• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

 

Sept. 6, 1915 FIRST TANK PRODUCED - "Little Willie"

USAFSS-ColdWarrior

Chaplain
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
18,469
5,476
113
Location
San Angelo, Tom Green County, Texas USA
According to THE HISTORY CHANNEL's daily email digest THIS DAY IN HISTORY, on this day in 1915 the first tank was produced - "LITTLE WILLIE" was its name.

Here the link:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in...a7642e8fe3993c77599ab617aee23d3ecf26cd4928376

And an excerpt from that link's content:

1915
First tank produced


On this day in 1915, a prototype tank nicknamed Little Willie rolls off the assembly line in England. Little Willie was far from an overnight success. It weighed 14 tons, got stuck in trenches and crawled over rough terrain at only two miles per hour. However, improvements were made to the original prototype and tanks eventually transformed military battlefields.

The British developed the tank in response to the trench warfare of World War I. In 1914, a British army colonel named Ernest Swinton and William Hankey, secretary of the Committee for Imperial Defence, championed the idea of an armored vehicle with conveyor-belt-like tracks over its wheels that could break through enemy lines and traverse difficult territory. The men appealed to British navy minister Winston Churchill, who believed in the concept of a “land boat” and organized a Landships Committee to begin developing a prototype. To keep the project secret from enemies, production workers were reportedly told the vehicles they were building would be used to carry water on the battlefield (alternate theories suggest the shells of the new vehicles resembled water tanks). Either way, the new vehicles were shipped in crates labeled “tank” and the name stuck.

The first tank prototype, Little Willie, was unveiled in September 1915. Following its underwhelming performance–it was slow, became overheated and couldn’t cross trenches–a second prototype, known as “Big Willie,” was produced. By 1916, this armored vehicle was deemed ready for battle and made its debut at the First Battle of the Somme near Courcelette, France, on September 15 of that year. Known as the Mark I, this first batch of tanks was hot, noisy and unwieldy and suffered mechanical malfunctions on the battlefield; nevertheless, people realized the tank’s potential. Further design improvements were made and at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917, 400 Mark IV’s proved much more successful than the Mark I, capturing 8,000 enemy troops and 100 guns.

Tanks rapidly became an important military weapon. During World War II, they played a prominent role across numerous battlefields. More recently, tanks have been essential for desert combat during the conflicts in the Persian Gulf.
 

Bill W

Well-known member
1,985
42
48
Location
Brooks,Ga
The Brits produced two versions of the tanks, Male and female, Males had cannons and females had only machineguns
 

NY Tom

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
510
761
93
Location
Riverhead, NY
Very True Bill about the tank gender at the time. Read a book about the Battle of Cambrai, pretty remarkable story. Being a tanker wasn't so great in those days and it wasn't long before the Germans developed AT Rifles and rounds for cannon which could really put a hurtin' on those early tanks.
 

L1A1

Active member
1,010
13
38
Location
H'burg, VA
A few little tid bits for those interested in W.W.I tanks.

German tank production during the Great War was 20 type A7V tanks. The only surviving A7V is located in Australia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mephisto_(tank)

The French were the first to set the layout of the modern battle tank with the FT17. This small two man AFV had a rear mounted engine compartment, fighting compartment with a fully revolving turret in the center of the hull and the driver's compartment up front & center.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_FT

Aside from being hot, noisy and with a lot of exposed machinery moving about inside, most WWI tanks didn't have any suspension.

A demonstration of the capabilities of a British Mk.IV(?) tank was put on for King George V. The (tank) crew was ordered to drive their machine over an ammunition bunker to demonstrate the tank's ability to traverse obstacles.
The tank went forward and up one side of the bunker until the center of gravity took over and it came down on the other side with a heavy thud. The tank sat there, idling while the King & his staff made favorable comments and then were ushered on to the next demonstration.
It's a good thing that 'ol King George didn't want to have a word with any of the crew as they were all knocked unconscious from the landing impact.

Matt
 
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks