Captain Harold Mortimore led his tank Daredevil across no man’s land. This was the first tank in history to see action on a battlefield….
Tanks at Flers
The Battle of the Somme commenced with a vast British attack on 1 July 1916. On that first day of battle, the bloodiest in the history of the British Army, there were over 57,000 British casualties….
Animal Mascots: Man’s Best Friend
Saturday 26 August is National Dog Day. To celebrate Man’s Best Friend, we found the best images of dogs and tanks in the Archive….
Battle of Amiens: 8 – 11 August 1918
The Battle of Amiens took place from 8 – 11 August 1918…
Eric Robinson, Last WWI Tank Casualty
Eric Robinson, 9th Battalion, was the last Tank Corps member to die in WWI….
Trapped: The Story of Fray Bentos
Tank F41, named Fray Bentos, was a male Mark IV, number 2329. In August 1917 the nine man crew experienced the longest tank action of the First World War….
The First Tank Trials at Hatfield
Before the tank made its debut in France, the Mark I had to undergo trials and approval stages in Britain. These took place at Hatfield Park. …
Camouflage & Paint in WWI
Tank camouflage is a constantly changing art, depending on landscape, climate and season, among other issues. This article examines the development of tank camouflage during the First World War. …
Building the Mark IV
While historians mainly concentrate on tanks in battle, building armoured vehicles is equally fascinating. Learn how the most produced tank of the First World War was made….
The Battle of Amiens: Part 2 – The Attack
All the planning and preparation for the Battle of Amiens culminated at 4:20am on the 8th August 1918….
The Battle of Amiens: Part 1 – The Plan
The Battle of Amiens began on the 8th August 1918 and lasted until the 11th….
The Mark V*
The Mark V* tank was created for one purpose – its extra length….
Mark V
On the 18th January 1918 the first Mark V tank was driven out of the Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Company factory in Birmingham. Just 10 weeks later in early April 8th Battalion Tank Corps began training with the new tank at Humieres. It was a significant step forward from their old Mark IVs….
Action Debut of the Whippet Tank
On 26 March, 1918, the Medium A Whippet tank saw its first battle action, when it took a mass of German infantry by surprise….
Action Debut of The A7V
The first action of the German A7V tank, on 21 March 1918, is not very well known from the British side. Probably because most of those in action against them were either killed or captured and very little information reached the British authorities at the time. However we now have a German account to work…
Tank Numbers
Like all military and civilian vehicles before and since the First World War, British tanks were given unique registration, or serial, numbers. …
The Legacy of Cambrai
After the Battle of Cambrai, what lessons were learned by both the Allied and German troops? How did the affects of a battle which is seen as a draw influence the last year of the First World War? …
The Battle of Cambrai: The German Counterattack
The Battle of Cambrai had begun at 6:20am on the 20th November with a stunning advance, spearheaded by tanks and supported by new artillery techniques, but within a few days the British had been fought to a standstill. …
The Battle of Cambrai: Graincourt
Pride of place at the entrance to the Tank Men Exhibition is the Graincourt gun – captured by Albert Baker during Cambrai. This is its story. …
The Battle of Cambrai: Flesquières Ridge
The Battle of Cambrai (20 November 1917) is always deemed to have been a British success, this is true, up to a point, although it had its setbacks….