I
Though plans for expansion and the complete reorganisation of the unit on a large scale had been begun directly after the results of the action of September 15 were known, little of the actual work of training could be started till the end of November, when the “veteran” Tank personnel were at last available as instructors. They were, as we have said, withdrawn on November 19 and moved to the Bermicourt area, which had been already prepared for them.
They were the leaven—less than one “old” Company to each new Battalion—who must impart their knowledge and experience to the new men.
A subaltern who had seen any fighting with the Tanks would suddenly find himself regarded as the greatest living expert on some obscure technical point, and the newly joined who had never seen a Tank “looked with awe upon these battle-tried warriors.”
Men and officers were allowed to volunteer for the Tank Corps from other units either in France or at home. The notion of fighting in a Tank was popular, for on many of the men of the old arms—especially the infantry—the ordinary battle routine had—to put it conservatively—begun to pall.
Therefore, there was no difficulty as to supplies of men whenever the authorities turned the tap.
[15]“We came from the infantry, from the cavalry, from the artillery, from the Machine Gun Corps, the Motor Machine Gun Corps, the Flying Corps, the Army Service Corps, and even from the Navy.”
At first each individual wore the dress of his original unit, so that there was a strange collection of uniforms at Bermicourt—Scottish bonnets and kilts, riding breeches, and bandoleers, every conceivable dress, even to naval blue.
[15]“The spirit of adventure called us to the Tanks ... and so the call for volunteers found us ready, and when the word of acceptance came, our hearts beat quickly and our hopes were high ... some of us were selected because we were machine-gunners, and others because we were motor drivers. But there were many of us to whom the machine-gun and the motor were incomprehensible things. But in the end we did not find this lack of knowledge any handicap; for the Army authorities, who were wiser than we, knew that to men of average intelligence these things were easy to learn; and to our very great amazement we found that a week was all that was necessary thoroughly to master any machine-gun ... and that it only took us two weeks to grasp the principle of the internal combustion engine and the mechanism of the Tank.”
At Bermicourt and at Wool the deficiencies of the old Thetford training were realised. The experience gained on the Somme had been assimilated. Instructors now knew exactly what they must teach, and this time the spirit of the course of training was definite and businesslike.