LETCLIFFE TANK 02
Once the tank became available the War Office wanted it in action as soon as possible and in September 1916, the forerunner of the modern Tank Corps, The Heavy Section of the Machine Gun Corps, sent 49 machines into battle on the Somme. Unfortunately tactics hadn't kept up with technology and instead of being used as a spearhead to punch a hole in the enemy lines the tanks were regarded as mobile strong points and used piecemeal to support the infantry. Even so, the news of this super weapon soon became public as the press told the story and there was wild enthusiasm for the tank. Contemporary reports recounted 'tank fever' as sweeping the country. After so much bad news, the new weapon was seen as the answer to the stalemate on the Western Front and perhaps it could stop the terrible loss of life.
It soon became obvious to the army that this wasn't the case and whilst the army encouraged enthusiasm at home they realised that specialised training needed to be put in place and new tactics evolved. They took over a château at Bermicourt in France and set about serious training. At the same time they put on demonstrations for celebrities of the new machine in order to whip up enthusiasm at home. George Bernard Shaw had to be dissuaded from tipping the driver of the tank he had ridden in. There was a 'momentary awkwardness' at one point when Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria was so overcome by the sight of a tank climbing over an obstacle that she reverted to her native tongue and exclaimed “Gott, wie Kolossal es ist”, a reminder that almost all the crowned heads of Europe at the time were related. The story was told of how, when the Queen of the Belgians visited Bermicourt after the liberation of Messines Ridge, she enjoyed her ride in a specially carpeted tank but her husband King Leopold was less than impressed by the heat and dirt of the tank he unexpectedly took a ride in.
There was much discussion about tactics and the most significant man in the eventual development of using tanks en masse as an armoured spearhead was a man called Fuller. Unfortunately his influence was blighted by the fact that he was a very strange man and had, since before the war, been an acolyte of Aleister Crowley, the notorious Beast 666 who was heavily into Black Magic and other strange beliefs. Fuller was eventually forced out of the army because of this. The seminal papers he had written on tactics were relegated to a dusty shelf in the War Office. Later it transpired that men like the Russian Mikhail Tukachevsky and the German Heinz Guderian had read Fuller and applied his principles of 'deep penetration' by tanks to their tactics. Fuller's papers were even published by the German General Staff and the consequence was that by 1939 both the Russians and the Germans had evolved the tactics of what the Germans later called Blitzkrieg while the British War Office was hopelessly behind the times.
In September 1916, on the wave of euphoria that swept the country the idea was evolved of the 'tank bank'. Tanks would be sent touring the major cities and the publicity used to encourage war savings. Even in towns like Barlick who didn't actually see a tank on their streets, the reports in the papers of such events in places like Preston had their effect. People contributed as a patriotic duty and millions flowed into the Exchequer as a result of the six 'touring tanks'. Rich individuals even paid for their personal tanks for the war effort.
By the end of the war in 1918 the tank was established as a viable war weapon and one of its major attributes was that the sight of advancing tanks induced 'tank fever' in the enemy. This effect was still being noted in WW2 and one would think that after such a great success investment would have been made in producing more efficient machines for the Army but this never happened. Britain was bankrupt after the war and the Geddes Axe passed by Parliament decimated defence spending. However, even after the war there was a use for tanks. Remember that in October 1917 the Russian Revolution caused every government in Europe to recognise the awful possibility of a civil uprising. On the 25th of January 1919 the Glasgow Herald published an article celebrating the city's contribution towards the tank banks but by the 4th of February the government had moved a squadron of six tanks into the Cattle Market on Gallowgate because they feared an uprising sparked by the Clyde-side workers demonstrating for a shorter working week. Thee tanks were never used but the fact that they were sent indicates how fearful the government was.
At the same time the tanks were in the cattle Market the War office was deciding what to do with 265 war-battered tanks when they returned home. In the end they gave them to the National War Savings Committee for presentation to towns of over 10,000 inhabitants who could claim 'conspicuous achievements' in buying war bonds and savings certificates. Barlick qualified and this is how we got our tank. I'm not quite sure when it arrived, most likely late 1919 or early in 1920. It was delivered by rail and I have seen a picture of it emerging from the end of Station Road on its way up to Letcliffe under its own power belching smoke and surrounded by crowds of Barlickers. It must have been driven up Manchester Road and along the lane at Higher Letcliffe before turning across what was then the golf course before driving through a gap in the wall and onto the plinth that had been prepared for it. Once in place, the attendant soldiers were instructed by the War Office to immobilize the tank “by removing a portion of the machinery by which it is driven and also the wedges (breech blocks) from the guns”. No reason was given for this but it seems quite obvious that they were making sure the lads couldn't use it for any private enterprise revolutionary activities.
When it was put in place the town was still gripped by patriotic fervour even though times were so hard and Spanish Flu was abroad killing more people than the war had. Next week we'll look at how things changed during the hungry years of the 1920s.
Thanks to Gus and Oneguy for this postcard of the tank in place on the plinth in 1920.
