The line was, in fact, to offer “patches” of resistance, and so break up the ordered advance of the enemy, who was to arrive at the next line, the “battle zone,” weakened and disorganised.
Here the main fight was to take place, and upon this zone we lavished all our skill and industry, and, having faith, we prepared no serious positions in rear of it.
The Tanks were spaced out all along a sixty-mile front.
Near Lens in the 1st Army area was the 1st Tank Brigade.
The 2nd Brigade was in 3rd Army Reserve at Haplincourt, near Bapaume.
The 3rd Brigade—which was in process of being equipped with Whippet Tanks—was also in 3rd Army Reserve.
The 4th Brigade was attached to the 5th Army and established itself in camps near Péronne.
The 5th Brigade was in process of forming, and therefore had no definite task allotted to it, though, as we shall see, the 13th (its nucleus) Battalion actually saw a considerable amount of fighting.
Each Tank Brigade got out a defence scheme in conjunction with the Army to which it was attached. As a rule the Tanks—which had been moved up as secretly as possible—were to lie in ambush till the last moment, and then, emerging—as General Elles described it—“like Savage Rabbits from their holes,” were to fall upon the Germans in flank or rear.
His phrase struck the fancy of the Tank Corps, and the whole of this period is frequently referred to tout court as “Savage Rabbits,” somewhat to the bewilderment of the uninitiated.