Imperial Valley press., 1917-12-15
TANKS GREATEST
BRITISH SCHEME
OF MORLD WAR
No One Person Can Claim the Credit
for Their Use in the Present War,
According to British Officers-HOw
They Came to Be Developed From
Tractor Told.

London, Nov. 30-No one man or
one. department of the British gov
ernment can take credit for invent
ing the tanks. They came into being
as the result of long period =
study and co-ordinated effort by
many men acting under three sep
arate departments-the War Office,
the Admiralty and the Ministry of
Munitions.
In the autumn of 1914, when the
beiligerents on the western front had
settled down to trench warfare, it
became obvious that some means of
parrying the danger of well-directed
and wellprotected machine gun fire
from the German trenches must be
discovered if the English infantry was
to carry out assaults with success.
One of the first proposals put for
ward wa sfor a machine 100 feet
long, 46 feet high and 80 feet wide,
weighing some 300 tons, propelled by
an 8OO-horsepower engine, and with
driving wheels 40 feet in diameter.
Another early suggestion, and the
one which led most directly to the
tanks, was made by Colonel Swinton
IN October, 1914-to build armored
cars on a tractor system-an Ameri-
can invention. Experiments with va
rlous tractors were made on behalf
OF the War Office and by a small ex-
pert committee of the admiralty un-
der Winston Churchill, then first lord.
Through the medium of the Commit
tee of Imperial Defense the various
efforts for the solution of the prob
lem were co-ordinated, and certain
conditions were laid down which had
to be fulfilled by the proposed car.
From among the numerous types
of tractor inspected the most salts
factory was found to be a caterpillar
with an endless self-laid track, over
which internal driving wheels could
be propelled by the engines.
In February, 1916, the first tank
was completed and taken down to a
farm near London. Here pits, trenches
and ramparts had been constructed.
The tests were so satisfactory that
an order was given on the spot for 100
machines. The Ministry of NUM-
tlons became responsible for the
speediest possible construction of the
order. Many Improvements were
made during this period of construc
ton and the first delivery was made
in July, 1916.
The new machines were of two
slightly different types. One was
called the male type and was armed
with two Hotchkiss quick firers and a
subsidiary machine gun armament.
These were designed for dealing at
close quarters with the concrete en-
placements of German machin guns.
The other, or female type, was armed
only with machine guns and was more
suitable for dealing with machine gun
personnel and riflemen.
At the end of July, 1916, the tanks
and their crews had become so pro-
ficient that it was possible to hold
two exhibition combats over a pre-
pared trench system reproducing a
line Of German defenses.
AT the end of August, fifty tanks
were loaded at night and sent to
9 France. When delivered in France
. the tanks only Travelled at night and
during the day were covered with a
huge tarpaulin and strictly guarded
The first tanks were all painted in
camouflage style for purposes of con-
cealment, and each tank had its own
name, like a ship. A whole series
Of them were named after various
drinks, such as Cafe au Lait, Char
treuse, Chablis, Cognac, Champagne
Creme de Menthe. Another series
bore names of Scotch clans-Clar
! Cameron, Clan Ruthven, Clan Cor.
don, Clan McTavish.
The tanks first went into actor
in that portion of the Somme often
sive which began on September Is
The object was to drive the Germans
out of some high ground running east
and south of Thiepval. The effect was
as exhilirating on the British troops
as it was dumbfounding to the Ger
mans. 1t is recorded that many Of
the British infantrymen were so over
come with laughter at their ungainly