Life in a Tank

YS OF TR

ld Bird the night after we finished our tank course

gain on the gun to-morrow morni

Bird p

ays' rest, sir, can't I

jor la

down, so you'll have

the afternoon, learning the gun. On the fourth day we finished off our course with firing on the range. Surprising as

, as they strolled back one evening from the range. The Old Bird was alw

ll have to work hard on that, but I know you don't ob

ife isn't worth living with all this wor

me. He would stump along on his flat feet, trudging miles with his pack on his back, and Talbot had never heard him complain. He was bad at drill. He could never get the orders or formations through his head. Talbot had often lost patience with him, but the old fellow was always cheerful. One morni

ould like to be down in Boulogne for a few days!" And until they reached the Mess, the Old Bird dilat

of us went to the tankdrome; some of us to the hills overlooking historic Agincourt, and others to the barn by the railroad where we practised with the guns. Another party accompani

mess, Gould

s a half da

g 'J' Company at soccer, and on Sunday we're playing 'L' at

In fact, he assured the mess that he

owing afternoon, an eager crowd streamed out of the village to our football field, which we had selected with great care. It was as f

K" Company teams. And when the play was in progress and savage yells rent the air, the French villagers lo

heir team to greater efforts, made up for our moderation, with the result that our allies were firmly convinced that "J" Company had won the game! If not, why should they dance up and down a

Suffice it to say that the French congratulated "K" Company over the o

ce on waking on our birthday and suddenly remembering that gifts were sure to appear and that there would be something rather special for tea! By the time

The steel shutters of the portholes click as they are opened. The gunners take their positions. The driver opens the throttle a little and tickles the carburetor, and the engine is started up. The driver r

ng. Can you imagine the sensation? Then you can guess the feelings of the men in a tank,-excepting the officer and driver, who can see ahead through their portholes,-when the monster gets under way. There are tim

nals the driver of the right-hand track into "neutral." This disconnects the track from the engine. The tank swings around to

hugely. If the hill is steep enough they may even find themselves lying flat on their backs or standing on their heads! But no such luck. Presently they are standing as nearly upright a

there. The driver throws out his clutch, we slip over very gently, and carefully he lets the clutch in again and down we go. The "Willie" flounders around for

this sort of thing, and

ion, "When are we going into a show?" with no answer to the question, we were called into the Major's room, where

n looking back to the time when we joined. First, each man in the Battalion knew how to run a tank, how to effect slight repairs, how to work the guns, and how to obtain the best results from the machine. Second, and very important, was the fact that the men and officers had got together. The crews and officers of each section knew and trusted each other.

m one of the inhabitants of the village, and the piano was naturally the pièce de résistance of the concert. The Old Bird went around for days at a time, humming scraps of music with unintelligible words which it afterwards developed at the concert

at one end of a hanga

d, and the maire, the curé, the médecin of the

ach song had a chorus, and so appreciative was our audience that the choruses were repeated again and again. The one "lady" of the Troupe looked charming, and "she" arranged for "her" voice to be entirely in keeping

ing," and went back to our billets feeling that our