It’s August the 22nd 1917, World War One
and an attack is underway near Ypres.
Supporting the British infantry are several of the new cutting edge Mark IV tanks.
The battlefield is covered in mud and pitted with craters.
One of the tanks, named “Fray Bentos” is slowly advancing.
Walking alongside his tank is Captain Donald Richardson.
In the open, under fire
he communicates directions to the driver
who has terrible visibility to navigate the treacherous terrain.
The advancing Fray Bentos manages to take out a German machine gun
and there’s a cheer inside the tank
as they lumber towards more of the German guns.
Still outside the tank, under heavy fire now
Richardson is hit in the leg,
unable to continue leading the tank, he is forced to retreat back inside Fray Bentos.
With all the crew inside now,
the driver, George Hill is hit and falls out of his seat.
The tank trundles on with no one steering.
Realizing the danger, Richardson tries to grab the controls,
but it's too late and the tank veers and slides down into a deep crater.
The Mark IV jolts to a halt
stuck fast in the mud of Passchendaele.
The crew of 9 are now trapped in the middle of No Man’s Land,
during one of the most ferocious battles of the war.
Surrounded by Germans their actions and their tank will become legend.
Sgt Robert Missen and Lance Corporal Ernest Braedy step outside
to see what they can do and if possible release the unditching gear.
Mark IV tanks carried a large beam covered in sheet metal
that could be attached to the tracks and dragged underneath the tank to get it unstuck.
While working they hear the sounds of bullets on armor.
The Germans aren’t just close...
they’re 30 yards away!
Missen dashes back inside Fray Bentos
narrowly escaping the hail of fire.
Lance Corporal Braedy isn’t so lucky.
He’s on the other side of the tank, working to attach the unditching beam.
Caught by enemy fire he falls in the mud,
never to rise.
Inside the Mark IV is cramped and hot,
but that’s the least of their worries.
The crew must contend with a constant stream of bullets, bombs and heavy artillery.
Unfortunately for them they are also at the risk of friendly fire.
The men are sitting in a high tech goldmine.
The Mark IV offers better protection than most of the technology at the time.
The tank was a recent military development in warfare
and the Allies would rather blow the crew out of the mud than gift a secret weapon to the Kaiser.
To make matters even worse,
the main tank guns are at the wrong angle
and can’t be used to blast the Germans.
So the men must rely on whatever’s around weapons-wise to fight back.
A grim situation, lightened just a little by the name of the tank, Fray Bentos.
Captain Richardson named his Mark IV after a brand of canned meat
that was popular at the time.
Meat surrounded by metal.
An ironic joke to inspire the men in time of war.
The Germans push their attack
and a soldier manages somehow to get a grenade into the tank itself.
After what must have been a heart-stopping few seconds,
the crew grab the grenade and toss it out again!
Incredibly the men are holding off the Germans
with only their hand held weapons.
Metal bounces off the tank during these fierce exchanges, injuring the crew further.
Of the 8 brave souls that remain, 7 have been injured by shrapnel.
How much longer can they withstand not only the German onslaught,
but shelling from their own side...?
The hours pass as this extraordinary standoff continues.
The hours then turn into days of heavy fighting with the Germans attacking
and the plucky crew forcing them back again and again.
As the days dragged on they were forced to drink water from the radiator.
Desperately hot by day and exhausted and freezing by night
the “Fray Bentos Boys” spent an agonizing 3 days and 2 nights repelling the enemy!
Completely exhausted and realizing that no help was ever going to come
they had to finally face the fact that they were on their own,
and that if they were to stand a chance of survival,
they were going to have to make it across No Man's Land.
Crossing No Man's Land was a deadly undertaking and the crew knew
that the British infantry would shoot anything moving coming from the German positions.
Richardson decided the best bet was for the men to leave the Mark IV one at a time,
starting with Sgt Missen.
He had the most dangerous job of all,
crawling across the British lines in order to warn them not to open fire.
His body stiff and aching, Missen ran the gauntlet,
sliding on his belly through the mud of Passchendaele,
bullets and explosions falling all around him,
he was a sitting – or rather crawling duck for anyone with an itchy trigger finger.
After many close calls, covered in mud
he managed to get close enough to shout to the British lines and warn them,
he was on their side.
Once he’d made it across and warned the British not to open fire,
it was the turn of Captain Richardson and the surviving crew to start the perilous crossing.
They elected to drag their Lewis guns along for the trip
so they wouldn’t be seized by the enemy.
To their relief they made it over the lines,
and were finally out from under the Germans.
The Passchendaele campaign had started in late July and wouldn’t end until November.
Thankfully the Fray Bentos Boys were free from the carnage,
though they’d endured a grueling 60 hours in a situation so perilous it’s difficult to imagine.
Captain Richardson and his team received medals for gallantry.
The Military Cross went to Richardson and Hill.
Missen and Morrey were awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.
Arthurs, Binley, Budd and Hayton were given the Military Medal.
This made them the most decorated tank crew of Word War One,
an honor they richly deserved!
We wouldn’t know the details of this astonishing story of courage under fire,
were it not for a discovery made in 2017.
The Tank Museum in England holds archives of those serving in World War One.
And to their surprise they discovered in their archives,
Sgt Missen’s personal written account of what took place.
One of the more attention-grabbing pieces you can see there
is a protective mask made partly from chainmail,
designed to repel shrapnel.
There’s also a Mark IV tank on display, so visitors can get up close to the legendary vehicle itself.
After a short recovery, Captain Richardson went back to the front and continued the fight.
He climbed aboard another tank, and rolled into the Battle of Cambrai.
Its name...?
The Fray Bentos II.
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