Males and females of the First World War (the first British tanks Mark I-IX) | Battlefield 1

The British "devil" and his brothers

Could anyone have suspected on September 15, 1916, that on that day many books on military theory were suddenly out of date? Because the first tank received a baptism of fire. And the cry of the nameless German “The devil is coming!” proclaimed the emergence of a new king of land war. Following the British, the French and Germans created tanks, but the “diamonds” forever remained the first among the first. There were nine cars in total in this line. Some made it to the war, others remained prototypes. The episodes collected in this material briefly tell about the history of the “diamond-shaped” family.

Mark I. What the shadow of the Somme hid

September 15, 1916 is the day when the first tanks received their baptism of fire. This spectacular attack is well known: a foggy morning on the Somme River, the German shock at the steel monsters emerging from the darkness, the cry of “The devil is coming!” Much less often they remember how Mark I tanks fought later. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of their use in the fall of 1916 in some cases was even higher than in the debut battle.

On September 25 and 26, 13 Mark I tanks entered the battle in the area of ​​Guedecourt and Les Sars. And although 12 of them never reached the enemy, only one Mark I Female machine gun was enough to clear an enemy trench in less than an hour and capture 370 German soldiers. In another battle, three Marks launched a frontal attack. One was knocked out by German artillery, two were stuck. But the very presence of tanks was enough for the Germans to capitulate. This is how tank fear worked, which flourished at that time among the Kaiser’s soldiers.

In fairness, it should be noted that the tanks produced a stunning effect on the Germans only in the first weeks after their debut. Soon the enemy learned not to be afraid of them, and the design flaws that prevented the tanks from fighting harmed the reputation of the newest weapons in the eyes of the British themselves.

Mark II and Mark III. Without a tail, but with a log

Britain built a total of only a hundred Mark II and Mark III tanks - 75 vehicles less than “units”. Because of this, in historical literature they are often called examples of small-scale technology of the transition period. Meanwhile, several unique features appeared for the first time in the design of “twos” and “triples”.

The Mark II, for example, lost the famous wheeled “tail”, supposedly necessary to make it easier for the tank to overcome trenches. According to legend, the tail of one of the tanks was shot off in battle, but the crew continued moving, and it turned out that the wheels behind the vehicle were of no practical value. The designers reduced the length of the tank by two meters - also without compromising maneuverability! Instead of a “tail”, a spare parts box was placed at the stern (for storing spare parts and tools). The exhaust pipes that sparked on the roofs of the first tanks were also brought to the stern.

In the Mark III design, its creators intended to increase the thickness of the frontal armor through the use of armor screens. But, although technological holes for their installation dotted the bodies of the “triples,” the screens themselves were never installed on them. But it was on the Mark III that the self-pulling beam first appeared - a thick wooden beam mounted on the roof. It was used as a support when rescuing a stuck tank. This remedy turned out to be surprisingly tenacious and was used throughout the subsequent history of this technique.

Mark IV. The first "thousandth"

The military placed an order for the construction of the Mark IV tank in September 1916, almost immediately after the debut of the “diamonds” on the Somme. Compared to the Mark I, several major changes were made to the design of the Four.

First of all, the designers strengthened the armor, so that the tank was no longer afraid of rifle and machine gun fire. Due to the beveled shape at the bottom, the weapon sponsons no longer cling to the ground when the vehicle rolls sideways. In addition, they were equipped with special rails, thanks to which the sponsons could not be disassembled before transportation by rail, but simply pushed inside the body. Unfortunately, the new design turned out to be fragile - sometimes in battle the fasteners would break, and the sponson would roll into the hull with a roar, crushing the tankers. The gas tanks were moved to the stern to reduce the fire hazard of the vehicle.

By May 1917, Mark IVs arrived in France and entered service with the British Army. The new tank showed its worth in battle. The armored giants easily made wide gaps in the wire fences, leading the infantry behind them. One tank demonstrated its power in a very unusual way in November 1917. He overcame a one and a half meter fence, drove, crushing trees, through an orchard and, while turning, turned the corner of a house.

The service life of the cars was still limited to 100–112 kilometers, but compared to the Mark I, this was a serious step forward.

The Mark IV turned out to be a truly massive modification of the “diamond”; in total, more than a thousand tanks of this type were built.

Mark IV in the battles of Cambrai. An attempt to “make it beautiful”

In the summer of 1917, the idea of ​​an exemplary tank attack matured at the headquarters of the British Tank Corps. The military wanted to send the vehicles into battle in circumstances in which they could show themselves in all their glory, achieving unconditional success. A suitable area of ​​the front seemed to be in the north-east of France, near the city of Cambrai. The plow of war had not yet had time to plow the landscape there; the soil was dry and hard.

The Mark IV tanks were tasked with breaking through the German Hindenburg defensive line. This was intended as a local tank raid, but grew into a large-scale military operation.

The tanks were transferred to Lieutenant General Sir Julian Byng's 3rd Army in complete secrecy. The roar of their engines was muffled by machine-gun fire. For the operation, the vehicles required more than a million liters of gasoline and oil, about half a million shells - the supplies delivered all this to the near rear in a timely manner.

The beginning of the tank attack on November 20, 1917 was reminiscent of a heroic epic. The commander of the Tank Corps, General Hugh Ellis, sat in the lead “Mark” and led the remaining five hundred “diamonds”. The tanks tore through the wire barriers like threads, passing mile after mile. Hundreds of German prisoners of war wandered towards the British rear. And then things took a bad turn.

The infantry - the Highlanders of the 51st Division - got involved in the battle near the village of Flesquières, at the tip of a hilly ridge, and fell behind the tanks. The Germans, in turn, brought up fresh reserves and began heavy shelling from behind the ridges of the hills. Mark IV tanks that climbed onto them revealed their poorly protected bottoms and burned even from machine-gun fire. The British attacking spearhead crushed Cambrai, and ten days later the Germans counterattacked and regained their captured territory. With interest.

Mark V and the first "real" tank engine

At the end of 1917, the development of new diamond models stalled. The culprits included weapons manufacturers, who were afraid that tanks would make their rifles, machine guns and cannons unnecessary, and therefore did not hesitate to put a spoke in the wheels of tank production. But even the will of the “arms barons” could not stop the development of armored vehicles, and in December 1917, the next “diamond” Mark V, also known as the “Ricardo tank,” was ready for production.

Operation at the front clearly showed that tanks needed an engine of higher power, capable of operating without interruption in a wide range of loads, and also simple enough to be repaired at the front line. At the same time, engineers could not count on being allowed to use alloy steel or aluminum in the engine design: aviators laid their hands on these materials. The first to develop a real tank engine was designer Harry Ricardo. Its engine fully met the requirements of the military. And together with the new Wilson-designed gearbox, the Ricardo engine significantly simplified the control of the tank.

Other innovations of the Mark V include an optical telegraph, which replaced signal flags. From May 1918 until the end of the First World War, the British Army received 400 Mark Vs - two hundred gun males and machine gun females.

On April 24, 1918, the first tank duel took place: Mark IV versus German A7V. The battle showed that machine-gun tanks are only good against infantry. As a result, some of the “fives” lost their “gender identity” due to the replacement of a machine gun with a cannon in one of the sponsons. Front-line soldiers jokingly nicknamed such asymmetrical tanks “hermaphrodites.”

Are tanks afraid of dirt?

In the early morning of July 31, 1917, the British army launched an attack on the Ypres River in the direction of the French city of Passchendaele.

The area along the path of the English advance was replete with swamps and copses. Even in peacetime, log roads for tanks would have to be laid here. And now, when the drainage canal system was destroyed by artillery, even this would not help. The command of the Tank Corps warned that the vehicles would not be able to pass through the man-made mud swamp. Moreover, the weather also took its toll in the form of heavy rain, further eroding the soil. Unfortunately, no one was going to cancel the tank attack.

By mid-day the tanks stopped. Many of them were submerged in the water up to their sponsons, so that even logs for pulling them out did not help. But the Germans did not get lost in the defense, firing dense artillery fire at the stationary “diamonds”. The infantry following the Mark IV also became hopelessly stuck in the mud. The Germans brought outlandish Schumann armored carriages (mobile firing points) to the battlefield, which fired at the British. German airplanes circled over the battlefield, trying to hit the tanks from low altitude. The commander of one of the "diamonds", unable to bear it, removed the machine gun from the vehicle and began to fire back at enemy aircraft.

The British attack on Passchendaele failed, but documents noted that the Germans feared tanks because they thought they were armed with flamethrowers, the terror of infantry. The surviving tanks were in the rear undergoing repairs until August 1917.

Mark V in the Hundred Days Offensive

The final chord in the score of the First World War was the Hundred Days Offensive of the Entente troops on the Western Front. It took place from August to November 1918 and began at Amiens, where the Allies, with their attacks, decided to recapture one of the main Parisian transport arteries from the Germans. This was the largest military operation of the First World War in which tanks took part.

The entire Tank Corps approached the front line. In addition to new products (Mk. A Whippet medium tanks), 334 Mark V “diamonds” were used to break through the German defense. On August 8, 1918, the tanks moved forward. And although interaction with the infantry was still so poor that some tank commanders had to ride next to their vehicles on horseback to coordinate actions, the stunning density of 23 Marks per kilometer of front compensated for the discrepancies.

The tanks moved towards the German positions following the artillery barrage. The German trenches were drowning in smoke and fog, which interfered with anti-tank artillery. Realizing their superiority, British tank crews sometimes got out of their vehicles and gestured to the enemy soldiers to surrender in an amicable manner. The German artillery tried to cut off the infantry and artillery from the tanks by firing at them with chemical shells containing the Blue Cross sneezing gas. The shelling had no noticeable effect.

A quarter of British tanks were already out of action on the first day of the offensive. Moreover, the vast majority of these were combat losses; only 5% of vehicles were lost due to breakdowns. Despite all the problems of the Allied forces, the Germans did not survive. The one-hundred-day offensive ended on November 11, 1918 with the signing of the Peace of Compiegne and the surrender of Germany.

Mark VIII, post-war Anglo-American

The sixth and seventh modifications of the Mark did not reach mass production, remaining prototypes. The Americans decided to have a hand in creating the next car of the diamond-shaped family. They entered the First World War on the side of the Entente in the spring of 1917, immediately became passionately interested in tanks and decided to purchase 600 Mark VI vehicles for their army. Then they thought about it, canceled the order and invited the British to develop a new “diamond” together. As a result, the G8 did not have time to participate in the First World War: by the end of the war, only five tanks were ready. After the end of hostilities, production of the Mark VIII completely “moved” to the United States.

Externally, the tank stood out somewhat from its older relatives due to the design of the chassis. The tracks still covered the hull, but due to the elongated rear part, the tank began to resemble more of a drop than a diamond. The Americans literally made it easier for the crew to breathe: they placed the 338-horsepower Liberty engine in the rear of the car and separated it with a partition. The designers of the Mark VIII completely abandoned the division of tanks into “females” and “males”. The sponsons of all vehicles had 57-mm guns, and the machine gun armament was located in the turret on the roof, plus it was possible to install machine guns in ball mounts embedded in the side doors.

Until 1930, the Mark VIII Liberty was the only American heavy tank. He had never been to war - the Americans occasionally took the Mark VIII to the training grounds. And when World War II began, the United States transferred 90 vehicles of this type to the Canadian army. They, in turn, used them for educational purposes.

Mark IX. Landing "rhombus"

In addition to technical flaws, a serious problem with the use of the first tanks in battle was the inconsistency of their actions with the infantry. The point was not even that the soldiers did not know how to work together with armored vehicles. It’s just that the tankers sat in relative safety behind the armor of their vehicles, and the infantrymen were open to all bullets and shrapnel.

Military engineers responded to this need by developing an amphibious version of the diamond-shaped tank. The sponsons were removed from the vehicle, leaving only machine guns in the forehead and rear. This freed up space so that 30 soldiers could hide behind 10–12 mm armor or 10 tons of cargo could fit. The crew of the diamond-shaped armored personnel carrier consisted of four people, and the driver's seat was located taking into account the fact that in continental Europe, unlike the UK, traffic is on the right. To increase comfort, a fan and a drinking water tank were installed inside the Mark IX. Alas, the proximity to a hot engine completely negated these amenities.

By the end of the First World War, the diamond-shaped Mark IX armored personnel carrier existed in only a few copies. One of them managed to visit the Western Front in 1918, where he served as an ambulance. It is known that the soldiers nicknamed the outlandish car “Pig”.

The original article was published on the portal worldoftanks.ru.

Sources:

1. Fedoseev S. L. Tanks of the First World War. M., 2012.
2. Glanfield J. The Devil's Chariots. Osprey, 2013.
3. Stern AG Tanks 1914–1918. The Log-Book of a Pioneer. London, 1919.
4. Swinton DE Eyewitness. Being Personal Reminiscences of Certain Phases of the Great War, Including the Genesis of the Tank. New York, 1933.

Tanks of England in the interwar period

After the end of the First World War, England accumulated extensive experience in the creation and use of tanks in combat. The use of heavy assault tanks alone turned out to be insufficient to effectively suppress the enemy. There was a need for light, maneuverable tanks to support infantry on the battlefield, the effectiveness of which was confirmed by the light French FT-17 tanks. According to their purpose, the military divided tanks into light, medium and heavy and developed tactical and technical requirements for them, in accordance with which the development of three classes of vehicles began.

Heavy tanks Mk.VII and Mk.VIII

Despite the not entirely satisfactory characteristics of habitability and mobility of the “diamond-shaped” tanks of the Mk1-Mk5 family, the development of the line of these tanks was continued. At the end of 1918, a batch of Mk.VII tanks was produced, which differed from their predecessors in the presence of a hydraulic transmission, which ensured smooth control of the movement and rotation of the tank. Due to this, the driver’s work was significantly simplified; instead of levers, he controlled the car using a steering wheel.

Heavy tank Mk.VII

The tank weighed 37 tons, had a crew of 8 people, and was equipped with two 57 mm cannons and five machine guns. The power plant was a 150 hp Ricardo engine, providing a speed of 6.8 km/h and a range of 80 km. Due to the large weight, the specific pressure on the ground was 1.1 kg/sq. see. Only a small batch of tanks were manufactured, and it was not accepted for service.

The last of the series of “diamond-shaped” tanks was the Mk.VIII, which was tested in 1919. The tank weighed (37-44) tons, had a crew of 10-12 people, and was armed with two 57-mm cannons and up to seven machine guns.

Heavy tank Mk.VIII

The design of the tank was riveted with two sponsons on the sides in which the guns were installed. On the roof of the hull there was a combat tower, in which two machine guns were installed in a ball joint; there were also two machine guns on each side and one in the front and rear compartments. The thickness of the tank's armor was 6-16 mm.

Heavy tank Mk.VIII

The power compartment was located at the rear and was isolated from the habitable compartment. All crew members, except the mechanic, were in the fighting compartment and, due to the high-pressure system to remove smoke and fumes, were in more comfortable conditions than in the previous generation tanks. The tank was equipped with a 343 hp engine, providing a highway speed of 10.5 km per hour and a cruising range of 80 km.

A batch of 100 Mk.VIII tanks was jointly produced with the United States, where this tank was put into service, was the main heavy tank of the US Army and was used until 1932.

Heavy tank A1E1 "Independent"

In the early 20s, diamond-shaped tanks clearly lost the confidence of the military due to claims about their maneuverability, poor fire maneuverability due to the placement of weapons in sponsons, limiting the firing sectors, and unsatisfactory living conditions. It became clear that the time of these tanks had passed, and they were a dead-end branch. The army needed completely different vehicles, maneuverable, with strong cannon armament and more powerful armor, capable of providing protection against the emerging anti-tank guns.

Heavy tank A1E1

The layout of the A1E1 tank was fundamentally different from the “diamond-shaped” tanks; the classic layout with the fighting compartment in the front and the engine and transmission compartment in the rear was adopted as the basis. Five turrets were installed on the tank’s hull; the tank’s crew consisted of 8 people.

The central part of the fighting compartment was allocated for the installation of the main turret with a 47-mm gun, designed to fight tanks and artillery. The turret housed the tank commander, gunner and loader. For the commander, a commander's cupola was provided, shifted to the left relative to the longitudinal axis. A powerful fan, covered with an armored cap, was installed on the right.

Driver's seat of heavy tank A1E1

In front of and behind the main turret there were two machine gun turrets, each containing one 7.71 mm Vickers machine gun equipped with an optical sight.

The machine gun turrets were dome-shaped and rotated 360 degrees, each of them had two viewing slots protected by armored glass. The top of the tower could be tilted upward. For crew interaction, the tank was equipped with an internal laryngophone communication system.

The tank provided maximum convenience for the driver's work; he sat separately in a special ledge in the tank's body and was provided with a normal view of the area through the observation turret. The tank was equipped with a V-shaped air-cooled engine with a power of 350 hp. and a planetary transmission, thanks to it and servos, the driver easily controlled the tank with levers and a steering wheel, which was used for smooth turns. The maximum speed of the tank reached 32 km/h.

The armor protection was differentiated: hull front 28 mm, side and rear 13 mm, roof and bottom 8 mm. The weight of the tank reached 32.5 tons.

The chassis of the tank largely repeated the chassis of the Medium Mk.I tank. Each side had 8 road wheels, combined in pairs into 4 bogies. Suspension elements and road wheels were protected by removable screens.

The first model of the tank, which turned out to be the only one, was manufactured in 1926 and went through a series of tests. It was improved, but the concept of such huge tanks was not in demand and work on it was stopped. Some ideas implemented in the A1E1 tank were later used in other tanks, including the Soviet multi-turreted T-35.

Medium tanks Medium Tank Mk.I and Medium Tank Mk.II

By the mid-20s, in parallel with the development of heavy tanks, the Medium Tank Mk.I and Medium Tank Mk.II medium tanks, distinguished by the presence of a rotating turret with weapons, were developed and put into service. The tanks had a successful design, but the front location of the power plant complicated the work of the driver and the tank's speed of 21 km/h no longer satisfied the military.

Vickers Medium Mk.I medium tank

The layout of the Vickers Medium Mk.I tank differed from the layout of heavy tanks; the driver was located in front on the right in a cylindrical armored wheelhouse. To the left of the driver was the power plant. Behind the driver there was a fighting compartment with a rotating turret. For observation, viewing slits were used. The tank's crew consisted of five people: a driver, a commander, a loader and two machine gunners. The crew boarded through the side hatches in the tank's hull and through the aft door.

The hull of the tank had a “classical” design for that time; armor plates 8 mm thick were attached to a metal frame with rivets.

Design of the Vickers Medium Mk.I medium tank

The power plant was a V-shaped air-cooled “Armstrong-Siddeley” engine with a power of 90 hp. and a manual transmission located at the rear. With a tank weight of 13.2 tons, it reached a speed of 21 km/h and provided a cruising range of 193 km.

The tank's armament consisted of a 47 mm cannon with a barrel length of 50 calibers, from one to four 7.7 mm Hotchkiss machine guns mounted in the turret, as well as two 7.7 mm Vickers machine guns mounted on the sides of the hull. To monitor the terrain, the commander had a periscope panoramic sight.

Vickers Medium Mk.I medium tank

The chassis of the tank consisted of 10 small-diameter road wheels, interlocked into 5 bogies, two independent rollers, 4 support rollers, rear drive and front guide wheels on each side. The chassis was protected by an armored screen.

Modifications of the Vickers Medium Mk II tank were distinguished by design changes in the turret, the presence of a coaxial machine gun with a cannon, armor protection of the chassis and the presence of a radio station.

Vickers Medium Mk II medium tank

Medium Tank Mk.C

In 1925, development began on a new medium tank, designated Medium Tank Mk.C. The layout of the vehicle was “classical” with the power plant located at the rear of the tank, the control compartment in front and the fighting compartment in the center in the rotating turret. A 57-mm cannon was installed in the turret, and a machine gun was installed in the rear of the turret; one machine gun was also placed on each side of the tank. A machine gun was installed in the frontal plate of the hull. The tank's hull was of riveted construction with an armor thickness of 6.5 mm. The door for boarding the crew and the ledge for the driver's feet were poorly placed on the front plate.

Medium Tank Mk.C

The Sunbeam Amazon aircraft engine with a power of 110 hp was used as a power plant; with the tank weighing 11.6 tons, it reached a speed of 32 km/h.

The crew of the tank was 5 people.

Medium Tank Mk.C

The tank was tested in 1926, but despite a number of successful design solutions (classical layout, rotating turret and high speed), the tank was not accepted for service due to poor security. However, a customer for the tank was found, the Japanese purchased it and created their Type 89 medium tank on this basis.

Medium Tank Mk.III

The experience and groundwork of the Medium Tank Mk.C tank was used to develop the Medium Tank Mk.III medium tank with a cannon turret in the center of the tank and two machine-gun turrets on the tank hull, each turret had two machine guns with one machine gunner.
There were two commander's cupolas on the central tower. Then they left one machine gun in the machine-gun turrets and removed one commander’s turret. The thickness of the frontal armor was 14 mm, and the sides were 9 mm.

Medium Tank Mk.III

The power plant was a V-shaped Armstrong-Siddeley engine with a power of 180 hp, providing a speed of up to 32 km/h with a tank weighing 16 tons

In 1928, an improved version was created with a Thornycroft RY/12 diesel engine with a power of 500 hp, which received the Medium Tank Mk.III A3 index. During testing, the tank showed good performance, but due to the financial crisis, the tank was not put into service.

The driver's seat of the Medium Tank Mk.III

Despite this, the progressive ideas of this tank were used on other tanks. The armament scheme with two machine gun turrets was used on the Vickers Mk.E Type A light tank, the Cruiser Tank Mk.I and the German Nb.Fz.

This experience was also taken into account in Soviet tank building; in 1930, the Soviet purchasing commission purchased a number of British tanks, with the Carden-Loyd Mk.VI being the basis for the Soviet T-27 wedge, and the Vickers Mk.E being the basis for the T-26 light tank. , and the ideas put into the Medium Tank Mk.III were used to create the Soviet T-28 medium tank.

Light tanks

After the not entirely successful use of the first heavy tanks in combat, the military set the task of creating a light “cavalry” tank. The first light English tank was the Mk.A Whippet. After the end of the war, a whole family of light tanks was created in England, which found use in the British army and the armies of other countries.

Light tank Mk.A "Whippet"

The light tank Mk.A "Whippet" was created at the end of 1916, mass production began only at the end of 1917, and it took part in hostilities at the end of the war in 1918.
Light tank Mk.A "Whippet"

The tank was supposed to have a rotating turret, but problems arose with its production, and the turret was abandoned, replaced by a casemate cabin at the rear of the tank. The tank had a crew of three people. The commander stood in the wheelhouse on the left, the driver sat in the wheelhouse on the seat on the right, and the machine gunner stood behind and served the right or rear machine gun.

The tank carried four 7.7-mm Hotchkiss machine guns, three were mounted in ball mounts and one was a spare. Boarding was carried out through the stern door.

Two 45 hp engines were used as a power plant. each, they were located in the front of the hull, and the gearboxes and drive wheels were at the rear, where the crew and weapons were located.

The body was assembled with rivets and bolts on the corners from sheets of rolled armor 5-14 mm thick. The protection of the frontal part of the cabin was somewhat increased by installing armor plates at design angles of inclination.

The chassis had a rigid suspension, assembled on armored frames along the sides of the hull. The tank weighed 14 tons, reached a highway speed of 12.8 km/h and provided a cruising range of 130 km.

Small batches of Mk tanks were produced based on the Mk.A. B and Mk.C with a 57 mm cannon and three machine guns. Some models were equipped with a 150 hp engine. Mk.A tanks (Mk. B and Mk. C) were in service with the British army until 1926.

Light tank Vickers Mk.E (Vickers six-ton)

The Vickers Mk.E light infantry support tank was developed in 1926 and tested in 1928. 143 tanks were produced.
The tank was developed in two versions: - Vickers Mk.E type A - a two-turret version of the “trench cleaner” with one machine gun in each turret;

— Vickers Mk.E type B — single-turret version with a cannon and a machine gun.

Structurally, all Mk.E tanks were almost identical and had a common layout: transmission at the front, control compartment and fighting compartment in the middle, engine compartment at the rear. The tank crew is 3 people.

Light tank Mk.E

The front part of the body housed the transmission, which occupied a rather impressive compartment. Behind it, in the middle part of the hull, was installed a characteristic turret box, which became a distinctive feature of all “six-ton ​​Vickers”. The crew was located inside the box, the driver's place was on the right side. The commander's seat was in the right turret, and the machine gunner's in the left. Standard armament consisted of two 7.71 mm Vickers machine guns.

In the Type B modification, the armament included a 47 mm cannon and a 7.71 mm Vickers machine gun. The gun's ammunition consisted of 49 rounds of two types: high-explosive fragmentation and armor-piercing. An armor-piercing shell penetrated vertically mounted armor plates up to 30 mm thick at a distance of 500 meters, and this tank posed a serious threat to other tanks.

The weight of the tank was 7 tons with 13 mm armor on the front of the hull, 10 mm on the sides and rear of the hull, 10 mm on the turret, and 5 mm on the roof and bottom. Some modifications of the Type B tank were equipped with a radio station.

The power plant was an air-cooled Armstrong-Siddeley “Puma” engine with a power of 92 hp, which quite often overheated and failed. The tank developed a speed of 37 km/h and had a range of 120 km.

The chassis of the tank was of a very original design, consisting of 8 support rollers blocked in pairs into 4 bogies, with each pair of bogies having a single balancer with a suspension on leaf springs, 4 support rollers and a fine-link caterpillar 230 mm wide. The chassis design turned out to be very successful and served as the basis for many other tanks.

Light tank Vickers Carden-Loyd (“Vickers” four-ton)

The tank was developed in 1933 as a “commercial” tank; from 1933 to 1940 it was produced exclusively for export. A single-seat rotating turret of cylindrical or faceted design, offset to the left side, was installed on a riveted hull with an inclined frontal plate.

Vickers Carden-Loyd light tank

The engine compartment was located on the right, and on the left behind the partition was the control compartment and the fighting compartment. Transmission and engine 90 hp. were located on the right in the bow of the hull and ensured the tank's speed of 65 km/h. The driver's seat and traffic controls were located on the left; above the driver's head there was an armored cabin with a viewing slot.

The crew of the tank is 2 people. The fighting compartment occupied the middle and rear parts of the tank; here was the place of the commander - the gunner. The tank is armed with a 7.71 mm Vickers machine gun. The view from the commander's seat was provided through slots with armored glass in the sides of the turret and with the help of a machine gun sight.

The thickness of the armor of the turret, forehead and sides of the hull is 9 mm, the roof and bottom of the hull is 4 mm. The chassis is blocked, on each side there are two double-roller balancing bogies, suspended on leaf springs. Weighing 3.9 tons, the tank could reach highway speeds of up to 64 km/h.

Depending on the customer's requirements, the tanks differed in design and characteristics. In 1935, a batch of tanks designated T15 was delivered to Belgium. The vehicles were distinguished by a conical turret and a Belgian version of the armament, which consisted of a 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine gun and a 7.66 mm FN-Browning anti-aircraft machine gun.

Light tank Mk.VI

The final model of the series of light tanks developed in the interwar period was the Mk.VI light tank, created in 1936 based on the experience of developing light tanks MK.I, II, III, IV, V, which were not widely used in the army.
The layout of the tank was typical for light tanks of that time. In the bow of the hull on the starboard side there was a Meadows ESTL engine with a power of 88 hp. and a Wilson manual transmission. On the left side there was the driver's seat and controls. The fighting compartment occupied the central and rear parts of the hull. There were places for the machine gunner and the vehicle commander. The tower was double; in the rear of the tower there was a niche for installing a radio station.

Light tank Mk.VI

On the roof of the tower there was a round double-leaf hatch and a commander's cupola with a viewing device and an upper hatch. The turret was equipped with a large-caliber 12.7 mm machine gun and a coaxial 7.71 mm machine gun. The tank weighed 5.3 tons, the crew was 3 people.

The hull structure was riveted and assembled from sheets of rolled armor steel, the thickness of the frontal armor of the hull and turret was 15 mm, and the sides were 12 mm.

The chassis was of an original design; on each side there were two bogies with two road wheels equipped with a Horstmann suspension system (“double scissors”) and a support roller installed between the first and second rollers.

The drive wheel was located in front, the caterpillar was small-linked with a width of 241 mm. The tank developed a speed of 56 km/h and had a range of 210 km.

Based on the tank, several modifications of light tanks and military tracked vehicles for various purposes were developed; in total, about 1,300 such tanks were produced. The Mk.VI was England's most produced tank during the interwar period and formed the backbone of its tank forces.

The state of the British tank fleet before the war

During the interwar period, England implemented a program to create heavy, medium and light tanks, but only certain types of light tanks became widespread.
As a result of the consequences of the Great Depression, serial production of heavy tanks Mk.VIII and A1E1 was not launched in England and the production of medium tanks of the Medium Tank Mk.I, II, III series was discontinued. On the eve of the war, only light tanks remained in the army (1002 light tanks Mk.VI and 79 medium tanks Medium Tank Mk.I, II). Before World War II, England was not ready to fight a modern war; it was developing tanks to fight a previous war. Of the entire generation of interwar tanks in the European theater of World War II, the British army initially used only light Mk.VI tanks in limited quantities, which quickly had to be abandoned. These tanks were used in minor "colonial" theaters against weak opponents. During the war, England had to develop and establish production of a completely different class of machines in accordance with the requirements put forward by the war.

The first tanks. British "Diamonds"

The body of this tracked armored train consisted of eight sections connected by hinges. One caterpillar, equal in width to the body, covered it from above and below. The train was supposed to turn by bending the track itself, but it was not tested in practice, and the planned 40-horsepower steam engine would hardly have been able to move this 120-ton monster, armed with 12 cannons and four mitrailleuses.

Although this project was rejected and did not have any real implementation, E. Buyen was the first in history to put together an engine, armor, caterpillar tracks and weapons. Therefore, his tracked armored train may well be considered the predecessor of the modern tank. This new combat weapon turned out to be a more versatile and effective weapon and, over time, radically changed the nature of combat operations and the very organization of the armed forces, becoming one of the “gravediggers” of armored trains.

Image of a tracked armored train proposed by E. Bouyen in 1874

At the beginning of the 20th century. projects of combat vehicles appeared that were much closer in appearance to what tanks look like today. So, in 1911, Lieutenant G. Bursztyn proposed the Motorgeschutz project to the War Ministry of Austria-Hungary. This machine weighs about 5 tons with a 60 hp engine. With. had to move on continuous caterpillar belts of a cable system at speeds of up to 8 km/h. The Motorgeschutz was supposed to carry armor up to 8 mm thick and a 30–40 mm gun in a rotating turret. In overcoming various obstacles, the vehicle was helped by an original lever-roller device, and for driving on flat roads at high speeds (up to 30 km/h), the inventor equipped the vehicle with removable drive and steered wheels (why not a wheeled-tracked tank?).

Motorgeschutz G. Bursztynia, 1911

A year later, the Australian designer L. E. de Mol proposed a project for an armored tracked vehicle to the British War Department. It had two caterpillar tracks with a raised outline in the front and rear parts (to increase maneuverability), additional pins for overcoming obstacles, and turned due to the bending of the tracks in the horizontal plane.

True, none of these projects interested the military ministries of the countries that became opponents in the future world war - the projects remained gathering dust on the shelves of archives. The military lacked the motivation and understanding of the possibilities of using such all-terrain armored vehicles. As a result, the first tanks appeared on the battlefield only five years later, on September 15, 1916, and the impetus for this was the so-called “positional crisis.”

The fact is that at the beginning of the 20th century. The future war was seen by the military as maneuverable and fleeting. Thus, Germany was guided by the Schlieffen plan, which provided for the instant defeat of France before the “clumsy” Russia could mobilize and advance its army to the borders. In order to bypass the main French forces, it was planned to advance through the territory of Belgium, and after just a month to occupy Paris. The essence of the plan was outlined in a nutshell by Kaiser Wilhelm II: “We will have lunch in Paris and dinner in St. Petersburg.”

The initial stage of the First World War corresponded to these calculations - the German and French armies were actively moving, trying to surround each other, outflanking each other. Their actions were characterized by extreme mobility - as soon as one clash ended in the stabilization of the front, both sides quickly moved their troops to the flank (in this case, north towards the sea), and the battle resumed with renewed vigor. These mutual detours even got their own name - “Running to the Sea.”

However, the maneuver stage did not last long - by December 1914, the entire space between Paris and the North Sea was already densely filled with troops of both sides, the front stabilized, the offensive potential of the Germans was exhausted, and both sides switched to positional warfare. The warring parties dug into the ground and covered themselves with kilometers of barbed wire, every centimeter of the ground was shot through by machine guns and artillery.

Serious maneuver became impossible, it was necessary to attack head-on, and this required greater concentration of forces to achieve at least partial success and increased losses. Even after a massive artillery barrage, often lasting days or weeks, only a few surviving machine guns in the enemy trenches thwarted the attack. And while the attackers were making their way through the layered defense, the enemy was transporting reinforcements by train. Then came a counterattack with fresh forces against the exhausted attackers, and they rolled back, suffering heavy losses. This happened over and over again. The opposing coalitions were strong enough to thwart the enemy's plans, but equally weak to carry out their own.

As a result, there was an urgent need to create an armored vehicle that could move directly on the battlefield, making passages for the infantry in the obstacles in the fire-filled space between the trenches, suppress the remaining enemy machine-gun points with fire, and cross through the engineering barriers of at least the first line of defense.

The mobile armored vehicle was an armored train, but its use was limited by the presence of a railway track, and, naturally, everyone understood that it was completely unrealistic to build such a track on a section of the fortified front in the place necessary for the offensive and directly to the enemy. The use of armored vehicles, which the troops already had in significant quantities, also did not solve the problem. The maneuverability of heavy wheeled armored cars over rough terrain and soft ground was close to zero. What was urgently needed was an all-terrain armored vehicle, which is what the tank became, organically combining all the necessary elements - an all-terrain chassis, armor protection, rapid-fire weapons and a universal mechanical engine.

***

The father of the British tank is considered to be a military engineer, Lieutenant Colonel E. Swinton, who, in addition to engineering knowledge, also had combat experience, being a participant in the Boer War. In his memoirs, Swinton wrote: “... the main strength of the enemy’s defensive positions, not counting artillery, lies in the skillful combination of machine guns and barbed wire <...> I racked my brains to find an antidote... and the idea of ​​​​an armored vehicle clearly crystallized in me. It must be self-propelled, have bulletproof armor, and weapons capable of suppressing enemy machine guns. The vehicle must cross the terrain, despite the trenches, break through barriers and climb scarps. But the difficulty was to find a car that satisfied all these conditions, especially the last three." A correctly formulated question is half the answer - already in October 1914, Swinton made a proposal to use the tracked chassis of the Holt tractor for combat purposes. However, the War Ministry reacted very coolly to his project, although in February 1915 they organized tests of the Holt tracked tractor to test its maneuverability. It must be said that the tractor did not withstand the very harsh technical conditions that were set by the military; accordingly, the officials of the War Ministry became convinced that this idea did not deserve attention.

"Little Willie" on display at the Bovington Tank Museum

Nevertheless, Swinton was not alone, and other inventors began to propose designs for machines with similar purposes on caterpillar tracks. Thus, Commodore M. Suetter, one of the leaders of the Admiralty Naval Aviation Service (RNAS), proposed a project for an armor shield mounted on a self-propelled tracked platform (tractor), behind which the infantrymen were supposed to hide.

Hetherington's "land cruiser" design, 1914

Hetherington presented a fantastic project for a “land cruiser” - his gigantic three-wheeled vehicle had a length of 30 m, a width of 24 m and a height of 14 m. With a mass of 300 tons, it was supposed to reach speeds of up to 13 km/h, overcome walls up to 6 m high and rivers up to 4.5 m deep. Two four-inch guns were to be installed in each of the three turrets of the “land cruiser”.

Although Swinton’s idea of ​​an all-terrain combat vehicle—a machine gun destroyer—was rejected by the army leadership, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, became interested in it, and in February 1915 he created the Landship Committee, allocating 70 thousand pounds from Admiralty funds for development and testing. According to the technical specifications developed by the Committee’s specialists and officers from the headquarters of the commander of the British forces in France, the future armored combat vehicle was to reach speeds of up to 6 km/h, overcome holes and ditches at least 2.4 m wide, and climb parapets up to 1.4 m high Machine guns and light artillery pieces were offered as weapons. An engineering company from Lincoln, which was engaged in caterpillar tractors, was brought in to work on the project. In July 1915, she was ordered to build a “land ship” based on the American tractor “Bulok”.

Experimental tracked vehicle "No. 1 Lincoln" during testing in September 1915.

Tests of the machine, which received the name “No. 1 Lincoln,” took place in September 1915, but their results could not be called successful. It turned out that the tractor's chassis was weak for such loads; moreover, when crossing the trenches, the lower branch of the caterpillar sagged and it fell off. By the end of November, a new version of the car, nicknamed “Little Willie” (in honor of one of the designers, W. Wilson), was prepared for testing. The chassis received a caterpillar track with a rigid suspension. The body was made from sheets of boiler steel (not armored) and assembled on a frame made from angles. In the frontal part there was a mount for a 7.7-mm Vickers machine gun, and in the sides there were hatches for firing from personal weapons. A hole was provided in the roof to install the tower. Carburetor engine with a capacity of 105 hp. With. provided the 18-ton vehicle with a speed of no more than 3.2 km/h. Thanks to the presence of a wheeled tail, “Little Willie” overcame a ditch up to 1.5 m wide (“No. 1 Lincoln” was only 1.2 m).

“Little Willie” received a modified undercarriage with a track that did not sag when crossing trenches

The inside of “Little Willie”, according to the English tradition, the steering wheel is on the right

But this still turned out to be not enough. The command of the British troops in France insistently demanded that the vehicle be able to crawl across a ditch 2.4 m wide and overcome a wall 1.4 m high!

To satisfy this requirement, the designers had to completely redesign the car. They decided to maximize the height of the track toe and increase its length, which made it possible for the vehicle to get out of wide trenches and overcome vertical obstacles. The upper branch of the caterpillar was launched over the body, and the guide wheel was brought forward as much as possible. As a result, the car body received a diamond shape. Due to its great height and correspondingly high center of gravity, a rotating tower on the roof had to be abandoned. The weapons were lowered down, placed “naval style” - in sponsons (side protrusions) on the sides. Such a machine, nicknamed “Big Willie,” was built at the Lincoln plant by mid-January 1916.

Pre-production tank "Big Willie"

They tried to keep the work secret. Everyone who came into contact with the new military invention was obliged to keep it in the strictest confidence. They decided to legend the vehicles under construction, which looked like a large cistern or tank, as “field water tanks” sent to Mesopotamia, but after the loss of this territory, without further ado, they chose another remote and mysterious country - Russia. Accordingly, the car began to be called a tank (in English tank - “tank”, “capacity”). When transporting the first tanks, they were even written on them in Cyrillic: “Caution. Petrograd". True, there is a version that one of the original names was water carrier - “water tank” or “water carrier”, which fully reflected the camouflage legend. However, the abbreviation WC in English was usually used to designate a water flush toilet (water closet) and, naturally, the shorter and more neutral one - tank - was preferred.

The turning point in the fate of the British tank was its demonstration in front of members of the government and senior military officials - Minister of Supply D. Lloyd George, Minister of War Kitchener, Foreign Minister Balfour and others. Especially for this, “Little” and “Big Willie” were transported to the estate Marchioness of Salisbury at Hatfield. The show, which took place on February 2, 1916, made a strong impression on most officials, and although Kitchener remained unconvinced: “... this lovely, expensive mechanical toy will not help us win the war,” but, as they say, “the ice has broken.” Official tests of “Big Willie” took place on February 12, but on February 8, the commander of the British troops in France, D. Haig, requested 40 new tanks at his disposal.

Loading one of the first Mk I tanks onto a platform. For transportation by rail, the side sponsons were removed. On the tank there is the inscription “be careful Petrograa” (with an error), made as part of disinformation

After entering service under the designation Mk I (Mark 1), the Ministry of Supply issued an initial order for the construction of 100 tanks. To speed up production and due to the fact that the head of the Armament Directorate refused to allocate artillery pieces for “dubious” vehicles,” it was decided to build half of the ordered tanks with machine guns, and the rest to arm the naval 57-mm (6-pound) rapid-fire Hotchkiss guns. As a result, tanks were divided into “male” (cannon) and “female” (machine gun). The task of the latter was to suppress enemy infantry in the trenches and cover the “males” from possible infantry attacks.

Tank Mk I "male" during the Battle of the Somme, September 25, 1916. On the roof you can see a frame on which a "grenade-resistant" wire mesh was stretched.

The Mk I tank was a diamond-shaped steel box on tracks, eight meters long and two and a half meters high. A gable wooden frame with a wire mesh was mounted on the roof. It served to attach camouflage material and protect against hand grenades (it was later abandoned). The thickness of the side armor was 5–10 mm; it protected against rifle bullets (non-armor-piercing), shrapnel, and light shell fragments.

Tank Mk I "female"

The tank's armament was located in sponsons. The guns on the “male” were aimed manually, and shooting from them was quite inconvenient. The gunner was on his knees, and during the rollback the breech of the gun almost reached the engine hood. In addition, the large shield of the gun easily jammed when foreign objects got between it and the walls. On the “female”, Vickers machine guns of 7.7 mm caliber were installed in cylindrical rotary mounts with armored barrel casing. This machine gun was water-cooled and had a combat rate of fire of up to 300 rounds/min.

British tank with spurs - track extensions on the tracks, April 1917

The central part of the internal space of the tank hull was occupied by the engine and transmission. Daimler carburetor engine with 105 hp. With. it was installed along the axis so that there were only 0.35 m wide passages on either side of it. Gasoline was supplied to the engine by gravity, from tanks located under the roof, so if the tank tilted too much, the gasoline supply could be interrupted and the engine would stall. At the same time, the tank's speed was extremely low. On good roads it barely reached 6 km/h, but on off-road terrain, where the tank mainly had to operate, it dropped to 1–3 km/h, i.e. it was less than the speed of a pedestrian.

Design of the Mk I tank "male"

A tail with two metal wheels was hinged to the body at the back. It was pressed to the ground by springs, a hydraulic jack was used for lifting, and a cable rod was used for turning. The tail served to increase stability and increase the width of the ditch being covered, as well as for smooth turning (with a radius of 50 m or more). For sharp turns the tail was raised.

Model of the Mk I tank. The tail with two metal wheels served to increase stability and increase the width of the ditch to be covered, as well as for smooth turning

In general, driving the Mk I was a very difficult task, requiring a lot of effort, constant attention and the participation of four people: the driver, his two assistants (they controlled the inclusion of third and fourth gears in the onboard boxes) and the tank commander (due to the characteristics of the differential of the vehicle when driving, in especially on a dirty, slippery road, it constantly pulled to the side and had to be leveled by braking the corresponding caterpillar). The roar of the engine made it difficult to coordinate actions, and exhaust gases and gunpowder smoke poisoned the crew and caused frequent fainting - the temperature inside rose to 50 degrees. In addition, as one tanker from the former sailors put it, the tank was tossed around while moving, “like a torpedo boat during a storm.”

Mk II tank overcomes a trench

Despite all the tricks, the Mk I's cross-country ability also turned out to be not brilliant. The overweight vehicle (in the requirements for a cross-country vehicle, its weight was set at up to 22 tons, but in reality it reached 27–28 tons) had a specific ground pressure of about 2 kg/cm2. As a result, the tracks got stuck in the mud, and the large width of the hull made it difficult to move through clearings and narrow spaces.

The observation from the tank was also unsatisfactory. The crew could conduct observation only through unprotected cracks, into which splashes of molten lead flew during shelling.

Queen Mary inspecting a Mk II tank (unarmed), summer 1917

As you can see, the Mk I tank was far from perfect. Nevertheless, 150 of them were built - 75 “males” and the same number of “females”. On August 13, 1916, the first unit of British tanks, the Heavy Section of the Machine Gun Corps, departed for France. The crews sailed from Southampton, but there were no cranes capable of loading the tanks themselves, so they had to be sent separately from Avonmouth.

Tank Mk III "male", Bovington. The hull roof and the open right sponson door are visible

A month later, on September 15, 1916, the first ever tank attack carried out during the Battle of the Somme took place. True, of the 49 vehicles that the British prepared for the attack, only 32 managed to move to their original positions (17 tanks were out of action due to malfunctions), and of these thirty-two that launched the attack, five were stuck in the swamp, and nine were out of action for technical reasons. Nevertheless, even the remaining 18 tanks were able to break through a front 5 km wide and advance 5 km deep into enemy defenses, and British losses in this offensive operation were 20 times less than usual. The “male” tank D17 “Dinnaken” of Lieutenant Hastie even entered the village of Flers, slowly pursuing the Germans running away and hiding in the cellars. The psychological impact on the German infantry was enormous - when in the first line of trenches one of the German soldiers shouted the phrase “The devil is coming!”, his words spread through the trenches like wildfire.

British postcard, issued 24 November 1916, “British tank in action. Crushing the German defenses"

It was not possible to completely break through the German defense due to the small number of tanks involved, but even such a clumsy combat vehicle with many weaknesses showed its great potential. The tanks overcame wire fences and trenches 2.7 meters wide, and their armor resisted bullets and shell fragments. True, the tanks could not withstand direct hits from shells. Of the 17 vehicles that were hit by the recovering Germans, 10 were left to rust on the battlefield, and only seven managed to crawl back.

A look from the other side - the painting “Rage against the Tank”, German infantrymen fearlessly attack a British tank

British tank Mk IV "male" (model)

After the first battle of tanks on the Somme, the order for their construction was immediately increased to 1,000, and then to 1,250 units, with the requirement to make improvements to their design. This is how British tanks of the following modifications Mk II and III appeared. They were released in 50 units each (25 “males” and 25 “females”). Already on the Mk II, the wheeled tail was abandoned (as practice has shown, it practically did not improve maneuverability), the lower walls of the sponsons were slightly beveled inward (their corners were often buried in the ground), and the exhaust pipe was brought along the roof to the stern.

Hull of a Mk IV tank under construction

In March 1917, the next modification went into production - the Mk IV, which became the most popular British tank in 1916–1918. 1,015 of these machines were built. (420 “males” and 595 “females”). The Mk IV had improved armor - by this time the German infantry was already actively using new armor-piercing bullets. The thickness of the armor in the frontal part was increased to 16 mm, the sides to 12, and the roof to 8 mm. The sponsons were redesigned, now they could be moved inside the hull on a special slide (this simplified transportation by rail), and their lower part was beveled even more to reduce “burrowing.” The gun barrels were shortened from 40 to 23 calibers. On the “females,” the machine-gun sponsons were generally reduced in size, and rectangular manholes with double-leaf covers were made under them. Finally, they installed a forced fuel supply system to the carburetor and increased the volume of the fuel tanks - the tank consumed about 10 liters of gasoline per kilometer.

Tank Mk IV “female”, Battle of Amiens, 1918. A rectangular manhole with double-leaf covers is clearly visible under the sponson

King George V inspecting two new Mk IV tanks (male on the right and female on the left), July 1917.

Interestingly, as part of the “shell and armor competition,” the British, even before the first Mk I entered the battlefield, were concerned with developing a tank whose protection could withstand the fire of German light field guns. The armor thickness of this heavy tank, nicknamed the “Flying Elephant,” was supposed to be 76 mm in the frontal part and 50-51 mm on the sides. The semicircular front part of the hull housed a 57-mm Hotchkiss gun, and four to six machine guns in the sides. Although the Flying Elephant was comparable in size to the Mk I, its estimated weight reached 100 tons. To prevent such a heavy vehicle from getting stuck in the ground, it was placed on two pairs of tracks - the main ones with a width of 610 mm on the sides and additional ones located under the bottom tank and slightly raised above the ground, which were supposed to improve the tank's maneuverability on soft soils. True, the project did not go further - the huge mass and cost of the tank, which had weapons even weaker than that of the Mk I Male, became the reason for the abandonment of its production.

Model of the "Flying Elephant" heavy tank

"Flying Elephant" Artist A. Sheps 1 - Project A, July 1916 2 - Project B, August 30, 1916

The article was published in the January 2022 issue of the journal Science and Technology

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Males and females of the First World War (the first British tanks Mark I-IX) | Battlefield 1

01 Jun 2016 In My videos

I want to talk to you about the tanks that appeared in the Battlefield 1 . These are British Mark IV , diamond-shaped hulks rushing towards the enemy. Many doubted whether these armored monsters could drive so fast, and what they could be capable of on the battlefield. DICE practically does not share information on this matter. So let’s try to figure this issue out ourselves. Sit back, comrades, the story will be long but interesting.

September 15 this year will mark the 100th anniversary of the first combat use of tanks. It was then that this new type of equipment was used for the first time, which radically changed the nature of combat operations in all subsequent wars.

Leonardo da Vinci had ideas for creating a prototype of a tank, but their implementation took place much later, during the First World War. And the reasons for this were the following. All countries participating in the battles were counting on a quick victory, but that was not the case; the period of maneuver on the Western Front ended very quickly. The armies dug in trenches, built fortifications, barbed wire barriers and mined vast areas. Neither side in the conflict had superiority in either firepower or maneuverability. Attempts to break through were quickly bled dry in fleeting battles - the attacking infantry was simply mowed down with machine guns. It was necessary to somehow solve this problem.

The British were the leaders in this matter. Even at the beginning of the war, cars were actively used to deliver fighters and equipment, tractor equipment was used to transport artillery and perform engineering work. But their use only strengthened the positionality of the war. There is an urgent need for armored vehicles capable of increasing tactical mobility directly on the battlefield, bringing machine guns and artillery to enemy positions and transporting them behind the front trenches, clearing a path through obstacles, covering infantry attacks with mobile fire, and destroying enemy firing points. And do all this with minimal losses.

The use of the first armored vehicles in conditions of trench warfare was limited, since they were strictly tied to good roads, and they were not capable of driving off-road, especially dotted with craters from artillery shelling.

In the summer of 1915, Britain began developing the first heavily armored vehicles, called “tanks.” Heavy tractors were used as a basis. After several experiments, we decided to abandon the idea of ​​​​using a rotating turret and did everything “naval style”, placing the weapons in the side sponsons, i.e. protruding side casemates. In profile the tank had a diamond shape. The tracks were placed on top of the hull to increase the toe height. The new equipment entered testing in January 1916. The 22-ton monster overcame ditches and craters. The new product, nicknamed "Big Willie" , was put into service under the designation Mk I and received a new nickname "Mother" as the progenitor of a new class of equipment. The first 100 tanks were immediately ordered, a third of the order was transferred to the carriage building plant for production, and subsequently such factories would become tank factories more than once.

The first heavy tank Mark I "Mother"

At the same time, three basic principles for the use of tanks were developed:

1. massiveness, i.e. attack not by a single tank, but by a large group
2. surprise - use on a wide front without preliminary artillery preparation
3. terrain surmountable by tanks.

They also developed principles of interaction between tanks and infantry.

The first production tank Mark I had considerable dimensions: almost 10 meters long, a little more than 4 meters wide and almost 2.5 meters high. The weight was also not childish - 28.5 tons. Armor was used with a thickness of 5 to 12 mm. The connections of the armor plates were riveted. The frame did not have sufficient rigidity and there were frequent cases of distortion.

The armament was as follows: 2 57 mm cannons with 332 rounds of ammunition, four 8 mm Hotchkiss machine guns with 6272 rounds. In the sponsons and wheelhouse there were hatches with flaps for firing at infantry from personal weapons in cases where the enemy was out of range of machine-gun fire. The crew used revolvers for these purposes.

This monster was serviced by a crew of 8 people: the driver and commander were located in the control room in front of the tank. The commander fired from a frontal machine gun. The sponsons were served by two fighters each - a gunner and a loader, who also fired a machine gun; two more were located in the rear - driver assistants who worked on the onboard gearboxes.

In 1916, Mark I tanks began to be produced in two versions of armament: “males” - with a cannon or machine gun-cannon, and “females” - with a machine gun. The latter’s tasks included destroying enemy infantry in the trenches and covering the “males” from their attacks. “Females” were armed, in addition to Hotchkiss machine guns, with Vickers machine guns of 7.7 mm caliber, which were installed in sponsons.

The Mark I had a range of only 38 km. Driving speed – from 1.2 to 6.4 km/h, field average – 3.2 km/h, reverse speed – 1.2 km/h. Cross-country ability was poor - the caterpillars got stuck in soft ground. The first tank was more suitable for flat roads and dry weather.

A tail with two wheels was attached to the rear of the tank, which made it possible to overcome wider ditches and also made turns easier. It was also used as a cargo trailer.

Gasoline was supplied to the engine by gravity, so if the tank tilted too much while moving, the gas supply was interrupted and the engine was cut off. I had to pour gasoline into the carburetor with a bottle. Now it sounds very funny, but this is the very birth of heavy tanks.

The 52 cm wide tracks consisted of 90 tracks made of armored steel. They were highly vulnerable because they were open to enemy fire and had a low resource.

For viewing, the crew used viewing slits through which a lot of splashes and fragments from lead bullets flew into their eyes. Similar injuries in the First World War for tank crews amounted to 80%. To protect the face they had to wear chainmail masks.

Being in the tank was a difficult ordeal - shaking, heat stroke, poisoning from exhaust and powder gases. Even in battle, tankers jumped out and rested under the vehicle. Communication between the tanks was initially via pigeon mail; the latter had a very hard time withstanding such harsh conditions. For those nearby, they used signals with flags or a lamp. The most reliable, but also the most dangerous way was communication by messengers who ran from tank to tank.

After the more or less successful use of tanks at the Somme in 1916, it was decided to continue the production of these giants in various modifications. So on the Mark II they abandoned the wheeled tail, reducing the length by 2 meters, but at the same time the width of the ditch to be overcome decreased by half a meter. The design of the sponsons has been improved and the capacity of the gas tanks has been increased. Instead of Vickers, the “females” were equipped with Lewis machine guns.

On the Mark III, the cross-country ability was seriously improved - every sixth track track was made wider, with a lug spur attached to it. They introduced a self-pulling beam - at first it was a two-meter wooden beam attached to the roof. If the tracks were slipping, then one of the crew climbed onto the roof and attached the beam to the tracks with chains. The beam rested on the ground and gave the tracks support. Once the troops had enough tanks, the Mark I units were converted into supply transports. They were called "tenders". One such “tender” was enough to supply 5 tanks.

Parts of the Mark II and Mark III were converted into “radio tanks” - a radio station was placed in one sponson, and a radio operator in the other.

Mark IV

In May 1917, the new model, the Mark IV, . Many improvements have been made to the design. So, to protect against armor-piercing bullets, the thickness of the armor was increased. The design of the sponsons was changed for convenient transportation by rail - they could be pushed inside on a sled. On the “females” the sponsons were noticeably reduced. Improved entry and exit from the tank. The gun barrels were shortened. The ammunition included grapeshot shots to more effectively clear enemy trenches. Lewis machine guns were mounted in ball mounts. Males were armed with 4 Lewis machine guns, and females were armed with 6. We increased engine power and installed a vacuum pump to supply fuel from larger gas tanks. The number of tracks equipped with spurs has been increased. Installed mud purifiers. The “self-pulling system” was also improved: guides with a “non-buried” teak beam suspended from them were attached to the body.

Mark IV

The Mark IV had high striking power. So he left passages up to 2.5 m wide in wire fences, pierced stone fences and walls of buildings.

The problem of low tank reliability was still unresolved - major repairs were required after 100-112 km.

On Mark IV tanks they tested the installation of a Stokes mortar in the rear. In fact, this is one of the first examples of self-propelled mortars.

As the troops were supplied with Mark V tanks, some Mark IVs were converted into supply tanks. However, it was the Mark IV that was the most popular British tank of the First World War.

"Female" Mark V

At the end of 1917, the Mark V , which used Hotchkiss Mk I* machine guns chambered for the English 7.7 mm cartridge. A rear machine gun appeared, which now provided all-round defense of the tank. For the first time, a new product was equipped with an engine specially designed for a tank. We increased the capacity of the tanks, increased the speed to 7 km/h and increased the range. And most importantly, control of the tank has now been completely transferred to the driver. The inspection slots were sealed with unbreakable triplex glass.

"Male" Mark V

To overcome the ditches, it was possible to attach a so-called fascine to the roof of the tank - a huge bundle of rods that was dropped to give support to the tracks.

For the first time, they began to use a semaphore, which was installed at the stern, to transmit messages.

Based on the finished tank, hybrids were also created - Mk V “Composite” with one 57 mm gun and 5 machine guns. The troops called this lopsided vehicle a “hermaphrodite.”

The enemy also did not sleep, and began to increase the width of the trenches, so the need arose to lengthen the tanks so that they could overcome such obstacles. The tank was simply cut in the transverse plane, an additional section 1.83 cm long was inserted and the caterpillar was extended. The weight increased by 4 tons. The speed was reduced to 4 km/h and the agility was reduced. The extended tank was named Mark V* (with a star). It was planned to use such tanks to transport infantry, but they were simply sick of it from the stuffiness and exhaust, so this idea was abandoned.

Mark V*

There was also a modification of the Mark V** with a forced engine shifted back and larger tanks, but they did not have time to take part in the battles.

"Male" Mark V**

In 1918, based on the Mark V, the Mark IX to supply battle tanks and as a transport for infantry. To free up space inside the tank, it was necessary to abandon the sponsons and main weapons, leaving only machine guns in the front and rear compartments. There were 4 large oval doors on the sides, as well as hatches for firing personal weapons. The Mark IX could carry up to 50 people or 10 tons of cargo. In addition, this vehicle became the world's first amphibious tank. Empty tanks were attached to the sides and frontal part, acting as floats, and blades were attached to the tracks. The doors were sealed. But the Mark IX never had time to take part in battles.

Based on the “female” Mk V**, sappers created a “tank-trawl” for detonating mines with a heavy iron roller installed in front. There were also “bridge tanks” , “crane tanks” and “tug tanks” . A new type of military equipment has found many applications.

What was the effectiveness of using tanks? Even despite the fact that most of them broke down on the way to the target and simply got stuck on the ground, thanks to the tanks it was possible to make breakthroughs in enemy barriers, which in conditions of trench warfare seemed impossible. The first combat use gave a mainly psychological effect - a persistent syndrome settled in the German army - “tank fear”, which was aggravated by the fact that they expected the use of flamethrowers.

But these fears passed and the heavy tanks were fired at with artillery and mortars, armor-piercing bullets, and “wolf pits” traps were made for them. The secretive advance of the tanks was hampered by the loud noise they made. But the experience of using tanks grew with each battle, and new tactics of interaction with infantry were developed. The tanks of the First World War changed the very nature of modern warfare. Their use no longer required lengthy artillery preparation before the offensive.

German-captured Mark IV

So, we have familiarized ourselves with the brief history, let's now figure out what awaits us in the game Battlefield 1 ? In the trailer, we were shown the Mark IV , which, as we know, should not be particularly frisky, provided that the game developers fulfill their promise that the weapons and equipment will be authentic.

What especially alarms me is that to control the Mark IV , three soldiers were needed - 1 driver and 2 assistants. The transfer of control into one hand was only carried out starting with the Mark V. How will this be implemented? Will they deceive us and slip us an arcade solution? Or will two fighters have to stupidly stick in and, on command from the driver, control their caterpillar? It will be really interesting to play with such fighters. And if one driver assistant is missing, then the tank will only be able to drive in circles. So we will most likely be given either arcade driver functions in one hand on the Mark IV or the game will have a Mark V tank instead.

The tank setup will be of the “male”/“female” type. I’m sure they’ll give us a choice of machine guns – Lewis, Hotchkiss or Vickers. Perhaps they will let you play with the length of the barrel. I’m also really looking forward to the selection of ammunition for the main guns, primarily grapeshot for clearing trenches.

destroy tanks in Battlefield 1 with artillery, mortars, anti-tank grenades, mines, and disable them with anti-tank rifles. I also expect support from aviation in the form of bombs, since machine-gun fire against these multi-ton monsters was not particularly effective.

I have a lot of questions about the implementation of British heavy tanks in Battlefield 1 , and we’ll soon find out the answers to them.

Battlefield 1

History of British tank building. Part 1

On July 28, 1914, the cannonade of a new war thundered over Europe. Back then, no one imagined that this conflict would become a global struggle of attrition. All participants planned to defeat their opponents within a few months of a decisive offensive. But more and more states got involved in the battle, the armies suffered huge losses, and in the end Europe found itself crossed out by lines of trenches from the northern to the southern seas. The offensives brought less and less results: tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dead were paid for literally a few kilometers conquered. In an attempt to somehow break the stalemate, the participants in the war invented ever new means of destruction. It was during these years that poisonous gases, flamethrowers appeared, and a fighter aircraft was used for the first time. And it was then that the tank was invented in Britain.

Tanks first took part in battle on September 15, 1916 on the Somme River. The armored monsters broke through the German defenses, but the result was achieved only at the tactical, but not at the operational level. In general, tanks did not play a decisive role in the First World War. More than two decades had to pass for new military equipment to fully reveal its potential. Over the years, it was necessary not only to improve the design of tanks, but also to learn how to use them correctly. Surprisingly, the British, the pioneers of tank building, had problems with both the first and second aspects.

As usual, the main cause of these problems was human error. Let's start with the fact that in the British War Office there were many outspoken opponents of the development of armored forces. Historian D. Brown wrote that the attitude of military officials towards the tank corps was marked by a spirit of displeasure and envy. The extreme level of hostility included statements that tanks were a waste of the military budget.

Not everything was smooth in the supporters’ camp either. Here they could not come to a consensus as to what role the tank should play on the battlefield in the future. Two points of view stood out clearly. According to the first, the tank was supposed to advance along with the infantry, cover it with armor and help fight enemy infantry. Artillery was supposed to fight enemy fortified points, tanks and guns. Supporters of the second point of view were inclined to believe that tanks should be used in the same way as cavalry. In their opinion, the tanks had to quickly break through to the enemy’s rear, strike communications and warehouses, and attack units on the march and not ready for an effective rebuff.

Ultimately, the British decided, figuratively speaking, to sit on two chairs at once. A division was created into infantry and cruiser tanks. The former were slow and well armored, while the latter were fast but thinly armored. Moreover, their weapons were approximately the same. Although at first it was planned to equip infantry tanks only with machine guns. Then they finally got around to equipping combat vehicles with guns. But both infantry and cruiser tanks had a limited caliber of guns for a long time, and high-explosive fragmentation shells were not included in the ammunition load.

Let's take a closer look at both “families” of British tanks from the early period of World War II.

Infantry tanks, as already mentioned, initially did not have cannon weapons. A typical example of such a car was the Matilda I, which began production in 1937. It was a slow but well armored tank. When the British first took on the Germans in 1940, it turned out that German anti-tank weapons were often unable to penetrate the tank. Unfortunately, the advantage in defense was completely erased by the very low firepower of the vehicle.

In 1939, production of the Matilda II infantry tank began, which became the most heavily armored British tank at the beginning of the war. Its 60 mm armor was guaranteed to be penetrated only by 88 mm anti-aircraft guns and 76 mm guns of the German Marder II anti-tank guns. Unlike its namesake, the previous modification, Matilda II was armed with a 2-pounder cannon. In principle, this was enough for the very beginning of the war. But by mid-1942, the Matilda II had ceased to be of any significance in the role of a gun tank. But it was not possible to install a more powerful gun on it due to the small size of the turret and the diameter of the shoulder strap.

The Valentine was recognized as the most successful infantry tank at the beginning of the war. This vehicle received its baptism of fire in 1941 in North Africa. The Valentines were produced until 1944, although already in 1942 the tank was considered hopelessly outdated. Its obvious disadvantages were its low speed and weak weapon. Unlike the Matilda II, the Valentine's armament was strengthened: in 1942, a turret for a 57-mm (6-pound) gun was developed. The turret was cramped and could only accommodate two people, which negatively affected the crew's efficiency. Speaking about the Valentine tank, it should be noted that about half of the vehicles built were sent under Lend-Lease to the USSR.

As for the British cruiser tanks, by the beginning of World War II they were still far from perfect and extremely unreliable. Moreover, this was typical for all equipment of this class. The ancestors of cruising tanks were the vehicles of the American engineer Walter Christie.

The first-born among cruising tanks was the Vickers Mk I, produced in small series since 1934. It practically did not participate in the war, although a small number of these vehicles remained in service until 1941. The rest were taken to the rear and used as training ones.

The Vickers Mk II and MK III performed slightly better than the first model, but were not well armored or armed enough. There were a lot of non-combat losses associated with the low reliability of these tanks.

An attempt to correct this deplorable situation was the Vickers Mk IV tank. The thickness of its armor was increased to 30 mm. This was done by welding additional sheets onto the tower and other vulnerable spots. This additional armor gave the Mk IV turret its unusual hexagonal shape, which was later adopted by the Covenanter cruiser tank. In addition, minor work was carried out to improve the chassis. The Mk IV became more combat-ready than its predecessors, but still broke down prohibitively often.

In 1940–1941, the British suffered serious defeats on almost all fronts. France, North Africa, Greece - everywhere British tanks lost to their opponents. Sometimes this was due to technical imperfections, sometimes due to incompetent commanders. I had to draw conclusions and take action.

In the second part of the article we will tell you how Britain's armored weapons developed further.

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Also in the “Media” section of our portal you can watch the video “Armor of Foggy Albion”, dedicated to British tanks.

Three-dimensional infographics for the 98th anniversary of the tank’s first baptism of fire

By the end of 1914, the First World War had reached a positional stalemate: defensive tactics using machine guns and barbed wire proved much more effective than offensive ones. The armies of both sides settled in the trenches, the attacks brought no result other than meaningless casualties. For this reason, the need for armored combat vehicles to break through the enemy’s layered defense has become acute.

It must be admitted that the participation of tanks in the fighting of the First World War was not very large-scale. However, it is precisely this period of the formation of a new type of military equipment that is of particular interest. Roughly speaking, the tank arose as an attempt to cross a tractor (usually a tracked one) with powerful weapons (artillery or machine guns). But in search of the optimal solution, the designers experimented as hard as they could with the shape and structure of the new machine.

Great Britain

In February 1915, Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, formed and chaired the Landship Committee. It is curious that one of the sources of the idea was the fantastic story by H.G. Wells “Land Armadillos”. Just a year later, a successful demonstration of the prototype took place and the army ordered one hundred vehicles, codenamed tank (that is, “tank”, “tank”). For the sake of secrecy, rumors were spread that the British were manufacturing “field water tanks” for the Russian army.

A striking feature of the first British tanks was their diamond-shaped profile with tracks running over the top of the hull. The main armament was placed in sponsons (lateral protrusions) - a design solution borrowed from the navy.

On September 15, 1916, at the Battle of the Somme, “water tanks” showed themselves in action for the first time.

Mark I - the first battle tank

France

French combat vehicles on tracked chassis were called “assault artillery”. The first-born, medium (by weight category) tanks “Schneider” and “Saint-Chamon”, took part in hostilities since the spring of 1917. But the most successful French tank of the First World War is considered to be the light (first in its class) Renault FT-17. It is also the first tank with a classic layout: the control compartment is in front, the combat compartment is in the center, and the engine compartment is in the rear. The light tank was cheaper to produce, was maneuverable, and could be transported to the front lines by truck. The FT-17 became the most popular tank of the war. Moreover, it was used by the armies of different countries until the 1940s.

Renault FT-17 - the first classic tank

Germany

The Germans began developing their tank at the end of 1916. The first production tank of the empire was named A7V after the abbreviation of the 7th (transport) department of the main directorate of the Ministry of War. This bulky vehicle with a crew of 18 people looked more like a mobile fortress and was more suitable for all-round defense than for breaking through enemy fortifications. Although from a defensive point of view it had flaws in the form of “blind” spots.

A7V - Germany's first production tank

Russia

In Russia, work was also underway to create military vehicles to overcome the stalemate at the front. One of the domestic projects, the tank N.N. Lebedenko, aka “Bat”, aka “Tsar Tank”, is considered the largest tank ever built (although not all historians agree to call this machine a tank). In fact, it resembled a huge artillery carriage. The small moving model was allegedly shown to Nicholas II and made a great impression on him. In 1917, the 9-meter giant was built and equipped with two powerful German engines taken from a captured zeppelin. But things didn’t go beyond the first test.

Lebedenko tank - the largest tank