Tanks in the Great War, 1914-1918

by J. F. C. Fuller

When the 6th French Cavalry Division was withdrawn to rest the 17th Battalion proceeded to Senlis, and at 9 a.m., having just entered this town, it received orders to proceed forthwith to Amiens, and report to the headquarters of the Australian Corps. Amiens, which was nearly 100 miles distant, was reached the same night.

On arriving at Amiens Lieutenant-Colonel Carter was informed that his unit was to take part in the projected attack east of this town. The chief difficulty foreseen in an armoured-car action in this neighbourhood was the crossing of the trenches. Although only one day was available wherein to find a solution to this difficulty, it was accomplished by attaching a small force of tanks to the battalion. These tanks were used to tow the armoured cars over the obstacles, or rather, along the tracks the tanks formed through them. This solution proved eminently successful.

For the Fourth Army operations the 17th Armoured Car Battalion was placed under the orders of the 5th Tank Brigade. On the morning of August 8 the battalion moved forward with its accompanying tanks, which successfully assisted all its cars over “No Man’s Land.” Beyond Warfusée, several large trees, felled by shell fire, had fallen across the road, entirely blocking it; these were speedily removed by the towing tanks, thus clearing the road not only for the armoured cars but for our guns and transport. After this delay the cars moved rapidly forward and passed through our attacking lines about twenty minutes before the infantry were timed to reach their final objective. To accomplish this the cars had to run through our own artillery barrage; this they did without casualty.

The road was now clear and the cars proceeded through the enemy’s lines, scattering any infantry they found on the road. They made for the valley near Foucaucourt, where the headquarter troops of a German Corps were known to be encamped. These troops were completely surprised and many casualties were inflicted on them by six cars moving through the valley. The confusion caused soon developed into a panic, the enemy scattering in all directions, spreading the alarm.

Whilst this surprise was developing, several sections of armoured cars turned south and north off the Amiens-Brie road. The former met large columns of transport and mounted officers and teams of horses apparently belonging to the German headquarters at Framerville. These were fired on at short range, four officers being shot down by a single burst of fire. Shortly after this the German headquarters were reached, and the Australian Corps flag, which had been carried in one of the cars for the purpose, was run up over the house which, until a few minutes before, had been occupied by the German Corps Commander. At about this time one car came in sight of a German train: the engine was fired at and put out of action; later on the cavalry arriving captured it.

The cars which had turned northwards entered Proyart and Chuignolles, two moving up to the river Somme. At Proyart the cars found the German troops at dinner; these they shot down and scattered in all directions, and then, moving westwards, met masses of the enemy driven from their trenches by the Australians. In order to surprise these men, who were moving eastwards, the cars hid in the outskirts of Proyart, and, when the enemy was between fifty and one hundred yards distant, they rapidly moved forward, shooting down great numbers. Scattering from before the cars at Proyart the enemy made across country towards Chuignolles, only to be met by the cars which had proceeded to this village, and were once again fired on and dispersed. Near Chuignolles one armoured car obtained “running practice” with its machine guns at a lorry full of troops, and kept up fire until the lorry ran into the ditch. There were also several cases of armoured cars following German transport vehicles, without anything unusual being suspected, until fire was opened at point-blank range.

Although more than half the cars were out of action by the evening of the 8th there were no casualties amongst their personnel sufficiently serious to require evacuation.

After repairing the damages sustained on August 8, the 17th Battalion was transferred to the First Army, and on August 21 took part in the operations near Bucquoy. At the entrance of the village a large crater had been blown in the road, over which the cars were hauled after a smooth path had been beaten down across it by a Whippet tank. The cars then made their way through the enemy’s lines and reached Achiet-le-Petit ahead of our infantry, where several machine guns were silenced by them. In this action two of the cars received direct hits, one of them being burnt out and destroyed.

On August 24 the battalion operated with the New Zealand Division in the attack on Bapaume, the cars penetrating to the Arras-Bapaume road, where severe fighting took place.

In the attack of September 2, the 17th Battalion operated with the Canadian Corps in the assault on the Drocourt-Queant line. In this action four cars were hit by shell fire, but two squadrons of aeroplanes co-operating with the cars attacked the German battery so vigorously that the crews of the disabled cars were able to escape being captured.