We are here on Trafalgar Square,
one hundred years after the British first deployed their solution
to trench warfare...
Codenamed "The tank".
To mark the occasion,
crew from Wargaming and The Tank Museum were at
Trafalgar Square in the early hours of the morning.
Their mission?
To carefully deploy a Mark IV tank
into the centre of London to draw the attention of the General
Public to this prestigious day...
Today's the hundredth anniversary
of the first tank attack and to commemorate that
we've brought a replica first world war tank back
to the square, and the thing is,
is that the tank was here in
world war 1 in Trafalgar Square.
The idea that the government
realised the tank was such a good propaganda weapon,
it was so good for public morale,
they took a tank in the Lord Mayor's Parade.
They drove it around London.
It had such an impact in the
public they then started to think
"hang on, we could do more with this".
They took a tank into Trafalgar Square,
parked it up and they used it
to help raise money for the war effort.
So in a way we're recreating something that's already happened.
What brings you here to Trafalgar Square this morning?
I've seen on twitter this morning,
one of the PR guys,
photographers for the British Army
put something about some tanks being down on Trafalgar Square
and something to-do with a 100 years battle.
Thought I'd come down and take a look!
It's the hundredth anniversary of the battle of Flers,
which is the first tank action
I guess it's a tank
It's a tank, yeah!
Do you know why it's here though?
No
You have no idea?
What if I said it's exactly
a hundred years ago, today,
that the first tank deployed into combat?
I'm speechless , I've looked into it
so I know a little bit about the history of tanks
Yeah, the battle of the Somme was
exactly 100 years ago today
and that's why we have a tank here.
What do you think of the tank, the Mark IV?
It’s brilliant, it's absolutely beautiful.
I wish I could get inside it!
Yeah I wanted to ask this morning,
but you were all setting up it was just a tad busy!
This is a replica I take it?
It is a replica, yes.
I was going to say, I don't think it’s full scale is it?
It is full scale, it's a lot bigger,
you'd imagine it's a lot bigger
Tanks, a hundred years?
Not a clue
I live 5 minutes away.
I saw a news report this morning.
I normally catch my bus
directly over there.
So I said “on the way to work
I would definitely have a stop and at least take 10 minutes
just coming here and seeing it”.
Because this is for me,
from a nostalgia purpose this is something.
I used to have replicas of this as a child,
I used to play with this.
So to come and see a life-sized version of it,
a real version of it,
I couldn’t miss the opportunity. So that’s why I’m here.
I’m guessing at 11 o’clock you’re going to be at work
because it’s going to be driving down the street.
I phoned in, you know, I said “I’m going to be late today”,
I had to come and see it.
So we’re delighted to see you
here today to join us in commemorating
Many people spoke about
what the tank meant to them,
but as the midday sun
was shining it was Winston Churchill's
grandson Sir Nicholas Soames
who stole the show
On the 23rd of September 1914,
Winston Churchill wrote a detailed
memorandum from the Admiralty,
about the urgent need to develop a mechanical device
to influence and move trench warfare on.
By the end of that Month Churchill,
having enlisted the help of the Duke of Westminster,
who was an officer in the Armoured Car
division of the Royal Naval Air Service,
and other officers, started to drive
forward this plan with great vigour.
Ladies and gentlemen 100 years on,
we should honour the memory
of those who developed
these extraordinary weapons
and the immense sacrifice
in two world wars by those
who fought in tanks and
changed the face of battle forever.
Today, you guys have seen,
a tank in Trafalgar Square.
It’s a very special moment for me, a special moment for all of us.
Trafalgar Square, for those of you who don’t know,
is the heart of our national life.
It’s where we come together to party,
it’s where we come together to protest,
it’s where we come together to mourn and celebrate
and commemorate, and today we’re commemorating
one of the most important
British innovations in our history:
the birth of the tank,
its arrival on the battlefield in 1916.
They go on of course to
dominate warfare in the 20th century.
I’ve read a lot of letters that
were written by the German soldiers,
they found these tanks terrifying,
they’d never seen anything like it.
These lumbering beasts coming towards them,
inexorable - charging across the battlefield.
So for both sides the tank
loomed very large.
In World of Tanks we are celebrating this great date:
the 100 years anniversary of the
first tank battle in all the platforms.
On World of Tanks PC, just today,
the special event started called Convoy.
On consoles we also have starting today,
a special event called trench warfare,
where players will drive actual Mark IV’s.
There will be as well a
special map created specifically
for commemorating one of the big battles
of the first world war.
In World of Tanks Blitz,
they will start their event on the 19th of September,
quite soon, and players will have
to drive Mark IV tanks,
fighting against each other
and we really want to attract them
to participate in the celebration of this event.
What have you thought about the day today,
especially the Mark IV driving down
on London, central London?
It’s ridiculous,
I’m not sure if in any conflict
tanks were ever in London.
I’m pretty sure they weren’t,
I’ll need to double check but I’m pretty sure they weren’t.
So to actually see tanks and, particularly of that age, in London,
is really quite marvellous.
And then at the same time,
coincidently in Horse Guards Parade,
there was a challenger
2 tank which was there for a recruitment drive.
And so then we thought on our feet and had
the Mark IV replica,
delivered to Horse Guards Parade,
and then you literally have
a Mark IV tank next to the challenger
2 like 100 years of tanks,
the A-Z of British tanks were right there.
And so that was the point
I whipped a tear from my eye, it was amazing.
A hundred years ago
the tank started with a machine
not-so dissimilar as the one behind me,
the Mark IV.
But over a hundred years
it had to evolved into a completely different beast
and who better to explain the changes then non-other
than Richard Cutland, also known as “The Challenger”.
Hi Luke, I mean where do-you even
start to go to do the comparisons between them.
There is no comparison.
And of course what we have to appreciate
is that the Mark IV,
one of the first ever vehicles,
was there and it’s intension of it on the battlefield was
to cross obstacles.
That is what it is all about.
The great comparison now of course,
just behind us we’ve got the latest British
main battle tank, the Challenger II.
The last tank I ever served on.
The differences between it
are absolutely vast.
I mean we’re talking about: digitisation, the firepower,
protection, mobility.
From a crew perspective,
I mean, I have to appreciate that,
what it must’ve been like,
to serve inside the Mark IV,
must’ve been horrific.
And today’s a very poignant day for me,
of course we’re not only paying
tribute to a hundred years of some
amazing advances in technology,
but also we’re paying tribute
to the men who served on these particular vehicles.
And really, just to finish off the day as well,
I want to pay my very personal respects to the guys who are
still serving today on the Challenger II,
and throughout the world of course.