INSIDE A TANK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12404, 23 August 1918, Page 8

INSIDE A TANK.

A FORMIDABLE WEAPON

To watch them moving slowly like monstrous beetles across undulating country is one thing; to crawl through the low door of the sponson is another, writes ‘“Tanko” in the “Daily Mail.” ,

Here you discover a small space compact of machinery, like nothing in the world save, perhaps, a submarine. ■There is the powerful'engine intn its transmission, gearing and cooling system ; there are the guns and their ammunition. Yon will look in vain lor woodwork, the whole "’bus” is of metal. When you listen to the second “loot” who is you cicerone, as he discourses on his beloved, yon will hear with wonder of the many metals that go to the making of the modern internal combustion engine. That much-disputed person the designer of the tank certainly had no thought for the comfort of the crew when ho drew up the plans of this modern land ship. Everything is_ for utility, for war. and the result is a most formidable weapon of attack. Squat and inert of appearance, what tremendous power there is Before it brick walls crack and crumble, trees, bent and cracking like dry sticks, fall; the steepest gradients are climbed, the widest shell craters crossed.

Perhaps the most extraordinary part of the ride, after one has become used to the infernal din of the engines, is the strange illusion of speed. "The vibration gives one the impression of rapid motion; one is reminded of that eccentric vibration felt in the corridor of an express train. The illusion ends with a peep through the ports; the ground is pa,ssiug slowly, no faster than a man may walk. Thirty tons or thereabouts on the movo—and thirty tons is no small weight! Turn off the engine and the tank goes forward on its own im-petus-one inch. As the engine warms un the atmosphere becomes hot; through the ports in front a. steady stream of thick dust pours in, together with blue obnoxious fumes of carbon monoxide.

In the seat next to the second “loot” goggles are imperative. Black visaged and olud in , grease-stained overalls, he steers In's “’bus” round craters, up and down over “ knife edges” that look so impossible, clown chasms that make the heart stand still.

As the “’bus” tilts upwards, her blunt nose pointing skywards, a fresh noise is added to the din of the engines. Everything movable, oil-cans, tins, tools slide with a crash to the rear end. ’

Hie summit reached, a slow see-saw movement brings her nose down, down, down until one sees, instead of blue sky, the coming plunge far below. The loose tackle clatters forward with' a series of reports, and the “’bus” wallows downwards, readies level ground again safely, and crawls, snorting, forward like a sentient thing proud' of its exploits. One thinks of prc-historic sauvians, of fabulous hectics-, not even tiro fertile imaginings of Mi H. b Mells ever fancied anything more grotesque than this!

rile ‘‘’bus 5 ’ swings on her point of balance to the right and makes off towards home. On top speed she makes better time- The roar of the engines makes talk impossible; one is conscious ot smarting, balf-hlimled eves; perspiration pours down the blackened races of the crow in dirurv rivulets; the neat is overpowering. 'Not without a-certain feeling of relief one crawls thiough the low side door into the bright snnsliino. The cmr follow, blinking and in ping hands on cotton waste. hast comes the second “ loot,” black but smiling and serene. “ <J ’ yOU • tllink of tilo old husr he fineriestv hat can one reply? As an esperite,!‘Cie ’ rS! 0 Y' ] nisscd - but as a daily task, hardly to bp sought after. One Sr Ll- I?fc r mc - i" action 8 hguiatuely speaking, took off ones Imt to its good-humoured crew.