Anti-tank ditch

“ The hostile infantry follows Tanks only half-heartedly. Experience shows that hostile attacks are soon checked by aimed machine-gun and artillery fire. Co-operation between the Tanks and their infantry detachments must be hindered as much as possible. The arms should be separated and destroyed in detail. All projectiles which do not hit the armour-plating at right angles ricochet off instead of penetrating. Artillery, light trench mortar and anti-Tank rifle fire is effective against all portions of the Tank, especially against the broadside and the cab (framed in red in the illustrations) . ”

“ They paid the new arm the compliment of an intricate system of defence and counter-offence which included concealed Tank traps made on the model of elephant-pits, formidable double-traversed trenches, a branch of special anti-Tank artillery, heavily reinforced concrete stockades, and an elaborate system of land mines.
With so many obstacles to avoid or to negotiate, with their fate often hanging upon a prompt and accurate use of their guns, the crew inside the Tank were doomed by the conditions under which they fought to an almost incredibly limited view of the surrounding world. ”

“ It was obviously too conspicuous and too slow a weapon to be really effective against Tanks, though the steel core could penetrate the armour of British Tanks at several hundred yards range.
“The chief disadvantage of the anti-Tank rifle, however, was that the German soldier would not use it.331 He was untrained in its use, afraid of its kick, and still more afraid of the Tanks themselves. It is doubtful if one per cent. ”

“ More than once in the course of the chequered career of the Tanks it was this consideration which saved the Corps from extinction.
But it is not, of course, enough that the Tank offers protection to those who fight in it. A trench or a hole in the ground will do the same. But the Tank is essentially a mobile weapon of offence. It is the weapon for the nation which does not fight willingly, but when it fights, fights to win, and to win quickly with as little bloodshed as possible. ”

“ The principle that a body of troops even when surrounded must defend their ground, unless otherwise ordered, to the last man and the last cartridge, seems to have fallen into oblivion ... a large proportion of our ranks320 fight unskilfully against Tanks. A Tank is an easy prey for artillery of all calibres....”
An account follows of measures for the proper disposition of artillery against Tanks, and the rest of the Order is occupied with directions to the infantry concerning the question at what range the anti-Tank rifle and gun are most effective. ”

“ When, nevertheless, the English succeeded in achieving a great success the reasons are to be sought in the massed employment of tanks and surprise under the protection of fog....
“The American Armies also should not terrify us. We shall also settle with them. More momentous for us was the question of tanks. We are adequately armed against them. Anti-tank defence is nowadays more a question of nerve than matériel.”
On October 23 the German Wireless published the following statement by General Scheuch, Minister of War:
“Germany will never need to make peace owing to a shortage of war matériel. ”

“ They are the most dangerous foe to hostile machine-guns. They can approach machine-gun nests and destroy them at close range. The great danger of the Tank is obvious when one considers that the defence of the front battle zone chiefly relies on the defensive value of the machine-guns, and that the armour of the Tank renders it invulnerable to rifle fire, and that only seldom and in exceptional cases is machine-gun fire effective. The infantry is therefore opposed to an enemy to whom it can do little or no harm. ”

“ The successes which the Allies have gained since the First Battle of Cambrai do not rest on any superior strategy on the part of Foch or on superiority in numbers, although the latter has undoubtedly contributed to it. The real reason has been the massed use of Tanks. Whereas the artillery can only cut wire and blot out trenches with an enormous expenditure of ammunition, the Tank takes all these obstacles with the greatest of ease, and will make broad paths in which the advancing infantry can follow. ”

“ Positions where Anti-Tank guns are expected must be pointed out to them on a map, and other information of this type may be given. This will add to the keenness and interest of the men.
“Drivers must be reminded that the goodness or badness of the shooting will probably depend upon their driving.
“The Gunnery Officer must see that the targets are sited properly; he should always go over the Course in a Tank previous to the practice to satisfy himself on these points. ”

“ The tree-trunks were levered aside under the irresistible pressure of the ponderous mass of moving steel, sand-bags flew in all directions, while the chains, pinned down under the tractor-bands, failed utterly to justify the confidence that the Huns had placed upon them.
Thousands of machine-gun bullets splayed upon the Tank's sides, bombs burst all around her; yet scorning such trivialities the Tank bumped over the debris of the demolished barricade, her guns spitting lead with terrific effect upon the field-grey clad troops. ”

“ As they moved a thousand concealed guns hailed down their fire upon the German line. Even through the din of the barrage and the clamour of their own engines the Tank crews could hear, as they advanced, the tearing and snapping of the German wire as they trampled it under them. The bewildered enemy was overwhelmed. He had only one last hope. Perhaps the wide trenches themselves would hold back this inexorable company!
But when each of the second line of Tanks stopped, ducked its head, laid its “stepping stone” in the trench and crawled easily over it, the enemy completely lost his balance. ”

“ Tanks would not do admirably.
Another point is that “minor wars” are fought by us with as much avoidance of bloodshed as is compatible with the bringing of our opponents to reason.
A weapon which admittedly affected the moral even of admirably disciplined troops like the Germans to a phenomenal degree, is particularly well adapted to this purpose.
It is infinitely more humane to appal a rioter or a savage by showing him a Tank than to shoot him down with an inoffensive looking machine-gun.109
There is yet one final consideration. ”

“ This document continues:
“Counter-attacks against hostile infantry supported by tanks do not offer any chances of success and demand unnecessary sacrifices; they must, therefore, only be launched if the tanks have been put out of action.”
Thus two of the mainstays of the former German defence, i.e. “the protective barrage” and “the immediate counter-attack,” were abandoned in the event of tank attacks. ”

“ Like a rhinoceros tearing up jungle grass with its formidable horns the Tank set about to destroy the entanglements. Posts snapped off like carrots, coils of wire suddenly released from tension quivered in the air until borne down and buried deep in the earth by the broad traction bands of the landship. The while machine-gun bullets rattled harmlessly against her armoured hide, bombs exploded on, against, and underneath the terrible war-machine. The car of Juggernaut would cut a very poor show compared with this motor-propelled fortress. ”

“ Forty or fifty tanks are no good on a modern battle-front. We want hundreds of tanks, brought up secretly, fed with ammunition by tank carriers, bringing up field-guns and going into action without any preliminary barrage. They can smash through the enemy's wire and get over his trenches before he is aware that an attack has been organized. ”

“ About eleven o’clock the greater number both of Mark V. Tanks and Whippets had reached the line of the railway. A few leading Tanks had even crossed it, when338 all in a moment the mist lifted with the suddenness of a withdrawn curtain. A blazing sun appeared, and each advancing Tank stood out clearly under its bright light. The German artillery, which was covering the railway, immediately directed a deadly fire on the Tanks, and each individual machine became the centre of a zone of bullets and bursting shells. The infantry as they advanced had to avoid these little whirlwinds of fire. ”

“ Besides these natural, or at least civilian, obstacles, there will be inevitable military obstacles in any country that has been fought over.
For example, old half-blown-in trench systems make ground “awkward,” and Tanks operate at extreme disadvantage in country like that round Ypres, which was by 1917 a continuous network of water-logged shell and mine craters, with no original ground left at all. ”

“ The employment of Tanks in the field was one long conflict between policy and expediency. Policy seemed always to demand that we should wait until all was prepared, until sufficient masses of machines should be ready to use in one great attack that would break the German defensive system. Expediency necessitated the employment of all available forces at dates predetermined, and in localities fixed for reasons other than their suitability as Tank country. Battles are not won with Tanks alone, and in early 1917, for example, the Tank was still a comparatively untested machine. ”

“ This difficulty was overcome, but about this time the effect of concentrated machine-gun fire upon Mark IV. Tanks must have become known to the11 Germans, as also their vulnerability to the ordinary field gun. The position with regard to both splash and casualties from guns firing over the sights, was becoming serious when the arrival of Mark V. Tank, with its increased handiness and speed, put an end to the splash difficulty for ever, and defeated the field gun for a good long time. ”

“ McKnutt and James, with that instinctive sense of direction which comes to men who control these machines, felt that they were hovering on the edge of the German trench. Then a sudden flash from the explosion of a huge shell lit up the ground around them, and they saw four or five gray-clad figures, about ten yards away, standing on the parapet hysterically hurling bombs at the machine. They might as well have been throwing pebbles. Scornfully the tank slid over into the wide trench and landed with a crash in the bottom. ”

“ Among the engines of war in action on land, probably none has created greater interest than the now famous “fighting tank,” which, according to reports, pours out missiles of destruction on the enemy from armored turrets, and crawls over trenches, shell craters, and similar obstructions, like a fabled giant creature of prehistoric ages. The tank described in this article, while not as deadly as those on the battle fields of Europe, performs remarkable feats of hurdling trenches, and crawling over obstructions, large in proportion to its size. ”

“ Obviously the enemy were aware that there were tanks on their front, and they made every possible preparation to receive them. And the Mk. V. was not so handy and so fast a tank that it could afford to despise field-guns whose one object was to hit tanks. If the tanks had been withdrawn after the big surprise attack, the striking power of the British Armies in the next "full-dress" offensive would have been increased by one strong, fresh tank brigade....
From the 14th, Ryan's, Harland's, and Westbrook's sections had not been used. ”

“ In the Canadian sector, the armoured cars were working in close conjunction with Tank Corps aeroplanes. At one moment a number of cars were going along a road, when four machines were hit by shells from hidden batteries. Their accompanying aeroplanes, however, immediately attacked the German guns so vigorously that the crews of the disabled cars, though completely surrounded by the enemy, were able to escape capture. ”

“ The defensive organisation, both of the first line and in the rear, was insufficient to permit of a systematic defence.... As a weapon against Tanks, the prepared defence of the ground must play a larger part than ever, and the aversion of the men to the pick and shovel must be overcome at all hazards.... Especially there must be defences against Tanks. It was absolutely inadmissible that the Tanks, having penetrated into our advance line without meeting with obstacles or anything, should be able to push on along the roads or beside them for miles.... ”

“ But wherever and whenever the attacking tanks and infantry tried to move along the roads and trails winding up the ridge nose to La Gleize, they encountered mine plots swept by direct fire from deeply dug in tanks and antitank guns. Progress then was slow; the leading American tank would be knocked out or burned by a direct hit with armor-piercing ammunition, eventually the infantry would work around and destroy or neutralize the German weapon, the engineers would remove the mine field, and the advance would continue. ”

“ Thermite and blazing oil flared out, and such a barrage as had not yet been crashed upon the enemy’s line, and infantry and Tanks scrambled and lurched in the darkness in and out of shell-holes over the torn and slimy ground.
The German front line fell at once along the whole seven miles. Until nearly eight o’clock men and Tanks could hardly get through the mud fast enough to come to grips with the enemy. On each Corps front there were many machines that got ditched on the enemy front139 line as they nosed about here and there, seeking to mop up lurking machine-gun nests and snipers. ”

“ Major Hotblack, though partially blinded, was able to carry on, but the only other officer was severely wounded, and a derisory little force—one officer and five or six men, was thus left to hold the Ridge. Quite undaunted, they immediately set to work to prepare for the German counter-attack which, now that the Tanks were out of action and ablaze, seemed imminent. There was an abundance of enemy machine-guns lying about, and some of these were got ready for action, for the Tanks’ own guns had been destroyed when the machines were knocked out. ”