TANKS EFFECT SURPRISE

Southland Times, Issue 17777, 1 October 1917, Page 5

TANKS EFFECT SURPRISE

WORK UPON SODDEN GROUND. LONDON, August 20. The appearance of tanks operating on ground which a few days ago was mainly under water is satisfactory testimony to the improvement of fighting conditions in Flanders, writes a correspondent at British headquarters. The German gunners were apparently completely surprised at the spectacle of these ungainly objects travelling along ground which one might suppose would engulf them. Yesterday’s attack on the Poel Capelle Road proved the great value of the tanks against the present system of disconnected defences. That our casualties were small and the success so considerable in face of the concentrated machine-gun fire which was encountered is conclusive tribute to the effectiveness of this weapon. The correspondent describes the latest feats of the tanks in a British attack in the region of St. Julien. The uncouth monsters began to move in the darkness. The noise of the guns drowned their snorting as they took up prearranged positions. The enemy probably calculated that the ground was in too bad a condition for them to assist in the attack. After reciprocal and violent, bombardment our guns ceased. The enemy doubtless anticipated an infantry advance, and continued his bombardment. Finding nothing happening he stopped, and our guns reopened at longer range. There was more deliberate firing at dawn. Then the tanks advanced, the infantry following. The concentration spread out fan wise as they progressed, the object of the operation being to try and straighten out the bend in our line, within which the Germans held several strong positions. When the enemy saw the yellowish objects crawling rapidly over the broken ground he began to fire wildly from his places of concealment, but the Germans generally fled before the tanks reached them. The infantry following the tanks successfully occupied the triangle between Mont Busibon and Cockcroft, farms which had given a lot of trouble. The total depth of the advance planned was 500 yards, but the Germans from far beyond that depth fled. The whole affair was a complete vindication of the utility of the tank in this species of warfare.