I found this photo. The fact that the name obviously was written on the front before the damage occured would suggest that this was the name of the tank when in France and not a name given as part of the tank bank tour. Given that the touring tanks were in Britain before Cambai and therefore the damage must have occured at 3rd Ypres or just possibly Langemarck St Julien I wonder if this might narrow things down
I am aware that some authors claim that Egbert the tank bank tank was "Egbert II" at Cambrai. That is poppycock.
The Egbert we all know and love was the original "Egbert" E26, tank no. 2348 of 6 Section 14 Coy E Battalion commanded by 2/Lt Staniforth. It received a direct hit at the starting point on 26 September 1917, was handed over to No 2 Salvage Coy on 3 October, salvaged on 17 October and reached Central Workshops on 22 October 1917. After that it was shipped back to the UK and tank bank duties.
The photo also shows why there appears from a comparison of photos to be two Egberts. The glacis plate is not just holed, it is split. Clearly at some point during its travels the hole became enlarged.
As I said in my post, the touring tanks were in Britain before Cambrai. Given that the tour started at the end of October 1917 there wasn't much time to ship Egbert back and schedule its visits, get the publicity material out etc. if she only reached CW on the 22nd October. What was the action on 26th Sept? I had thought that tank actions had petered out in 3rd Ypres long since.
