The Tank: Creation and Use in World War One

World War One degenerated into a stalemate. What was needed was new method to overcome the obstacles of a level playing field with enemy forces. The British developed an invention with the potential for turning the tide of the Great War: the motorized, armored vehicle known as the tank. If used effectively, it was a formidable solution to the battlefield deadlock. However, a lack of experience in the use of this new weapon hindered the Triple Entente from employing the tank to its fullest extent and provide the breakthrough they sought in its creation.

The tank was a concept that came out of nowhere. Before the Great War began, no predecessors were in existence, and the idea was barely a consideration. Colonel E. D. Swinton, however, recognized the appearance of a stalemate in trench warfare, and realized that the British needed an armored and armed vehicle with which to overtake the enemy. Winston Churchill became interested in this project, although he was currently controlling the British Navy. The successes of armed and armored cars impressed Churchill, and he requested research into similar vehicles that would be able to traverse trenches. Churchill then sent a memorandum to then-Prime Minister Asquith requesting “steam tractors with small armored shelters, in which men and machine guns could be placed, which would be bulletproof”. Lord Herbert Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, was instructed to order design work, and did so begrudgingly. Work on the weapon that would someday become the tank was slow, so Churchill assembled his own team of designers for the project, and used the Royal Navy budget to fund their work. By the time he was replaced as the First Lord of the Admiralty, he had organized contracts for eighteen prototypes of the vehicle, which was, at that stage, being called the landship. Churchill had to convince that continuing work on the landship would be beneficial to the war effort. Had he not done so, the tank project would likely have been abandoned. Because of Churchill’s persistence, however, the design process continued, and the first working prototype was ready for testing in January 1916.

The tank, or landship, was unparalleled in its design, and presented a set of benefits and drawbacks unique to the new invention. The first prototype, lovingly nicknamed Mother, was 33 feet long, 8 feet tall, and 8 feet high, and weighed 28 tonnes. Upon its caterpillar tracks, which allowed the vehicle to traverse various obstacles in a trench-held battlefield, it could reach top speeds of approximately four miles per hour. The tank was armed with both machine guns and cannons: Mother was equipped with two machine guns and two six-pounder cannons. It was manned by a crew of eight soldiers, and it was powered by a 105-horsepower Daimler engine. Its weaponry, metal hull and ability to cross trenches made it a valuable tool for Britain’s armies; however, it had several faults that decreased its chances for total success in combat. The tank itself was notorious for its low speed, short range, and mechanical unreliability. Tanks built and used during World War One generally broke down every five to ten miles. There was also the discomfort for the crew: the inside of the tank’s hull could rise to 100°C, and the engine fumes made it even harder for a soldier to breathe within; and verbal instruction between crew members was nearly impossible due to the deafening noise of the engine, and it was far too dark for sign language as a method of communication. The tank was also very vulnerable to enemy counterattack. Prior to their shipment to the Western Front, the British had anticipated the suspicions that would arise from the shipment of strange, large metal objects from England to other locations in mainland Europe. In order to divert such misgivings from other political and military powers, it was decided that the government would inform all who asked that they were water carriers (tanks) bound for Russia. Other proposed, and rejected, names included were the reservoir, the cistern, and the landship, which would have been too descriptive and war-related a moniker. The tank’s creation promised to end the trench stalemate, but it would also provoke the invention of other military tactics by German forces, such as stormtroopers. The tank was born, revolutionary in design and secretive in title, and it would soon be unveiled to the world in battle.