BRITISH ARMY TANK BORN

SEPTEMBER 6, 1915

1ST ARMY TANK PRODUCED

On this day in 1915 a prototype 'tank' nicknamed Little Willie rolls off the assembly line

in England and was far from an overnight success. Weighing 14 tons it got stuck in trenches and

moved about, crawing over rough terrain at two miles per hour.

The British had developed the tank in response to trench warfare of WWI . A British Army

colonel named Ernest Swinton and the secretary of the Committee of Defense, William Hopkey,

urged the idea of an armored vehicle equipped with conveyor belt like tracks over its wheels which would traverse difficult territory. Winston Churchill, British Navy Minister, was friendly to the

concept of a “ land boat” and set up a secret committee to produce the new vehicle. Since the body

of this vehicle resembled a water tank, the name 'tank' stuck.

'Little Willey' was unveiled September 1915 but had poor preformance, too slow, unable to cross a trench and quickly overheated. The second prototype “Big Willey” was produced and in 1916 was ready for battle. That battle was First Battle of the Somme near Courcelette, France on September 15 that year.

Known as the Mark 1. it was hot, noisy, unwieldy and subject to breakdowns on the field, nevertheless, it was a 'tank' and its potential was realized. Improvements were made and November 1917, at the Battle of Cambrai, 400 of the newer Mark IV's proved successful, capturing 8000 German troops and 100 big guns.