EIGHT YEARS OLD

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18185, 23 September 1924, Page 6

EIGHT YEARS OLD

BIRTHDAY OF THE; TANK. A POWERFUL WEAPON. ' * . ■ . ««__ ■ i * t ", . • Last /Tuesday.-. was . the ' birthday": .of one of the most fearsome .engines of war ever invented by mankind- It is eight-years' since' tho gigantic, armadillos began their .ponderous .waddle towards the German position at Switch Trench.' 'And-it - is eight years sine*; the beginning of the . battle .of "the Somme. ' ,

' The Xew Zealand Division '.was in place between High and DelviUo Woods on September loth, 1916, when word was received .that the tank 3 were> to help them ■on the. morrow. And, early nest morning the peculiar drone- of the' monsters heralded the arrival of the four told off for this purpose. One of these promptly floundered into a German dug-out, and was put out of action, but tho remaining three kept on. Close behind the first wave of troops one of the big brutes stopped athwart, the German first-line trench and squirted machine-gun .fire right and left. Darting right" and left, wherever a. machine-gun'rest was encountered, the monsters kept behind tho troops constantly. The first one floundered to grief- near Brown Trench, about a quarter of a mile from Flers; the second was smashed just as it reached the village; while the third,' after ambling up.the main road, spreading death and dis'mav, eamo to grief beyond. The* Germans had an inkling that a new weapon might be used against them. There 13 every reason to' believe that they concentrated on an endeavour to manufacture something on "tank" lines, but found their efforts too late for the fierce struggle in the autumn 01 1916.

The censor ,"sat" heavily, on the accounts of tho new invention, and only vague references filtered through. In the public mind tho tank.loomed as large'as a leviathan and as mighty as Moloch. ' It was. "the saviour of tho infantry," and its success.was as much psychological as practical. ■ Even to-day there arc. many people who regard them as armoured cars. But tho tank at that time'was 27ft long and weighed' thirty tons:. It.'■,could, make from- three to five miles an hour over rough country (a smart walking pace), and it could cross shell holes less than Oft across and walls. 4ft .high'.in its. stride. It, hugged the earth close, and afforded a poor target, 'while--it stod, about Sft Sin, and was camouflaged like a mottled toad.. .

There were both "males" and "females" of the species, the "males" carrying' two six-poundcr Hotchkiss guns in addition to machine guns, and the "females" only machine guns.

To minimise tho unholy din of tho engines in such a eonfmed space special headgear liad to be worn by the crew.of eight. And the monsters had- their drawbacks, one of which was their ra'venous consumption- of petrol. ~' A complete fill of "juice" carried the tanks only twenty-two miles, and it was difficult to obtain more petrol for the Daimler engines.

Most of the tanks, also carried smoke grenades and smoke bombs to put, up a screen in an attack on. a "strong point," while no armour-piercing bullet, or shrapnel bullet might penetrate the monster's, solid hidel. The'•vulnerable spot was the tractor chain which carried the tank forward. '. The nest. time that the tanks'- were seen in action was at Messincs, in June, 1917, when several■.w-ero ■ used with varying success. The third- battle of Ypres saw a number of the monsters used to pierce the strong German:line on'' both . sidesoorf r the "Menin road,' but hero they > failed, and seventeen, were put out of action around Clapham Junction alone. Most had become bogged in the thoroughly-shelled ground, but some had been hit by anti-tank shellfire, and tho Germans by now had special guns designed to .fire >at the tractors of the giant reptiles... But the biggest assault .of them all was the attack on the Hinderibufg Line at Cambrai, when Sir Julian Byng'sent forward no fewer than 400 tanks. This assault was not advertised in the ordinary way by a hur'ricane t bombardment; the first intimation of the storm brewing that the Germans received .was, the appearance of a long line of tanks, ; crushing all obstacles.and preparingthe way -for the infalntry. On an eight-mile front, from Moeuvres to G-onnlie'u, this

novel attack'brofce, through allidefenccs and-carried everything before.it. ■During the attack 10,000. prisoners and 150 guns -were taken. But the .old .leviathan. proved -too heavy.- It was" in March, 1918, -when the New Zealand Division was rusted to fill a gap in*the front held by the Fifth Army .east, of Amien.s, .that, our men saw the new light tank for the first time. This,'the ''*w]rippet,' , . """as less heavy by ten tons, and could speed up to seven and a. half mile 3an hour. It carried-only-three men- and three ma-chine-guns. Albert.and Villiers-Bretou-■neux saw it'perform'marvellous deeds, and during "the last great offensive it proved'.. particularly ... useful for open warfare

And since the armistice the tank has been J improved greatly. Now a screen within themonsterrdepicts every object within 500 yds, and by' mechanical devices all the gun's can be trained on any target. A'constant supply of fresh air is provided \for the crew of five, !who wear.special respirators as a protection against cordite fumes and dust. For night attacks the tank's can be fitted •with -searchlights, while in.the "whippet" the speed has been increased to twenty'milps'ah hour, arid a system of springs prevents jars or-shocks. 'And the inventor of the tank? ■ In the autumn of. 1919 a. British , Koyal Commission on Awards to Inventors gave £15,000 jointly to' Sir William Tritton and Major-Wilson for having produced the - tank in.; practical shape, thongh the idea was conceded to have been Major-Gcneral Swinton's.. Captain Bentley supplied Lord Kitchener with a design for an armoured caterpillar as far back as October, 1914, but the Commission ruled out his specifications, as unsuitable. Bentley appealed for recognition as one of the inventors of the weapon, but his claim failed. Meantime the tank grows steadily more formidable. One pities the opposing infantry in the next .war-