Tanks:Part 1

Tank battles are something that was introduced in the first World War, and even had made history in one way or another. This is a 4 part series of where we talk about the evolution of tanks.

This is part 1 where we talk about the technology that led to the construction of the tank as well as it's introduction in World War 1 and even it's improvement after the war.

The first person who came up with the first piece of mechanical part of the tank was named Richard Lovel Edgeworth. He came up with the first type of Caterpillar Tracks as a way to get macanical devices over wet, uneven terrain.

Though this would be first used for farm vehicles such as tractors (especially when industrialization was standardized). But it wouldn't be until well into the first World War where the treads would be used for a brand new kind of machine: The Tank.

During the bloody *Battle of the Somme* where British Troops suffered heavy casualties thanks in large part to the German Empire using Barbed wire and Maxim Machine Guns. The British wanted to get their troops moving again.

The British came up with the idea of using something which was inspired by battleships, something liek a landship. However, they also wanted it to keep this new machine a secret. They code named the project *Tank:* a name so boring that nobody would be interested to be suspicious. They came up with several models, but what saw actual combat was the mark 4 tank.

MK-4 Tank
 **Weapon(s)** | .303 Lewis Machine Guns (Female Models)6-Pounder Cannons (Male Models)

The Mark 4 Tanks were introduced during the Battle of the Somme in hopes to get the British Forces movieng again and give them more confidence to break through the strong defensive lines of the German Empire.

When the Germans that first saw this new machine, they litteraly cut and ran away from this brand new monster.

Despite this, it wasn't a stellar debut. There were only a few of them at a time, too slow (at 2 MPH), mechanically unreliable, and eventually the Germans were able to face against the new tank with a .50 Calibur Rifle.

However, the Tanks did get a second chance at the *Battle of Cambrai* in 1917 as a force of around 500 of these tanks were used, and just like in the Battle of The Somme, the Germans cut and ran.

When the war was won in Europe, a lot of people as well as mechanical. The MK-4 Tank was a giant monstrosity as it had thin armor which can be penitrated by even rifle rounds and causes "spalling" and make the inside of the tank dangerous, as if it wasn't dangerous enough with a huge engine which was uncomfortable inside the tank with incredibly hot and sufficating environments.

Around the 1920's, a Tank designer named *J. Walter Christie* who loved the speed and danger of car races, he wanted to present this principle to tanks. One of the designs he has was a suspension system (which would bear his name) which increases the treads tolerance on rough terrain, making the tanks smoother ride and easy on the mechanics of the tank as well. He also wanted the tank to be incredably fast, so his prototype tank also has interchangable wheel system where once the tank is on a paved road, the crew can take the treads off and use the tank's wheels and can travel at speeds of nearly 55 MPH.

Christie's other breakthrough design is to weld the armor on the tank at an angle, this would be called *Slopped Armor.*

Unlike armor that is straight up and down, Slopped Armor is at around a 45 degree angle which gives the tankk better protection (geometrically speaking) without increasing the tank's weight. So, any round that is coming at a straight trajectory wouldn't be as effective as it would be on stright armor.

These improvements for the tank would prove to be the answer to the "make it or break it" question for the next global conflict that would be fought. But this would continue in the next page here. That si going to be it for now. Until next time, this is Johnny OTGS signing out.