first use of british tanks battle of the somme

Armament consisted of two QF 6 pdr 6 cwt Hotchkiss (57 mm) guns, seven 7.92 mm Hotchkiss machine guns or five M1917 Browning machine guns. British tanks carried a crew of twelve personnel, US tanks carried ten. This tank weighed in at 38t and was 10.42m in length, 3.56m width (with sponsons out) and 3.13m high. The first major step toward the next phase of tank design came right at the end of WWI in the form of the Mark VIII or Livery tank – a collaborative design between the UK and the US with input from France to equip all three armed forces with a single heavy tank. A further modified variant with new engine and transmission systems entered production from December 2017, with 200 of each male and female built and the first ‘hermaphrodite’ variants, carrying one male and one female sponson, emerging. It was the British tank used in the greatest numbers during WWI with 420 males, 595 females and 202 supply variants constructed.

Despite their shortcomings, they were able to cross trenches of 9ft and pass through barbed wire, showing a capacity for extreme mobility that secured them a vital role in the land force tool kit for the ensuing century.īy the time the Mark IV tank entered production in May 1917, significant improvements had been made in armour, armament, logistics and recovery systems for the vehicle. The tanks that did clear no man’s land, however, laid claim to a revolution in modern warfare. Seventeen of the 49 vehicles shipped to France were not even fit to enter the battle of those that did, some broke down, others were incapacitated by direct hits of artillery and mortar shells. Only around a third of the 32 British tanks deployed at the Somme on 15 September succeeded in breaking through to German lines. Due to unavailability of the six pounder guns, half were equipped with only machine guns.

Enough tanks were ordered by Fosters and Metropolitan to raise six tank companies of 25 vehicles each. This vehicle entered service in August 1916 in two variants: ‘male’, armed with two six pounder guns and three 8mm Hotchkiss machine guns and weighing in at 28 tons and ‘female’, with four 0.303 Vickers machine guns and a single Hotchkiss, weighing in a 27 tons. Mother formed the design for the first tank to engage in battle with the British armed forces, known as the British Mark I.

First use of british tanks battle of the somme