The Iron Behemoths of Flers-Courcelette
On September 15, 1916, a handful of clanking metal giants crawled across the Somme the first tanks ever used in battle.
WOW Score
Conceived in Britain under the secret codename 'tank' to disguise its purpose as a water-carrier, the armored fighting vehicle was rushed to the Somme. At Flers-Courcelette, around 30 Mark I tanks went 'over the top' alongside infantry.
Most broke down or got stuck in the mud, but those that reached the German lines caused panic. One village fell with almost no casualties where a tank led the assault.
The machine was far from ready, yet its potential was unmistakable. The age of armored warfare had begun.
"A new machine, born in secret, rolled onto the mud of the Somme and changed the grammar of war forever."
The debut at Flers-Courcelette proved the concept of the tank, even if the early Mark I machines were slow, unreliable, and few. Within two years, massed armor would break the trench deadlock, and by WWII the tank would become the dominant weapon of land warfare.
The Full Story
Born in Secrecy
The tank was the product of British 'landships' experiments combining tractor treads, armor, and guns. The code name 'tank' was chosen to fool dockworkers into thinking they were shipping water tanks to Russia.
A Modest Debut
Of the dozens deployed, many never reached the front. Those that did moved at little more than walking pace and overheated. But where they appeared, they crushed wire and suppressed machine-gun nests.
The Future Arrived
Military thinkers like J.F.C. Fuller saw the implications immediately. Though WWI ended before armor could be used decisively, the tank's lineage runs straight to the blitzkrieg and modern mechanized armies.