The invention of the Palmer machine-gun battle-sight.
The invention of fire-control instruments.
During the spring and summer of 1917 various experiments were carried out at Wool to arrive at the best method of demolishing and removing wire entanglements. Eventually grapnels were decided upon and were used with great success in November at the battle of Cambrai.
The use of cloud smoke from tanks was also originated at the Training Centre, and with the aid of an invention of the late Commander Brock was eventually adopted for all tanks, and was used on several occasions with effect during the summer and autumn operations of 1918.
For purposes of general interest and education as well as for the conversion of the mechanical heathen, a considerable number of demonstrations, showing the power of tanks and their co-operation with infantry, were given to officers of the War Office, Commands and Schools throughout 1918. On October 25 this year, His Majesty the King visited Wool to witness one of these, and paid the Tank Corps Training Centre the great honour of inspecting the various battalions, and welcomed many of the men of the British and American units assembled by walking amongst them and conversing freely with them.
CHAPTER XXII
THE TANK SUPPLY COMPANIES
Tanks, like every other arm of the Army, require a highly organised supply service, and being cross-country machines they must be served by machines of similar powers of locomotion. This was probably realised before tanks were originally dispatched to France in 1916, but, during the battles of the Somme, Ancre, and Arras, it was not possible to organise any system of cross-country supply on account of every machine being required for either fighting or training purposes. In February 1917 the first organisation for cross-country supply was formulated. This consisted in allotting two supply tanks to each company, but the delay in the arrival of Mark IV machines prevented this organisation taking form until May 1917.
Supply tanks were first employed at the battle of Messines, the Mark I tanks, which had now been discarded as fighting machines, being used for this purpose. These machines were fitted with large soft steel sponsons made at the Tank Corps Central Workshops. During this battle they were not much used owing to the limited scope of the operations.