http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/tanks_and_world_war_one.htm
Tanks were a new weapon first used in World War One. The concept of the tank was born on a battlefield where the front lines hardly changed, and advances were frequent and futile.
The Great War quickly became a war of trench warfare. Each side was dug in against the other, and each side was constantly trying to capture the other side's trenches. What it all amounted to was a stalemate. Thousands of people were dying each day, and no ground was being gained.
Motored vehicles were jest becoming a major part of warfare at the time of the Great War. (See other advances page). Cars and trucks were frequently used to carry equipment and commanders onto and around the battlefields of Europe. These road vehicles were aptly suited for hard compacted dirt roads, but floundered in the battlefield. The surface area of four or six tires just wasn't enough to support a loaded truck in mud. Trucks also had the problem that they could not cross a trench. The wheel would fall into the trench, and the truck would get stuck.
The idea of using tracked vehicles in war was not new at all. Since the early 1900's (1905 or so) tracked vehicles had been used a tractors to tow artillery pieces around the battlefield. These vehicles looked much like old tractors, with two rows of tracks, and a motor mounted on top, and a place for the driver to sit.
Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Swinton proposed in 1914 the development of a new type of fighting vehicle. Something other than the armored cars of the day were needed. The vehicles were called tanks because they were built as "water tanks" to conceal their true nature.
He looked for the following specifications :
"A top speed of 4 mph on flat land
The ability to turn sharply at top speed
The ability to climb a 5-feet parapet
The ability to cross an eight feet gap
A working radius of 20 miles
A crew of ten men with two machine guns on board and one light artillery gun. "
(text from http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/tanks_and_world_war_one.htm)
These specifications lead to the design and off shape of the tank.
First of all, tanks needed to support the large amount of weight they carried. The tracks made this possible by providing a larger surface area for the tank to contact the ground, much like a ski or snowshoe for a human would. Tracks could easily have 100x more surface area than a wheel and tire on a standard truck.
This was the prototype British tank, built to test the tracks and be used as a template for further exparimentation. The shape was later revised to have the track run around the entire vehicle, because this gave better traction should the nose happen to fall into a trench. With treads all around, the nose of the tank would have a tractive surface, helping to pull the tank across. The rigid body of the tank meant it could cross trenches without a problem.
A later production tank
The largest problem with early tanks was keeping them crewed and in working order. These early machines were not battle tested, and problems were encountered. The engines broke down, or the treads were damaged, rendering the tanks useless. Finding staff for the tanks was also hard. People with mechanical experience were not people likely to have any arm experience, and army people had no mechanical experience. This dilemma lead to early tanks being staffed by mechanically but not militarily inclined crews.
The first combat tanks entered service June 1, 1916 in the Battle of the Somme. The first tanks entered service on September 15, 1916. 50 of the 30-ton mammoths were deployed , and 36 of them managed to survive the ensuing battle. 14 of the tanks were stuck in the mud, while the remainder managed to continue on.
It would take a few years before the power of the tank was fully understood. After their introduction, they were still considered to be weapons designed to support infintry attacks. It would not be until a few years later that tanks would be considered weapons of their own.
Return to the Main Index