FOOTNOTES
[1] “I am building secure and covered chariots which are invulnerable, and when they advance with their guns into the midst of the foe even the largest enemy masses must retreat, and behind them the infantry can follow in safety and without opposition.”
[2] It differed from an ordinary chariot in that the two little fat hollow-backed horses, which are depicted as providing the motive power, were like the crew, enclosed within the wooden armour.
[3] It appears to have been the Committee which investigated Mr. Diplock’s machine, with some additional members.
[4] Although the appeal was necessarily tentative and unofficial, and no details of the nature of the work could be given, sixty women immediately volunteered.
[5] Major Renouf.
[6] Major Renouf.
[7] Most of these Tanks were training machines, in the sense that their “armour” was boiler-plate instead of hardened steel.
[8] Colonel Swinton.
[9] Captain Henriques.
[10] From Weekly Tank Notes, a confidential official periodical for private circulation.
[11] W.T.N.
[12] See Plate, Chapter VIII. (An unannotated air photograph of badly crumped ground.)
[13] Among other Army Commanders was General Sir H. S. Rawlinson, who was later to be so good a friend to the Tanks. On this occasion, however, it is said that their performances left him completely cold and unconvinced.
[14] Captain Henriques.
[15] Sergeant Littledale of the Tank Corps writing in the Atlantic Monthly.
[16] Sergeant Littledale of the Tank Corps writing in the Atlantic Monthly.
[17] The progress of this decision has been slightly telescoped, the “operative” resolutions only being recorded, and the story of a good deal of proposal and counter-proposal omitted.
[18] The list was as follows:
Chairman.—Major-General Sir J. Capper.
War Office.—Lieut.-Colonel Sir J. Keane.
Lieut.-Colonel Mathew-Lannaw.
Ministry of Munitions.—Lieut.-Colonel Stern.
Sir Eustace Tennyson d’Eyncourt.
[19] Achicourt.
[20] Letter from a Tank officer dated “April 9, evening.”
[21] Letter from an eye-witness written on the evening of April 9.
[22] The Harp.
[23] Major Watson, the Tank Company Commander, writing in Blackwood’s Magazine.
[24] “B” (2) Battalion History.
[25] W.T.N.
[26] Official paper.
[27] Indirect fire may be defined as fire directed towards the spot where you believe the enemy to be. Fire is called “direct” when the target can be seen.
[28] Mr. Buchan’s History of the War.
[29] W.T.N.
[30] Mr. Buchan’s History of the War.
[31] W.T.N.
[32] Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch.
[33] The size of these dumps was now always computed in “Tank Fills.”
1 fill consisting of:
60 galls. of Petrol.
10 galls. of Oil.
20 galls. of Water.
10 lb. of Grease.
10,000 rounds of S.A. Ammunition for a Female Tank,
or
200 rounds of 6-pdr. Ammunition
and
6000 rounds of S.A. Ammunition for a Male.
[34] W.T.N.
[35] 3rd Battalion History.
[36] From Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch.
[37] From the History of 7th Battalion.
[38] W.T.N.
[39] W.T.N.
[40] The second Tank detailed for this strong point had—in common with the two reserve Tanks—bellied or become ditched on the way up.
[41] Official Summary.
[42] Major Wilkes was awarded the D.S.O. for this piece of work.
[43] Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch.
[44] “A” Battalion was borrowed from 2nd Brigade.
[45] From “F” (6th) Battalion History.
[46] W.T.N.
[47] Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch.
[48] W.T.N.
[49] Artillery of Assault, i.e., Tanks.
[50] An aiming instrument.
[51] W.T.N.
[52] Mr. Buchanan’s History of the War.
[53] Major Forsyth-Major (the Second in Command of the E.T.D.), on whose report through Colonel Fuller this summary is largely based, was torpedoed on his return to England in 1918 and all his maps and documents were lost.
[54] General Murray’s Despatch.
[55] 5th Battalion History.
[56] 2nd Battalion History.
[57] Major Norton, commanding the Lewis gun detachment.
[58] 3rd Battalion History.
[59] 1st Battalion History.
[60] W.T.N.
[61] Case shot: bullets not enclosed in a shell, but fired direct from a 6-pounder and scattering like the charge of a shot gun.
[62] Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch.
[63] 5th Brigade History.
[64] 8th Battalion History.
[65] W.T.N.
[66] W.T.N.
[67] The 1st, 4th, 5th, and 14th Battalions.
[68] The 8th, 13th, 2nd, and 15th Battalions.
[69] From W.T.N.
[70] 13th Battalion History.
[71] From the 5th Brigade History.
[72] Honours and Awards.
[73] From 14th Battalion History.
[74] From 1st Battalion History.
[75] From 3rd Battalion History.
[76] From 8th Battalion History
[77] From a Battalion History.
[78] From a Battalion History.
[79] Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch.
[80] Summer, 1919.
[81] i.e., In the Battle of Amiens, 8.8.18.
[82] W.T.N.
[83] 3rd Battalion History.
[84] 15th Battalion History.
[85] 6th Battalion History and “Honours and Awards.”
[86] Despatch.
[87] A Brigade History.
[88] Unit History.
[89] Ibid.
[90] Unit History.
[91] Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch.
[92] 15th Battalion Tank History.
[93] Captain Denny, Daily Telegraph, April 1, 1919.
[94] Captain Denny, Daily Telegraph, April 1, 1919.
[95] The 301st was attached to the 27th American Division.
[96] From information specially given to the author by Captain Hatton-Hall, Reconnaissance Officer of the Brigade.
[97] 16th Battalion.
[98] Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch.
[99] Captain Hatton-Hall.
[100] W.T.N.
[101] Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch.
[102] Captain Hatton-Hall.
[103] Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch.
[104] Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch.
[105] 6th Battalion History.
[106] 6th Battalion History.
[107] Ibid.
[108] W.T.N.
[109] Tradition relates that had General Swinton had his way, the Tanks for Palestine would have had hideous faces and minatory texts from the Koran painted upon them.