A Company of Tanks

l 11,

who had returned from Noreuil, the full

ations it had been arranged that Wyatt's section should attack from Noreuil and the remaining sec

ove forward. On the other hand, we had not calculated on such a brief interval between the receipt of orders and the start of the tanks. An att

rs could not always see the officers who were leading their tanks on foot. Each tank commander, blinded and breathless, foun

and again. Our line at the time consisted of scattered posts?-?there were no trenches?-?and on such a

miles above Noreuil. The crews were dead-tired, but they would have gone forward

d heard that a whole cavalry brigade had spent most of the night wanderi

ral Birdwood was there, Major-General Holmes, who commanded the Division with which we were to operate, Briga

le, however, was still in its earliest stages; the situation had not crystallised; there was still hope that the enormous pressure of our offensive might cause the enemy line to crumble and disappear. It had been decided, in consequence, to proceed with the postponed attack on Bullecourt, but

was laid on the necessity for strong counter-battery work. The right attacking brigade would form a defensive flank in the direction of Quéant, and at the same time endeavour to press through to Riencourt and He

own the German wire immediately to the right of the front of the attack; second, to remain with the infantry in the Hindenburg Line until the trenc

us front but up two slight spurs or shoulders. The Hindenburg Line itself lay just beyond the crest of a slope, and these almost imperceptible shoulders ran out from the main slope at right an

ting in the Hindenburg Line and then work along it into Bullecourt. Whether, later, they would be able to assist

e conference was an anticlimax. For days and nights we had been completing our preparations. The supreme moment had come, and after hours of acute tension had passed without result

the road was impossible. It was heavy with mud and slush and we were far from fresh. We passed Australians coming up and much transport?-?in places the road was almost blocked. After an hour or more we came to the valley above Noreuil, full of new g

gly of bricks, still stood in the middle of the wreckage. This my officers had made their headquarters. I gave instructions for al

in the bowels of the earth. An old brewery or factory possessed who

uld take place as originally planned, and bitter was the disappointment when I told them that the orders had been changed. I

e hour. They did not see how they could study their orders, their maps, and their photographs in the hour and a half that remained to them before it was time for the tanks to start. So, again, I set out carefully and in detail the exact task of eac

e in and out of the cellar. We had some tea, and the general lay down for some sleep. There was a rumour that one of the tanks had become ditched in c

forms were placed conveniently to hand. The war diary was lying open with a pencil beside it and the c

nd one or two 5.9's had come sailing over. Forward, the railway embankment and the approaches to it had been shelled intermittently, and towa

e minutes filed by I wondered idly whether, deep down in the earth, we should hear the barrage. I was desperately anxious that the tanks should prove an overwhelming success. It w

little thumps, like a dog that hits the floor when it scratches itself. The barrage had opened. Constraint vanished, and we lit pipes and cigarettes. You woul

comes from wounded men, and naturally their experiences are limited. Brigade headquarters are, as a rule, at least an hou

age came down, hot and strong, a few minutes after zero.... Fighting hard in the Hindenburg trenches, but few tanks to be seen.... The enemy are still holding o

barrage put down in front of them, but from another message it seems pro

rve battalion. Is it time for the reserve to be t

or fresh supplies comes through, and the staff ca

no tanks have been seen, another that a tank helped to c

ommanders, bursts in. He is

e been knocked out, sir!" he r

Without tanks many casualties were certain and victory was improbable. Their hopes were shattered as

ening sympathetically. I made a written note, sent off

. A bunch of Australians were joking over their breakfasts. The streets of the vil

asionally, the shuddering thumps of the heavies. The air rustled and whined with shells. Then, as we hesitated, came the loud murmur, the roar, the overwhelming rush of a 5.9, like the tearing of a

occasional shell into the village, and we

e their retirement, had blown a large crater where the road from Ecoust joins the road from Vaulx-Vraucourt, and now they were shelling it persistently. A stretcher party had ju

de my way back to the brigade headquarters in the cellar, and sent off a long wire. My return to the brick shelter was, for reasons that at the time seemed almost too obvious, both hasty and undig

They crawled out beyond the embankment into No Man's Land and marked out the starting-line. It was not too pleasant a job. The enemy machine-guns were active right through the night, a

By this time the shelling had become severe. The crews waited inside their tanks, wondering dully if they would be hit before

ent than a barrage?-?and the tanks crawled away into the d

rapet with their fire. They received as good as they gave. Serious clutch trouble developed in Puttock's tank. It was impossible to stop since now the German guns were following them. A brave runner carried the news to Wyatt at the embankme

on back towards Noreuil. His clutch was slipping so badly that the tank would not move, and the shells were falling

aps they had gone through to Hendecourt. Yet the infantry of the right brigade, according to the reports we

accurate fire of forward field-guns before they entered the German trenches. T

under way. The tank was evacuated, and in the dawning l

burst into flames. A shell had exploded the petrol tanks, which in the old Mark I. were placed forward on either side of the officer'

mporarily blinded. The tank was filled with fumes. As the crew were crawling out, a second shell hit the tank on the roof. The men under the wounded corporal began stolidly to salve the tank's equipment, while Bern

tanks on the left were

sted and he himself was badly wounded in the leg. Then at last he turned back, followed industriously by the German gunners. Near the embankment he stopped the tank to take his bearings. As he was climbing out, a shell burst against the side of the tank and wounded him again in the leg. The tank was evacuated. The crew salv

at fly about inside a Mk. I. tank when it is subjected to really concentrated machine-gun fire. No Australians could be seen. Suddenly he came right to the edge of an enormous crater, and as suddenly stopped. He tried to reverse, but he could not change gear. The tank was absolutely motionless. He held out for some time, and then the Germans brought up a gun and began to shell the tank. Against field-guns in

s it was coming into action. The engine stopped in sympath

kment, and with the utmost gallantry went forward int

. From all accounts the Australians were holding with the greatest difficulty the trenches they had entered. Between the two brigades the Germans were clinging fiercely to their old line. Counter-attack

We ran out, and saw to our wonder a tank coming down the sunken road. It was the fourth tank

nd later they were joined by a third man. Their officer had left to look for me and ask for orders. They reached the tank?-?the German gunners were doing their very best to hit it again?-?and desperately eager not to abandon it outright,

lanes had seen two tanks crawling over the open country beyond the Hindenburg trenches to Riencourt, followed by four or five hundred cheering Australians. Throug

and the Australians never came back. The tanks may have been knocked out by field-guns. They may have run short of petrol. They may have become "dit

e battle. Two men were detailed to guard our dump outside Noreuil, the rescued tank started for Mory, and th

s, of whom one told me with natural emphasis that tanks were "no damned use." Then with Skinner and Jumbo I tramped up the valley towards Vraucourt through the midst of numerous

The enemy were searching for guns. Then to our dismay a second shell burst at the tail of the tank. The tank stopped, and in a moment the crew were scattering for saf

he crew would return and inspect the damage. So, sick at heart, we tramped on to Vaulx-Vraucourt, passing a r

hagnies. When we came to the camp, it was only ten o'clock in the mo

slodged. And he continued to counter-attack with skill and fury down the trenches on the flanks?-?from the sunken roads by Bullecourt and up the communication trenches from the north. In the intervals his artillery pounded away with solid determination. Bombs and ammunition were running very short, and to get further supplies forward was terribly

lied, and by a succession of fierce little counter-attacks drove the enemy with great skill back on to the deep wire in front of the Hindenburg Line. There was no escape. Behind the Germans we

over the sights; but first one howitzer and then another became silent as the gunners fell. My two men had been using rifles. When they saw what was happening they dashed forward to the howitzers, and turning their knowledge of the tank 6

o had fought at Gallipoli, could never be replaced. The company of tanks had been, apparently, nothing but a broken reed. For many months after the Australians distrusted tanks, and it was not until the battle of

rg Line on a front of fifteen hundred yards without support on either flank was rash. And it must not be forgotten that the attack ought to have been, and in actual fact was, expected. The

e. These unhappy circumstances fitted into each other. If the snow had not made clear targets of the tanks, the tanks by themselves might have driven the enemy out of their trenches in the centre of the attack. If the first stages of the attack had been

they are surpassed by none. It is, however, undeniable that my tanks disturbed and disconcerted the enemy. We know from a report captured later that the enemy fire was concentrated on the tanks, and the German Higher Command instanced this battle as an operation i

ith their flanks in the air, and in the face of the sturdiest opposition, half a section of tanks and about half a battalion of infantry broke through the strongest field-works i

neral Elles was told the story of the battle, he said in my

ages of congratulation. The f

ed by your company in the attack to-day, and the fact that the objective

as from Gene

command his heartiest thanks and appreciation of the manner in which they carried out their tasks during the

es, one D.C.M., and three Military Me