In the early morning of September 15, 1916, a strange sound came out of the fog, floating along the Somme river. It was a growing monotonous rumble accompanied by metallic clanging. The sound grew until, finally, gigantic shapeless silhouettes resembling mythical monsters emerged from the fog. These seemingly unstoppable monsters advanced ceaselessly into the German trench defensive positions, spitting fire and crushing everything in their path. NM: In the German trenches of World War I this guy’s reaction must have been typical to the size of this huge metal monstrosity slithering it’s way unstoppably across the battlefield. With a common question “What is it?” RC: This incredible beast is the first ever combat tank, it is the Mark I. And the last remaining Mark I in entire World doing exactly what it designed to do
– break through the defenses of the enemy lines. NM: And when you come to the tank museum of Bovington this is one of
the first things to see and it sets the stage for the next 100 years of the tank. It all started with
an odd partnership between an expert in Agricultural Machinery and a Royal Naval
Air Service Engineer. Tritton and Wilson were attempting to solve a very practical problem: how to break the trench stalemate that had frozen
the Great War for years? It occurred to them to use the common farm tractor as a base. They turned the tractor around, back to front, the engine was moved to the center of the vehicle, and the hull was covered with a sheet of steel. Thus was born Little Willie: the first tank. NM: So, we’re now surrounded by the first generations of tanks RC: We’ve got the Mark II, the Whippet and the Renault FT-17. But, taking pride of place, in the middle, Little Willy. NM: The progenitor of them all, the first demonstrated to be somewhat successful tank and do say somewhat successful RC: A result of
the Landship committee formed by sir Winston Churchill NM: Which, being a naval organization led to all the naval terms used to label the tank today like the bow, the hatch, the sponson and so on RC: But there were problems with Little Willy and the main issue which were never sorted past this was the tracks. It wasn’t fit for purpose. The tracks just couldn’t cope with what was design for crossing these obstacles NM: No, in terms of the soft ground, the track were fine, but when it got to the trenches, it couldn’t do it. Which is what led than to the rhombus design, which we commonly associate World War I tanks today. The machine adopted a long diamond-shaped hull to better accomplish
its primary goal: breaching and crossing trenches. The idler wheels on the vehicle were lifted up as high as possible and prevented the tank from creeping down the trench, while the sprocket wheels were put as far back and low as possible. In the end, what emerged were small land-based ironclad battleships, equipped with casemate weapons... the first tanks deployed in battle. RC: We’re now outside with this incredible
replica of the Mark IV and the first thing you notice is it’s not a quick vehicle NM: No, this is combat speed about 6 km an hour, 4 miles an hour. But if you’re looking at it from a viewers perspective as a German you see this thing coming towards you, spitting fire from the guns, this is a significant emotional event. RC: It must have been absolutely terrifying. What it does give to us though is a great outline of rhomboid shape. Of course, allowing it to go over obstacles much easier. NM: Trenches, barbwire, that sort of things. You got shorter 6-pounders, not as long as you've already
seen on the Mk1. RC: And a Lewis gun on the other side
here on the sponson. And, of course,
the other differences between this, the Mk4 and the Mk1 was the armour, greatly improved over the Mk1. NM: Not that it'll stop
much exept small arms still but a better chance. The sponsons, you'll see, would actually slide in for rail transport. RC: And the other biggest difference,
of course, was the engine on the Mk4
as opposed to the Mk1 NM: Which is relocated,
but to see that, we got to go inside. RC: So, here we are, in the Mk4, right in front of the vehicle and in the commander's and the driver's positions NM: Right, you call it the driver and that's because he does have access to the gear lever, he's got the brake,
he's got the clutch and the accelerator and retard levers. Now that's it, he doesn't have any steering controls which is a bit of
an issue for a driver. RC: And really, steering of the Mk4 was an issue anyway, at stages
there were up to 4 of the crew, that's half of the crew
involved in steering the vehicle, which is unbelivable. That's because
on the commander's sides of the commander was also the assistant driver, I've got 2 steering brake leavers, left & right for me here. And I was also the bow gunner, so, busy man the commander. NM: Down to having
a little hole there for shooting your revolver out of is across over trenches, if the tank wasn't enough. The armor was 10-12 mm thick. It was enough to withstand small arms fire, but not much more. Even with this, the vision slits
were still vulnerable, and injuries from shattered bullets were quite common. NM: So we’ve moved now to the main crew compartment and very obviously in the middle, exposed to all to burn themselves on, the 105 HP engine RC: And just behind this engine, right to the rear of the tank, we’ve also got the transmission. And can you imagine, Nick, the problems we’re having this engine
where it is? I mean, first of all, communication, the sheen noise of it
must’ve been awful for the crew. NM: And then you’ve got
also the darkness because you wouldn’t have
this camera light, you’ve got the noise, the commander would have
a hell of a time. RC: And now a tank
is not a tank without a gun, of course and across here we’ve got a first of our two 6-pouners. NM: The ammunition, as you see, is still pretty much everywhere around the tank and for the purposes of the demonstration, we’ll give around to the gunner here. RC: So, take this round, put it on to the loading platform. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to push all the way forwards. Close the breach. Optical sight system on top. Very good sight system,
times 2 magnification. And fire the gun! Despite the fact
that 5 out of 32 tanks got stuck, and 9 broke down during the initial attacks, the remaining vehicles were able to fully demonstrate the potential of this new weapon. The attack on the
15th of September, 1916, along the Somme, was the birth of a new era. By the end of WWII, tanks played an integral role on the battlefield, and that was only the beginning for the triumphant progress of tracked combat
vehicles through history.
