There are many weapons and technologies that one associates with modern warfare, but the
biggest symbol of war of the last 100 years is unquestionably the tank, which was developed
during the First World War, and basically used everywhere since then, and today I’m
going to talk about tank development during World War One.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to a Great War special episode about tank development in
the First World War.
The concept of a new mighty armored vehicle had been floated within months of the war
breaking out.
The Western Front was already a stalemate and the British were impressed enough by German
barbed wire and machine gun defenses to want to create some sort of a “machine gun destroyer”.
Armored cars and trains were nothing new and combined mobility and safety, and most armies
used them to some degree, but the problem was to come up with something to use on the
broken blasted ground, the deep trenches, and the barbed wire of the Western Front.
Years before the war, though, the caterpillar tracks of companies like Holt that made farm
machinery were already used in gasoline powered tractors that could cross terrain impassable
for wheeled vehicles, so the technology was already there.
Ernest Swinton, official war correspondent on the Western Front, and also an officer
in the British army, wrote of the need for new machines, and by June 1915 his ideas were
being discussed in the Landships Committee, established by Winston Churchill and Eustace
D’eyncourt, but they weren’t really talking about anything more than an armored Trojan
horse that could transport many soldiers behind any lines at this point.
The Invention Committee, on the other hand, came up with specific demands for a new vehicle:
It has to have a top speed of no less than 4 MPH.
It must be able to climb a 5 foot parapet and cross an 8 foot gap.
It should be able to reverse.
And it wasn’t merely enough to cross no-man’s land; it should be able to fight as well.
Many bureaucrats and politicians were skeptical, but a prototype, Little Willie, was built
by the Foster Works, though its 105 hp Daimler engine was barely powerful enough to move
the 16 ton machine.
Also, its treads were too narrow to cross the gaps required.
Swinton and his staff began sketching new designs.
Big Willie was able to meet demands.
At 30 tons, with 10mm frontal armor, 8mm side armor, and two 57mm guns, this tank - a name
Swinton gave it - but known as “Mother” was ready for inspection in January 1916.
It was built in secrecy, partly to prevent the Germans from getting wind of it, but also
to keep the details and test results from the politicians or men of the War Department
who could possibly interfere with the project.
For that reason it’s official premiere was not in front of front line officers, but men
like Lloyd George and Herbert Kitchener who were high up in the government.
Big Willie surprised the skeptics but disappointed those who thought it was going to be a miracle
weapon.
It was slow and vulnerable to artillery, but Swinton had not envisaged tanks to act on
their own, but to support infantry, even carrying wireless sets and laying telephone cables.
British High Command ordered 150 of what would be known as the Mark I tank.
It’s not really clear just how much the French knew of these developments, but around
the same time that Big Willie went into production as the Mark I, the French were working on
their own designs.
Their first test was a four ton armored vehicle for wire cutting.
It had some success but didn’t make more than a few tests.
A Fritz tractor was converted into a machine gun carrier in 1915, but its tests were disappointing.
Soon though, Colonel, later General, Jean Baptiste Estienne proposed an idea using Holt
caterpillar treads like the British and the skills of the Schneider-Creusot factory.
By early 1916 a design had been created and in February 400 were ordered, but they weren’t
really ready until 1917.
The Schneider, when it went into action, didn’t have thick enough armor to handle the armor
piercing German SmK rounds.
It was soon followed by the Saint-Chamond, but its tracks were too narrow to carry it
over the mud of the western front and it frequently got stuck.
Both models were also really cumbersome, so Estienne ordered new tanks from Renault, which
were the first tanks with a turret that could rotate 360 degrees and are really the first
modern tanks.
But back to the British for a minute.
They wanted their tanks ready by a summer offensive in 1916.
The men recruited to operate them were trained in gunnery and driving, but there were no
field tests under fire, of course, so tank tactics were, at best, rudimentary.
But the first 50 British Mark I tanks landed in France August 30, 1916.
On the way to the front they constantly stopped to demonstrate their abilities, which put
stress on both men and machines, so by the time they arrived at the front on September
13, many of them had already broken down.
Still, the new tank weapon first saw action September 15th, 1916 at the Somme and even
from the first few battles you could tell how effective they would become, in spite
of their many shortcomings and malfunctions.
I won’t talk about individual tank battles today since I’ll be covering them in the
regular episodes as we reach them.
The Germans would eventually develop tanks of their own in response to the British successes
with them.
The A7V Sturmpanzerwagen was first produced in 1917, but only 20 were ever fully fitted
and deployed, as they used a lot of resources, required a crew of 18, and were built by hand.
In fact, it was more efficient for the Germans to capture and refit British Mark IV tanks
which they would then send back into action as Beutepanzer.
But the A7V was well-armored and durable though its off road performance left a lot to be
desired because of low ground clearance and general shape, and they had many mechanical
problems as well.
The British Mark IV had minor improvements on the Mark I, had a crew of 8, and came in
male and female versions.
The male had two 6 pounder cannons, and three .303 Lewis guns, while the female had just
five of the Lewis guns as weapons.
The females would prove ineffective against the A7V’s during the first ever tank on
tank battle at Villiers-Brentonneux in 1918, though the male would do well there.
One drawback with the Mark IV was that it was slower than the A7V, with a top speed
of 4 MPH.
The A7V could hit 9 on a road.
The French built the Renault FT-17 light tank, which was pretty revolutionary in overcoming
the problems of weight and maneuverability, and as I said, had a rotating turret.
It wasn’t especially fast, but it had reasonable protection and fairly good firepower.
It also only needed a crew of two to operate it.
It was the first tank to be really mass produced and first saw combat in 1918.
They would be used by various nations around the world until after World War Two.
So there you have a brief rundown of the beginnings of the tank, the weapon that would be the
symbol for much of the wars of the 20th century.
We could’ve talked about it for hours, and I encourage you all to look it up yourself
to get a better idea of how things like Swinton’s designs became reality, and how that reality
became the efficient mobile fortresses that we think of when we think of the tank.
We will probably talk about tank tactics, other notable prototypes and the individual
tanks a bit more in
the future.