The operations showed that the training of all ranks had been carried out on sound and practical lines. The fighting spirit of the men was high, the tanks being fought with great gallantry. One commanding officer stated, in his report on the battle, that the behaviour of his officers and men might be summed up as “a triumph of moral over technical difficulties.”
This fine fighting spirit was undoubtedly due to the excellent leadership all officers and N.C.O.s had exercised during individual and collective training; and to the full recreational training given to the battalions during these periods, games and sports as a fighting basis having been sedulously cultivated.
The main tactical lessons learnt and accentuated were:—that tanks should be used in mass, that is they should be concentrated and not dispersed; that a separate force of tanks should be allotted to each objective, and that a strong reserve should always be kept in hand; that sections and, if possible, companies should be kept intact; that the Mark I and Mark II machines were not suitable to use over wet heavily-shelled ground; that the moral effect of tanks was very great; that counter-battery work is essential to their security; and that supply and signal tanks are an absolute necessity.
On the evening of April 10 the Colonel Commanding the Heavy Branch received the following telegram from the Commander-in-Chief:
“My congratulations on the excellent work performed by the Heavy Branch of the Machine Gun Corps during yesterday’s operations. Please convey to those who took part my appreciation of the gallantry and skill shown by them.”
CHAPTER X
TANK BATTLE RECORDS
In order to record the personal experiences of each tank Crew Commander in battle, and to collect statistics as to the work of the tanks themselves, shortly before the battle of Arras was fought, a form was introduced known as a “Tank Battle History Sheet.” These sheets were issued to Crew Commanders prior to an engagement, were filled in by them after its completion and, eventually, forwarded to Tank Corps Headquarters, where they were summarised by the Tank Corps General Staff. By this means it was possible to collect many valuable experiences from the soldiers themselves, information which unfortunately so frequently is apt to evaporate when the final battle report starts on its journey from one headquarters to the next.
Outside the material value of these reports they frequently possessed a psychological value, and by reading them with a little insight it was possible to gauge, with fair accuracy, the moral of the fighting men, an “atmosphere” so difficult to breathe when in rear of the battle line, so impossible to create, and yet so necessary to the mental health of the General Staff and the Higher Command.