![]() ![]() However, when tested over trenches in September 1915 its tracks sagged and became detached.Īlso the challenge had changed – German trenches were now being constructed at 2.4m wide. Early designs evolved into ‘Little Willie’, a simple armoured box with low caterpillar tracks and two rear wheels for steering and balance. Locking themselves away in a suite in the White Hart Hotel in Lincoln, Tritton and Wilson worked on ideas. ‘Little Willie’, the first prototype tank with tracks. The tank’s name was derived from ‘water tank’, which in turn came from ‘water carrier for Mesoptamia’, a fictional purpose designed to mislead German spies. On 22 July 1915 they were commissioned to design a machine that could cross a 1.2m wide trench. He was joined by engineer, Major Walter Wilson, seconded from the Army. The firm, which built powerful agricultural machinery, was led by visionary managing director, William Tritton. William Foster & Co of Lincoln was chosen to test out ideas. Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, gathered together technical experts and formed the Landships Committee whose brief was to develop armoured fighting vehicles for use on the Western Front. ![]() The deadlock could only be broken by finding a way to breach the trench systems defended by thickets of barbed wire defences and machine gun posts. Image © IWM CO 3392īy early 1915 the First World War was in deadly stalemate, with thousands of Allied soldiers dying daily along the 450 miles of fortified enemy trenches that ran through Belgium and France. To commemorate this centenary, the Stourbridge war memorial in the West Midlands, with its decorative bronze tank frieze, has been upgraded to Grade II*. It was a crucial learning experience for the military and a turning point in the war, leading to the eventual defeat of Germany and its Allies. An estimated 12,000 men died on either side. However, insufficient numbers of troops meant that the chance to exploit the action was lost. The plan was for this surprise attack to rupture the enemy defences allowing Allied forces to break through. 20 November 1917, was the date of the first mass use of tanks in the First World War.ĭuring the Battle of Cambrai in northern France (20 October – 6 December 1917) 378 tanks smashed through the heavily fortified German Hindenburg Line. ![]()
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