Figure 1.--The National War Savings Committe gifted a heavy tank to Hastings, a Chnnel port, in recognition of the services rendered by the town during World War I. I was delivered by train and large crowds followed its journey to Wellington Square, where it was put on display. It was evnully put on display at the seafront opposite Breeds Place. The children, mostly boy, had fun clambering all over it. It was not the only war attracionm display at Hastings. After the Crimean War (1853-56), a capured Russian cannon was installed on the Hastings seafront. Of course Hasings was near where Duke Willim landed to conquer King Harold and the Saxons. During World War II, he Chnnel ports were he fronline for 4-long years. Had theGerman invded, Hastings would hve ben partof the German alnding area.

The British pioneered a revolutionary new weapon in World War I--the tank. It was an entirely new weapons system. Nothing like it had ever appeared on the battlefield. The history of the tank began in World War I when the British introduced the first armored all-terrain fighting vehicles (1915). They were rushed into production in response to the horrors and unprecedented blood letting on the Western Front. It initiated the modern era era of mechanized warfare. The French were impressed with the idea and began working on their own versions. The first models were unreliable, getting stuck in the mud and breaking down (1916). Even so they did make advances into the German lines before breaking down. The Germans did not take the threat seriously because of the poor initial performance. The British and French in contrast set out to improve the early designs. As a result, the Allies had several thousand tanks with much improved performance, something the Germans had not anticipated. They would play an important role in the war-winning Hundred Days Campaign (1918). By the end of the War the Germans were impressed, too late for World War I, but when Hitler and Stalin launched World War II, they were ready, not so much with advanced tanks, but with refined armored tactics. What the Germans did not take away from World War I was the importance of trucks in exploiting armored breakthroughs. While the Americans used British and French tanks in World War I, the huge American automobile industry provided the AEF and the Allies large numbers of trucks.

Britain

The British introduced the revolutionary new weapon in World War I--the tank. It strongest proponent was none other than Winston Churchill. The British developed the 'Landship' as it was first called at the Bovington grounds. The initial models were unimpressive. Few people, especially the Germans, saw that the new weapon would break the Western Front trench warfare stalemate and revolutionized land warfare forever. The British developed 10 models (1914-1918) in the Military Factory. The initial idea for the building a tank came from studying farm equipment with caterpillar tracks. It became known as a tank because it looked like a metal water carrier and to maintain secrecy while they were being developed. The first tank, Little Willie, was developed by British scientists and inventors (1915). It weighed 16 tons, measured 8 meters long and had a maximum speed of 3.2 kmh which of course did not impress the Germans. The British focused on a romboid design. The Mark I was the world's first tank, meaning tracked and armed armored vehicle, to actually enter combat. The Mark IV was the design most heavily produced--over 1,000 units. The British tanks ultimately achieved speeds of up to 13 kmh with the tanks they committed to the Hundred Days campaign. That did impress the Germans. The British made what they referred to as male and female versions. The female versions had fewer guns. The British began to paint their tanks in camouflaged colors, but as they were soon covered in mud in combat, they shifted to brown. Britain produced 2,600 tanks during the War.

Canada

Canada as in World War II played a major role fighting with British forces on the Western Front. A Canadian reader tells us, "As far as I know the only tanks used in any combat by the Canadian Army were British. And I think British crewed. Canada started to make some tanks but were too late."

France

The French were impressed with the British tanks and developed tanks if their own. They would ultimately produce the largest number during the War. As with the British, the French impetus to build tanks resulted from the heavy casualties on the Western Front and the desire to break through the German trench line. The first French tank was the Schneider CA1. The French built some 400 units. The French experimented with a range of tank designs, including the Frot-Laffly landship, Boirault machine and Souain designs. Another 400 Saint-Chamond tanks were produced (April 1917-July 1918). They were were largely under powered and had design problems, especially with the caterpillar tracks, which were too short compared to the tank's length and weight. Both proved unsuccessful i combat conditions. Much more successful was the Renault FT light tank, which was highly influential in post-War tank design. It was the Allied tank that impressed the Americans the most. The FT has been described as the firsrt modern tank. It would have the largest production run of any tank of the war, with over 3,700 built. That was more than all British tanks built combined.

Germany

The British invented the tank ad began building tanks (1915) and the German Army first faced the new tanks (1916). German troops panicked. They had never seen such monstrous war machines before. The British only had a few tanks and most of what they had broke down or got stuck in the mud. They moved at a snail's place. The German High Command initially responded with a crash effort to produce tanks of their own as well as anti-tank weapons. The result was the monstrous A7V Sturmpanzerwagen -- a 33 ton heavy tank. But the project was sidetracked because German generals concluded that the 1916 performance of the the tank threat was overrated. The Germans decided that the considerable commitment of scarce resources was unwarranted. The lack of spare industrial capacity was also an issue. The Germans did not have the resources the Allies had and thus devoting scarce resources to an unproven military technology was something German leaders declined. Their assessment was correct in 1916. The mistake was that innovative technologies could be improved which is exactly what the British and French did. The technological and learning curve during war was very fast. The Allies rapidly improved their tanks and construction techniques. And by 1918 when the Allies struck in force, the Germans realized they had made a terrible mistake, but it was too late. The Germans had ordered only 100 chassis (early 1917). Ten were to be produced as combat vehicles with armored bodies. The other ten were done as Überlandwagen cargo carriers. The number to be armored was increased to 20. They saw combat (March-October 1918). They were the only tanks produced by the Germans to be used in combat. German troops in contrast faced several thousand Allied tanks. The Germany Army unimpressed with the tank at first, realized their mistake by the end of the War. It was a mistake that they would not make twice. Hitler would, however, repeat many World War I mistakes (two front war and making war on America), but a focus on tanks was not one of them. A decade before Hitler seized power, German military thinking in the inter-War era focused on the tank. It was to become a central component in Blitzkrieg. What the Germans did not fully appreciate in World War I was the importance of the truck. Perhaps because it was an institutional bias for combat and weaponry and because the trucks were mostly used in Allied rear areas. As a result, the Germans would launch launch World War II without the capability of producing large numbers of trucks and with an army still largely on foo and dependent on draft animals.

Russia

Russian engineers worked on tanks during the War. Vasily Mendeleev came up with a 170 behemoth with modern features. Aleksandr Porokhovschikov designed a model with a single wide rubber track. The Tsar Tank designed by Lebedenko had a tricycle design. None of these designs were actually built. Russia just did not have the industrial capacity to devote to an unproven technology. Like the Germans, however, they saw the promise and would actually cooperate with the Germans on developing tank designs and tactics. This occured in secret as part of the Rapollo Accords (1920s). Amazingly, many of the Soviet officers involved would be arrested and shot by Stalin as part of he NKVD Red Army Purges (1936-38)

United States

Unlike World War II, there was no British technology transfer to America before America entered the War. The major focus of the Wilson Administration was keeping out of the War and convincing the belligerents to end the fighting. There was no important preparedness effort. America's industrial might was only modestly tapped by the Allies before America entered the War (April 1917). This was because purchases had be paid for. Thus American industry was not as great a factor in World War I as it would be in World War II. The AEF did not produce any tanks actually produced in America, but they did get some British and French tanks. None other than Major George SD. Patton would command the AEF Tank Corps. After entering the War, the United States began gearing up for war production. If the Germans had not asked for an armistice in 1918, a massive flow of arms including tanks from America would have began rraching the AEF and Allies in 1919. America did not design any tanks during the War. The United States did, however, began to build the M1917 light tank, but the War ended before it could reach the AEF in France. While American armor would not play an important part in the War, the United States had by far the largest motor vehicle industry in the world at the time of the War and American trucks would add greatly to the Allied logistical capability. And that industry would play a key role in the development of tanks in the inter-War era. American automobile engineer J. Walter Christie developed an innovative suspension system for tanks. The U.S. Army initially rejected it, but other counties adopted it, most notably the Soviet Union for its BTs and T-34s.

Created: 7:35 AM 11/19/2024
Last updated: 7:35 AM 11/19/2024