III
There were also to be changes in the technical and mechanical engineering side of the Tank Corps itself, by which an economy of man-power was to be effected.
When the Tank Corps was first formed each Company had its own workshops, and this system lasted to the end of 1916. Then in the course of the winter reorganisation, Company Workshops were abolished and Battalion Workshops were substituted.
By the autumn of 1917 the experiment was tried of centralising still further and merging Battalion into Brigade Workshops, and early in 1918 it was decided to take the last step and to concentrate all repairs in the Central Workshops.
This system, which achieved a great economy of skilled men, was made possible by a very clear line of demarcation being drawn between Repairs and Maintenance, a principle which had been laid down by Colonel F. Searle, D.S.O., the chief engineer of the Corps and the head of the whole mechanical side of the Tanks.
No damaged part was ever to be repaired on the field; mechanical efficiency was to be maintained by the broken bit of mechanism being immediately replaced by a complete new part.
This replacement was carried out by the crew, whose efficiency as mechanics was enormously increased by being thus made responsible for their own machines.
One point had, of course, to be carefully attended to in carrying out this system. There had to be a very efficient supply organisation by which the necessary spares were quickly available in the field.
When the crew had removed the damaged part from the Tank, it was sent back to the Central Workshops to be repaired.
Here a specially skilled man would be always employed upon damages to one particular part.
[48]“For example, broken unions of petrol pipes commonly occur in all petrol engines, and if a small unit workshop exists, the brazing out and repair of such broken unions can be carried out there. But in order to do this a coppersmith must be kept at the unit workshop, and only part of his time will be employed in this work of brazing petrol unions. If now, however, all broken unions, from every unit, are sent back to a Central Workshop for repair, there is a sufficient amount of work of this description to keep one man, or possibly two or three men fully employed all their time.
“These men become absolute experts in brazing broken unions, and before very long can do in a few minutes a job which would take a coppersmith with the unit workshop an hour or two to carry out.”
It is interesting to trace what might have been the itinerary of a Tank from the time it left the manufacturers in about Midsummer 1917, till after going into action in, say, the Third Battle of Ypres.
On completion every Tank was first sent to testing grounds at Newbury, where it was manned by No. 20 Squadron R.N.A.S. From here it was forwarded to Richborough, whence it was shipped by the Channel ferry and received at Le Havre by another detachment of Squadron 20. Thence it went to Bermicourt, was again tested, this time by Tank Corps personnel, and then handed on to the Central Stores at Erin. These stores were first established in 1917, and eventually consisted of over seven acres of railway siding and six acres of buildings. The Central Workshops were at one time also installed here, but as more accommodation became necessary they were moved to Teneur, about a mile and a half away.
From the Central Stores the Tanks would be issued to Battalions as needed.
For example, during the Third Battle of Ypres a large number of Tanks were supplied to Companies actually in the line. We will suppose that a particular Tank was so supplied, and received a bullet through its carburettor during one of the small actions of the end of October.
The crew would immediately draw a new carburettor from the neighbouring mobile advanced store, which was run by one of the two Tank Salvage or Field Companies.
Thus re-equipped the Tank would again go into action, perhaps within a day of being damaged.
This time we will suppose that the Tank got knocked out between the first and second objective by a direct hit, the unwounded members of the crew going forward with their Lewis guns and leaving the Tank stranded and immovable.
The position of the derelict having been reported, men from a Tank Salvage Company would go up that night, probably under shell-fire, and possibly in full view of the enemy whenever a Véry light went up.
The experts would arrive at the wreck with their favourite set of repairing tools, possibly consisting of the specially designed Tank-repairing outfit, but more probably of a few pet spanners, some odd lengths of tubing and a coil of copper wire. They would toil at the Tank till dawn.
Sometimes after one or more nights spent like this they would induce the Tank to go. In the Ypres area Tanks were sometimes salved that had completely disappeared into the mud. Sometimes it was possible to tow a machine away, particularly after the special salvage Tanks with their hoisting gear came into use. Sometimes only disjecta membra, such as engine parts, 6-pounders, or parts of the gears or transmissions, could be saved.
During the two years of their existence the Field Companies, at the lowest computation, saved two or three million pounds’ worth of stores, a work which they did not accomplish without heavy cost to themselves.
We will suppose that the Tank whose history we have followed was salved whole.
The next step would be that it would be entrained by the Field Company and sent back to the Central Workshops at Teneur.
This was really a vast engineering works covering about twenty acres of ground, where, besides a very large number of trained and expert mechanics, more than a thousand Chinese coolies worked.
These coolies often became very dexterous artisans.
Here, in endless ranks down the long shops, they would toil indefatigably, in the summer stripped to the waist, their brown bodies gleaming in the white light of the arc lamps or in the glow of the forges, or in the winter dressed in their loose blue quilted jackets and close caps with curious rabbits’ fur ear-lappets.
Possibly the shattered or burnt-out Tank would have to be almost entirely rebuilt, two wrecked Tanks providing, perhaps, parts enough to make one good one. Here, finally, the reconstructed Tank would be tested and sent back to the Central Stores.
Possibly it would have been reduced to a sort of “C. III.” category, and made into a Supply Tank. Possibly it would have been fitted with all the latest gadgets, and come out from its reforging a better weapon than it was originally.
For the activities of the Central Workshops were not confined to mere repair. It will be remembered how they distinguished themselves in the matter of the lightning delivery of fascines, releasing gear, and supply sledges for the Battle of Cambrai.
A large proportion, too, of the experiments which led to improvements in the design of Tanks were carried out here; for example, the long Tank and the unditching beam were of Central Workshops origin, and here the officers who fought the Tanks could have their ideas for gadgets sympathetically reviewed and put to practical proof by the band of expert engineers that Lieut.-Colonel Brocklebank had brought together. But they were more than mere experts; they were enthusiasts whose unflagging zeal had created the marvel of Central Workshops where there had been bare ploughland so short a time before.