Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1917-12-13
TANKS RESULT
C00RD|NATED
EFFORT. SAID
NO ONE MAN OF ONE Department
CAN TAKE CREDIT FOR INVENT
ING THIS MONSTER OF WAR
FARE-C0MES FROM STUDY.
tHy Associated Press.D }

LONDON, Dee. l3-No one man nr one
department of the British government can
take credit for 'Inventing' the tanks
they came into being II, the result Of
long period Of study and corordiEated ct-
Tort ~ many men acting under three
separate departments the war office. the
admiralty and the ministry of munitions
In the autumn of 1914 when the bel
ligcrcnt~ on the western front had settled
down 10 trench warfare. il became obvious
that some means Of parrying the danger of
we'll directed and well protected machine
gun fire from the German trenches must
bc discovered 1T the English infantry was
To carry ont assaults with success.
One of the first proposals put forward
was for 4 machine 100 feet long, forty-~ix
feet high and eighty feet wide. weighing
some 500 tons. propelled by an 500 horse
power engine and with driving wheels
forty feet in diameter. Another early ,ug-
ge~tipn. and the one which led most dl-
rcctly to the tanks was made ~ Colonel
Swinton IN October 1911, % build armored
ears on q tractor system. an American in
vonton. Experiments with tractors were
made ON behalf of the war office and nv
small expert committee of the admiralty
under Winston Churchill. then first lord
Through the medium of the committee Of
imperial defense the various efforts for
the solution of the problem were CO.
ordinHtcd and certain conditions were laid
down which had IA bc fulfilled by the pro-
posed ear.
IN February. 1916. the first tank was
completed and taken down 10 a farm near
London. Here pits, trenches and ram
part, had been constructed. The tests
were satisfactory That an order wn-
given on the spot for 100 machines The
ministry Of munitions became responsible
for the ~peedie>t po>>ible construction of
the order. Many improvements were made
during this period OF construction, and the
first delivery was made in july. 1916
The new machines were of two slightly
different types. One was cailed the male
type. and was armed with two Hotchki~~
quick irer> and "A subsidiary machine gun
armament. These were designed for deal
ing 40 close quarters with the concrete
emplaccment- of German machine guns
The other or female type. wa> armed only
with machine gua~ and was more suitable
for dealing with machine gun personnel
and rfemen
Al the end Of July. 1916 the tanks and
their crews had become 20 proficient that
II was possible Ia hold two exhibition com
bat over a prepared trench system repro
ducing line ot German detcn>c~.
At the end Of August. fifty tanks were
loaded nj night and sent to France. When
delivered in France the tanks only travel
ed at night. and during the day were COW
cred with huge tnrpaulin and strictly
guarded.
The first tanks were all painted in
camouilagc style for purpose, of conceal
ment. and each tank had it, own name, like
a ship. whole series of them were named
after various drinks. such ~ Cutc-au-
I.ait. Charircu>e, Chabs. Cognac. Cham
pagnc. Creme ID Menthe. Another series
bore anmeS Of Scotch clanN-Clan Cam
eron, Clan Ruthven. Clan Gordon, Clan
McTavi-h.
Hf AHlih~ lAI-t WIFI iliAb AfAlhH iH lfltiA
portion Ut the Somme offensive which be-
gan on September Is. The object was to
drive the Germans ont Of some high ground
running east and south IF Thlepval. The
effect was IA exhllarating on the British
troops a. it was dumbfounding To the Ger
mans II j. recorded that many ot the
British infanirymen were - overcome
they were scarcely able To- keep MP with
the procession.
There l. no doubt that the element of
surprise had much 10 do with the eXtraor-
dinarv success of the tanks on their first
appearance. But their achievements
proved that they had more solid qualities
than the gift of surprise. Later ~ the
year tanks were sent out f. Egypt and
were in action mt GAIA.