Tanks

As a result of the interview described Col. Swinton took up the question with G.H.Q. in France and Col. Hankey put the idea before Lord Kitchener; but in neither case did it lead to any result. Col. Hankey however also submitted the scheme to the prime minister as head of the Committee of Imperial Defence, and this reached Winston Churchill who was already experiment ing with armoured cars for the naval detachment of the Belgian coast. On Jan. 5, 1915, Churchill wrote to the prime minister emphasizing the importance of Col. Swinton's suggestion. This letter was sent to Lord Kitchener, and at the same time Col. Swinton called at the War Office to discuss his proposals. As a result the matter received some attention and a few trials were carried out, after which the whole question was dropped. In the meantime Churchill formed a committee at the Admiralty under the chairmanship of Sir Tennyson d'Eyncourt, to investi gate the problem. They carried out trials with large wheeled machines, coupled steamrollers, pedrail and caterpillar tractors, single and articulated, the underlying idea being the production of a machine for the conveyance of troops and not a machine gun destroyer.

In the meantime Col. Swinton took his proposals to the com mander-in-chief in France with the result that the specification of the type of machine required was sent to the War Office. By that time a joint naval and military committee had been formed and they were now able to work to a specification which detailed the military requirements. The result was the production—first of "Little Willie" which just failed to reach the standard required, and later of "Big Willie" or "Mother" as it was christened, which passed all tests at Hatfield on Feb. 2, 1916. The chief point in the design, and in which it differed from other caterpillar machines, was its rhomboidal shape and all round track which were the invention of Lt. (later Lt.-Col.) W. G. Wilson, working in con junction with Sir W. Tritton. This machine, afterwards known as the Mark I. tank, was the prototype of all British machines used during the World War.

In the meantime normal trench warfare had been proceeding in France. The artillery had been considerably strengthened, but even then it was found at the battle of Loos that large numbers of enemy machine-guns would survive the heaviest bombard ment and cause prohibitive casualties to the attacking infantry. G.H.Q. France therefore ordered 4o of these experimental tanks, and this number was increased by the War Office to ioo machines. A tank supply committee was formed under the Ministry of Munitions with Major (later Sir) Albert Stern as chairman. Orders were placed on Feb. 12 and production started at once with the utmost secrecy, and under great difficulties of labour and material owing to the great national effort to produce muni tions of every kind.

The First British Tanks.

The Mark I. tank was built in two types, "male" and "female"; both types had "sponsons" mounted on the sides to carry the main armament. On the male tank this consisted of two 6-pdr. guns and on the female tank of four Vickers machine-guns. The idea was that the tanks would work in pairs, the male tank being more capable of dealing with defences behind brick walls or steel loophole plates and the female tank having greater man-killing fire power. The total number under construction was 15o, half being males and half females. The Mark I. tank was 26 ft. long, weighed 28 tons and carried a crew of eight men. The maximum speed on the level was 4 m.p.h. and the tank could cross a trench 1 o ft. wide. Reference has already been made to the track which was carried all round the tank; this track was driven from the engine through a two speed gear box (controlled by the driver) and then through a differential which carried a second gear box at each outer end of the half shafts. These secondary gears were operated by hand levers and necessitated a gearsman on each side of the tank in addition to the driver. From these the drive was carried by chain to the driving sprockets in rear. As the original idea of the inventors had been that the tank should be used as a surprise on a large front the armour was for the most part only proof against ordinary rifle ammunition. It was realized that it might be necessary, as was indeed the case, to increase the thickness of the armour, in later models, to withstand armour-piercing bullets, when the enemy had had time to produce large quantities of these bullets. The male tank carried 324 rounds of 6-pdr. shell and 6,272 rounds of S.A.A. The female tank carried 31,232 rounds of S.A.A. Both types carried sufficient petrol for about 15 m. on a cross-country course.

A feature of this tank was the tail which consisted of a pair of steel wheels hinged on to the back of the machine and pressed down on to the ground with powerful springs. The wheels could be steered from the driver's seat and in this way the tank could negotiate easy bends; the wheels improved the balance of the machine and also slightly increased the trench crossing capacity.

In March 1916 a unit was formed to man these first tanks. For the purpose of secrecy the unit formed part of the Machine Gun Corps and was known as the Heavy Section, Machine Gun Corps. The name was later changed to Heavy Branch, Machine Gun Corps. The unit was commanded by Col. Swinton and contained sufficient personnel to man the 15o tanks under con struction. The unit was organized in six companies of 25 tanks each. As soon as the tanks began to arrive from the contractors the unit encamped at a secret area near Elvedon in Suffolk and started driving and gunnery practice.