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crazysk8er


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please post what you think about this.
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this is the first part of my history report on ww I tanks.  post what you think


 


World War I Tanks


            In my report, World War I Tanks, I will cover developments and main parts of a tank, each country’s different tanks, and their variations, and the over-all affect of them on the outcome of the war. One early morning the German army saw something that made them very scared. It was the British Mark I tank when it just came out, the Germans were horrified, and the way wars are fought will never be the same.


            The tanks basic design is modeled after the  Holt Company’s tractor, that had caterpillar tracks which made it very easy to cross difficult territory. Some suggested it be adapted for military use, but it was turned down. A few years later Richard Hornsby & Sons demonstrated their contraption the Killen-Strait Armoured tractor in front of Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George. The tractor performed well and cut its way through barbed wire. Another founding father of the tank was Ernest Swinton who convinced Churchill to create a landship committee to look into this new war machine. Lieutenant W.G. Wilson of the naval air service, and William Tritton of William Foster & Co. were assigned to build a small landship. Swinton gave it the code name of “tank” to make the Germans think it was a portable water carrier, hens the name. What they cane up with was the Little Willie Tank (prototype) which was demonstrated on September 11, 1915 to Swinton and the landship committee. Some major parts of a tank are, the caterpillar trucks which are made up of metal treads connected with pins. Tank weaponry depends on if it is a male or female (males have machine guns and big guns ex. Six pound gun, females have machine guns only). Lastly is armor, armor is thick sheets of metal that prevent most bullets from entering the tank.


            Many different tanks were used in the Great War, new advancements signaled the coming of a predecessor. Here is a lineup of the British tanks. First there was Little Willie witch was a prototype, then the Mark I A.K.A, Mother, Big Willie. The Mark I was the first tank ever used in combat. The battle of the Somme was the Mark I first battle, 36 mark I s made their way across “no mans land” to the German trenches. Even though the British did not break the German line, but the Germans were still a bit scared. 75 Mark I males and females were built totally during the war. Next came the Mark II, it was only used in one battle, they were designed to be used for training. The Mark III never saw the battlefront these were also used for training, no female Mark II or Mark III tanks were built, 50 Mark II and III were built. The Mark IV was the most popular tank, 420 male and 595 female were built. The Mark V was a mechanically improved Mark IV, 200 male and female were built. Lastly was the Mark VIII or in America the liberty the Americans and British and for a wile the French all helped design this tank. It was the first to separate the engine and crew. The French tanks, FT-17 RENALUT  was also used by the Americans. There was also the St.Chamond M.16 it was very difficult to cross trenches with this tank. The Germans had there own tank the A7V, but they often used captured British tanks.


            Tanks were first used September 1, 1916 at the battle of the Somme. Some other major tank battles were, the Aisne offensive, Soissons Counteroffensive, Villers –Bretonneux, Cambrai where for the first time tanks fought against tanks, Battle of Messines, and Passchendaele.


            The tank was invented so that heavy artillery could be mobile and somewhat protected from enemy fire. It could also cross no mans cratered and muddy land, and lay cribs or fascine so troops can cross the trench. Cribs also let the tanks cross a wider trench.


            In conclusion, the tanks humble beginning and the support from people like Swinton, created one of the worlds most influential and crucial weapons of the twentieth century.


 



-- Edited by crazysk8er at 20:27, 2005-12-14

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You ned to take on board that one key difference between the British Tanks and the French and German was that none of the operational British tanks used anything like the Holt suspension. The Bullock (Holt like) traction engine tracks were tried for the Lincoln No 1 machine but proved to be insufficiently robust and also the wrong shape for efective trench crossing. Little Willie shared some charachteristics with the Lincoln but had a completely new track system. Mother and the big Mks I,II,III.IV.V and V* had unsprung tracks that when all round the hull. This gave them much superior trench crossing characteristics from the Holt based designs of other nations. They were not sprung (un like the Holt) so the ride was rougher and track life was shorter but they were much less prone to mud clogging. Its wrong to say that the British tanks were directly derived from Holt. The idea of using tracks was produced from looking at Holt, Best, Bullock and Killen_Strait tractors but its implementation owed little to any of them. The one thing that can be said is that the upward tilt of the track at the front of the tracks was borrowed from the rearward tilt at the rear of the Killen- Strait (which had to reverse over serious obsticals and in this form had bettet climbing characteristics that the Holt, Best and Bullock tracks)

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crazysk8er


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RE: tank history report
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crazysk8er wrote:

this is the first part of my history report on ww I tanks.  post what you think   World War I Tanks             In my report, World War I Tanks, I will cover developments and main parts of a tank, each country’s different tanks, and their variations, and the over-all affect of them on the outcome of the war. One early morning the German army saw something that made them very scared. It was the British Mark I tank when it just came out, the Germans were horrified, and the way wars are fought will never be the same.             The tanks basic design is modeled after the  Holt Company’s tractor, that had caterpillar tracks which made it very easy to cross difficult territory. Some suggested it be adapted for military use, but it was turned down. A few years later Richard Hornsby & Sons demonstrated their contraption the Killen-Strait Armoured tractor in front of Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George. The tractor performed well and cut its way through barbed wire. Another founding father of the tank was Ernest Swinton who convinced Churchill to create a landship committee to look into this new war machine. Lieutenant W.G. Wilson of the naval air service, and William Tritton of William Foster & Co. were assigned to build a small landship. Swinton gave it the code name of “tank” to make the Germans think it was a portable water carrier, hens the name. What they cane up with was the Little Willie Tank (prototype) which was demonstrated on September 11, 1915 to Swinton and the landship committee. Some major parts of a tank are, the caterpillar trucks which are made up of metal treads connected with pins. Tank weaponry depends on if it is a male or female (males have machine guns and big guns ex. Six pound gun, females have machine guns only). Lastly is armor, armor is thick sheets of metal that prevent most bullets from entering the tank.             Many different tanks were used in the Great War, new advancements signaled the coming of a predecessor. Here is a lineup of the British tanks. First there was Little Willie witch was a prototype, then the Mark I A.K.A, Mother, Big Willie. The Mark I was the first tank ever used in combat. The battle of the Somme was the Mark I first battle, 36 mark I s made their way across “no mans land” to the German trenches. Even though the British did not break the German line, but the Germans were still a bit scared. 75 Mark I males and females were built totally during the war. Next came the Mark II, it was only used in one battle, they were designed to be used for training. The Mark III never saw the battlefront these were also used for training, no female Mark II or Mark III tanks were built, 50 Mark II and III were built. The Mark IV was the most popular tank, 420 male and 595 female were built. The Mark V was a mechanically improved Mark IV, 200 male and female were built. Lastly was the Mark VIII or in America the liberty the Americans and British and for a wile the French all helped design this tank. It was the first to separate the engine and crew. The French tanks, FT-17 RENALUT  was also used by the Americans. There was also the St.Chamond M.16 it was very difficult to cross trenches with this tank. The Germans had there own tank the A7V, but they often used captured British tanks.             Tanks were first used September 1, 1916 at the battle of the Somme. Some other major tank battles were, the Aisne offensive, Soissons Counteroffensive, Villers –Bretonneux, Cambrai where for the first time tanks fought against tanks, Battle of Messines, and Passchendaele.             The tank was invented so that heavy artillery could be mobile and somewhat protected from enemy fire. It could also cross no mans cratered and muddy land, and lay cribs or fascine so troops can cross the trench. Cribs also let the tanks cross a wider trench.             In conclusion, the tanks humble beginning and the support from people like Swinton, created one of the worlds most influential and crucial weapons of the twentieth century.  -- Edited by crazysk8er at 20:27, 2005-12-14


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RE: please post what you think about this.
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Mother, AKA Big Willie AKA the slug, was the prototype for the MK I. The Mk I was not called Mother. Little Willie (Named after the nickname for the German Crown Prince) was effectively a one off but could be regarded as a refinement of the Lincoln Machine Mk I. The Lincoln machine is therefore the original prototype.
Female MK IIs were built - there is a photo somewhere. A worthwhile figure is tha fact thet the British Mk IV was the most widely used tank in the British, American and German Armies (Far more captured British tanks were used by the Ge4rmans than their own indigenous design). Cribs were specifically to enable tanks to cross trenches. A bridging tank was developed but was too late to see service. Don't forget the Mk V* a lengthend version used by both British and Americans in some numbers. The Mk VIII was known as the International. The main design effort took place in Britain but the USA was intended to be the biggest manufacturer.
I think " a bit scared" might be a slight understatement of the first reaction to tanks

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SASH155


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Ninety Mark V*s were also used by the French, who received their first vehicles in October 1918. They used these until 1930 as they were the only medium tanks they had through the 1920s (the Schneider CA-1s were retired by the end of 1920 and I believe that the St. Chamonds were all retired by no later than late 1921/early 1922.) Plans to update the Mk. V*s with 75mm Schneider/Bourges guns (same as those mounted on the Schneider CA-1 ) failed to come to fruition, as did much military development in the 1920s. Note: Use imperfect and past perfect tenses AMAP.

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Wesley Thomas
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In my previous post to this thread I repeated the well worn idea that Little Willy was named after the nickname for the German crown prince. However I have since seen some references to it being named after William Tritton. Any one know the correct answer?

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