of the tank,
we’ve also got the transmission.
And can you imagine, Nick,
the problems we’re having this engine where it is?
I mean, first of all, communication,
the sheen noise of it must’ve been awful for the crew.
NM: And then you’ve got also the darkness
because you wouldn’t have this camera light,
you’ve got the noise,
the commander would have a hell of a time.
RC: And now a tank is not a tank without a gun,
of course and across here we’ve got
a first of our two 6-pouners.
NM: The ammunition, as you see,
is still pretty much everywhere
around the tank and for the purposes
of the demonstration,
we’ll give around to the gunner here.
RC: So, take this round,
put it on to the loading platform.
Unfortunately, I’m not allowed
to push all the way forwards.
Close the breach.
Optical sight system on top.
Very good sight system, times 2 magnification.
And fire the gun!
Despite the fact that 5 out of 32 tanks
got stuck, and 9 broke down
during the initial attacks,
the remaining vehicles were able
to fully demonstrate the potential
of this new weapon.
The attack on the 15th of September, 1916,
along the Somme,
was the birth of a new era.
By the end of WWII,
tanks played an integral role
on the battlefield,
and that was only the beginning
for the triumphant progress
of tracked combat vehicles through history.