The Debut of The Tank
The project to develop the 'Land Battleship' had commenced in the summer of 1915 under the initiative of the British Landships Committee with the objective of developing an armoured vehicle that would break the deadlock of trench warfare. Under the highest degrees of secrecy the 'tank', as it later became known, was designed and built with the first prototype of the Mark I rolled out in January 1916.
Just less than six months after its first tests, General Sir Douglas Haig had wanted to launch the first mass tank attack on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme. However, the manufacturers could not have the tanks ready in time for the first attacks on July 1. Two and a half months later, as Flers-Corcelette was being planned, the tanks were delivered and Haig had General Sir Henry Rawlinson, his subcommander in charge of 4th Army, (the troops that would carry out the attack), incorporate them into his battle plans. From the beginning the tanks were challenged by having to traverse the heavily upset terrain of the Somme battlefield while still beset with numerous mechanical failings and manned by crews that had had little training in their operation. Nonetheless, the decision was taken to send the 49 tanks that were available into battle on September 15. He was warned against this by the engineers who were responsible for the creation of the tank and his subcommanders, such as Ernest Dunlop Swinton (who had been part of the Landships Committee), and the French government, which sent Colonel Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne and Sub-secretary of State of Inventions Jean-Louis Bréton, (who were normally arch-enemies), to London, hoping to persuade the British government to overrule Haig. The primary concern of those who didn't want the tank used was that they wanted it kept secret until they could be massed in larger numbers and be more likely to lead to a major breakthrough.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Flers-Courcelette
Famous quotes containing the word debut:
“Had I been less resolved to work, I would perhaps had made an effort to begin immediately. But since my resolution was formal and before twenty four hours, in the empty slots of the next day where everything fit so nicely because I was not yet there, it was better not to choose a night at which I was not well-disposed for a debut to which the following days proved, alas, no more propitious.... Unfortunately, the following day was not the exterior and vast day which I had feverishly awaited.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)