TANKS WALTZ INTO ACTION

Hokitika Guardian, 14 July 1928, Page 4

TANKS WALTZ INTO ACTION

■CATTLE” FOR THE KING AND QUEEN.

Til) WORTH. Hay 21 How battles of the future may be won by machinery was demonstrated before the King and Queen on Salisbury Plain to-day. The downpotir of the night ami the d rone!: in { of the early morning had given way to a drying wind, and thoi: Majesties saw a smooth and impressive display by t!m land “ironclads” and their crews of soldier mechanics. Very grim v and ’ terribly effective looked these swfft-moi ing, qttiekslicoling tanks; but. the crowd of young girls -in the officers’ enclosure preferred the dash and grace of the cavalry. When the three regiments of the ii id Cavalry Brigade ißragooii Guards Hussars, and Lancers, under Colonel-Commandant .T. Blakiston—with the 2nd Battalion the Cheshire* and the Ist Battalion the Prince oi Wales’s Volunteers, filed past the Royal /Standard in column of route, girls and women thrilled to the rhythm of man anti horse. SWOOPING AEROPLANES.

This was the picturesque side of . war, the war of pictures and of poetry flashing swords, jingling spurs, glittering bayonets, champing horses and the gallant poise of perfectly drilled men. But what followed was more like the real thing. Tlie King in a six-wheeled reeonnaisance car and the Queen in a motar ear made a tour of the “battle” area accompanied by Field-Mrshnl Sir George F. Milne, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and his Majesty inspected the Armoured I‘drce drawn up in line at Dun eh Hill. Then the pomp and pageantry of war were withdrawn, the cavalry and the infantry were marched away and tho battle of machines began. Low-flying aeroplanes swooped down to attack a wood and reported ihe presence of the “enemy” near Tidworth Camp to the Armoured Force, which advanced in battle formation. Over the concealing hills came what seemed to be in the distance metallic beetles, creeping, crawling, sinisterlooking things. First came the swift armoured cars, the scouts of the j Armoured Force, supported by a company of liglit-tanks. LEAP FROGGING. Stealthily and swiftly they came and soon the entire plain in view seemed to be covered with Tanks. Two tractor-drawn 18 pounder batteries came into action on tlie- crest of Duiich Hill and a. 4.5 howitzer battery opened fire front Sidbury Hill. .On came the Tanks, now moving swiftly, now “leap frogging” over obstacles, now lurching into a dip of the ! ground, now breasting a slope. And as they came their "tins flashed and harked in obedience to orders given hired ‘ flag signals front commanding Tanks. ' Occasionally a bead would pop up out of the top of a Tank, and. that was all that coiiicl be seen of the fighting men within. ; It was a manoeuvre of machinery; and so cleverly were they handled that the Tanks appeared to be alive. The ; muzzles of their guns seemed to search for the enemy like so many cyes. : - **l ; -.-- Sqnietimes the Tanks seemec} to dariefe -a strange form of - quadrille: then they would break. .out intp. .. a weird ' whitzing movement, ;ijut always they were aa va tic ing' wi th the-terrible menace of destroying machines,