Persistence
With the devastating German blitzkrieg attack on France in 1940 it was clearly time to reconsider the usefulness of Cultivator No. 6. Churchill wrote to General Ismay and CIGS Ironside:
| “ | The change which has come over the war affects decisively the usefulness of "Cultivator No. 6". It may play its part in various operations, defensive and offensive, but it can no longer be considered the only method of breaking a fortified line. I suggest that the Minister of Supply should to-day be instructed to reduce the scheme by one half. Probably in a few days it will be to one-quarter. The spare available capacity could be turned over to tanks. | ” |
The number of units was soon even more significantly reduced to just 33 machines and by July Churchill was finding other tasks to assign to Mr Hopkins. Even so, the project was not completely canceled – with Britain facing invasion and desperately short of conventional tanks it does seem remarkable that the project continued. Historian John Turner attributes this dogged persistence to Churchill's failure to get his mole accepted during the First World War. It was at this point that the original code name of Cultivator No. 6 was dropped in favour of N.L.E. Tractors.
There were various problems with the development and the prototype machine, officially known as N.L.E Trenching Machine Mark I, but nicknamed Nellie was completed in May 1941.
Read more about this topic: Cultivator No. 6
Famous quotes containing the word persistence:
“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and Determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press On”, has solved and will always solve the problems of the human race.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“Extreme patience and persistence are required,
Yet everybody succeeds at this before being handed
The surprise box lunch of the rest of his life.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)