Landship.

This is coolbert:

Here with info on tanks of the Great War [WW1].

Ponderous, ungainly "beasts". An effort, first by the English, then the French, and most belatedly the German, to "solve" the impasse of the stalemated trench warfare as found on the Western Front.

Rudimentary and basic designs. Basically a metal box placed over a conventional tractor of the period.

Designs, very tentative, to solve the three problems as associated with armor vehicles. Find that correct combination of:

* Firepower. Ability to kill.
* Mobility. Ability to move.
* Protection. Degree of armor necessary.

1. British Mark I tank. "Mother". A tank coming in the "male" and "female" varieties.

* Male: two 6-pounder [57 mm gun] QF, four 8 mm Hotchkiss Machine Guns.
* Female: two .303 Vickers Machine Guns, four 8 mm Hotchkiss Machine Guns.

2. French Char-Schneider.




* 75 mm Blockhaus Schneider [gun].
* Two 8 mm Hotchkiss machine guns.

3. German A7V.




* [One] 57 mm gun.
* 6 × 7.9 mm machine guns.

Comments:

* The English Mark I was referred to as a "landship". Operated by naval ratings [?], naval terms associated with tanks to this day! The hull, the periscope, the turret, etc. Churchill, in his capacity as First Lord of the Admiralty, was instrumental in the development of "Mother"!

* Accompanying and providing fire support to infantry advancing in the open was a primary mission of the original tank. Also cutting and breaching the multiple "belts" of barbed wire found on the WW1 battlefield. In some instances, "belts" of barbed wire fifteen layers deep!!!

* All these tanks were of the most basic and untried design, rushed into production, no real working out of "issues". Subject to breakdown, difficult to keep running under all circumstances, NOT RELIABLE from a mechanical standpoint!!

* Downright dangerous to be a crew member. The tank itself was quite often more lethal than the enemy.

"The environment inside . . . was contaminated with poisonous carbon monoxide, fuel and oil vapours from the engine and cordite fumes from the weapons . . . Entire crews lost consciousness or became violently sick when again exposed to fresh air."

"violently sick when again exposed to fresh air."

"To counter the fumes inside and the danger of bullet splash or fragments and rivets knocked off the inside of the hull, the crew wore helmets with goggles and chain mail masks"

Spall - - fragments of the metal interior flaking off and flying around the inside of the tank at high speed were a great danger to the crew. CREW MEMBERS WORE MASKS THAT HAD A CHAIN MAIL VEIL!!




"A direct hit on the roof by an artillery or mortar shell could cause the fuel tanks . . . to burst open. Incinerated crews were removed by special Salvage Companies, who also salvaged damaged tanks. They were forbidden to speak about this aspect of their work with still living tank crews"

Ever since the development of the tank, death by incineration has always been a major worry to tank crews. A very high percentage of Israeli tankers killed during the 1973 Yom Kippur war were burned to death in their "Magach" M48 tanks. Seems the Soviets had gotten hold of U.S. tank manuals, studied them, and found the exact perfect spot for HEAT round to rupture high temperature hydraulic fluid lines in the M48, sending a lethal spew of high temp liquid coursing about the interior of tank, killing all the crew members.

"A once popular joke in the IDF said that 'Magach' stands for 'Movil Gviyot Charukhot' — 'charred bodies carrier', probably referring to the Yom Kippur War losses and particularly to the . . . flammable hydraulic fluid problem of the M48."

[Incidentally - - Char as in Char-Schneider stand for chariot!]

The "tank of the WW1 era was JUST NOT ROBUST ENOUGH as a mechanical apparatus to be effective? The idea was worthy, and we must remember that the entire field of "automotive" engineering was still in the infancy stage. Tactics, doctrine, employment of the tank as a weapon of war too had not been thoroughly hashed out - - commanders were at a loss in most cases as to how best use the "beast"?

BUT THE IDEA WAS WORTHY - - YES!!

coolbert.