An Anglo-American design.
The Mark Viii tank was known as the ‘International’ because it was designed jointly by Britain and America. The French also provided factories for Mark VIII tanks to be constructed. It is the best example anywhere of a tank that has been designed and built by more than one country.
What is immediately noticeable is how different the tank’s overall shape is from vehicles like the Mark IV and V that preceded it. Is it much longer in order to cross wider trenches and for the first time, featured a separate engine compartment making conditions more bearable for the crew.
Inside, the driver sat at the front with a 6 pounder gunner and loader to either side. The rest of the crew stood on a platform, firing out of the top with machine guns. There was a separate post for the commander, although he would usually sit close to the driver to help navigate the tank.
In the end, the Mark VIII never saw action as the war ended before it could be used. Fourteen were built in Glasgow and only 6 were taken into British Army service. They were eventually scrapped except this one that was gifted to The Tank Museum in the interwar period; two also survive in America.
