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.