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In fact, it was during WWI, at the Battle of the Somme, when British armed forces started using these vehicles for the first time. The British didn’t start using tanks on the battlefield until around 1915. It took a war for the British to start using tanks. Tanks, while slow at times, are incredible at holding back enemy forces when deployed in the right way – for example, a single Soviet tank was able to hold off advancing German forces into Russia for more than 24 hours. They were referred to as ‘mobile water carriers’ – hence ‘tank’! Tanks used by British Forces in WWII were kept secret through clever naming alone. His patent covered an armored vehicle that had origins in a tractor running on steam! 3. It is James Cowen, an Englishman, who patented a tank not unlike what we know them to be today. In fact, they were used as a successor to battering rams and wheeled attack vehicles used from the ninth century onwards. Tanks are thought to date all the way back to ancient times. Tanks have been used for hundreds of years.
If you were expecting fish tanks, I’m afraid you’re out of luck! Maybe that’s going to be a firm fit for a future fact file! 1. So – let’s take a look at a few fun facts about tanks. In fact, modern tanks are just as powerful as they were in the Second World War – however, they are more spry and efficient these days! Famously used in World War II, tanks are impressive behemoths that have evolved massively over the decades. These armored vehicles have long been used as fighting vehicles used to cross rugged terrain in times of warfare and conflict. Presented in collaboration between the Queensland Museum and the Australian War Memorial.The tank remains one of the most iconic pieces of military equipment on the planet. Mephisto is the world’s only remaining example.įor more information about Mephisto visit the Queensland Museum website. However, most were scrapped in the years immediately following the Armistice. Mephisto’s current paint scheme was applied by the Queensland Museum in 1988.Įighteen of the original 20 A7Vs produced by Germany survived the war more or less intact. It was initially placed in the grounds of the museum, and the inscriptions and paintings adorning its sides were badly weathered and faded by exposure to the elements, while parts of the tank were pried off by members of the public. On its way to the museum the tank’s caterpillar tracks gouged the road, and its sides damaged several buildings as it was dragged around corners.
The machine was so heavy that a special crane had to be erected on the wharf to unload it. The most prominent piece of art applied was a counterpart to the German demon: a large, crown-wearing British lion, its right paw resting on an A7V tank.īrought to Australia in 1919 as a war trophy, Mephisto has been housed at the Queensland Museum in Brisbane ever since. During this time countless allied soldiers left their marks on the vehicle, and the armour became littered with names, quotes, drawings, and paintings. It was moved to the training ground of the British 5th Brigade, Tank Corps, at Vaux-en-Amiénois and later to Poulainville (near the city of Amiens) until early October 1918. In that attack it became stranded in a shell crater, and was eventually recovered from the battlefield by men of the AIF and their British comrades. Its second operation came at Villers-Bretonneux on 24 April 1918. Mephisto fought its first ever battle at St Quentin on 21 March 1918. Despite these problems, the value of the armoured machines was such that they were prized by all sides – the British through ongoing development and production, and the Germans through the salvage and reuse of broken British tanks taken from the battlefield. Visibility was difficult through the small vision slits in the sides and front, and the tanks stopped regularly for the officer in charge to reorient himself. In battle the machines lurched through shell holes and trenches, and the men inside were thrown around mercilessly. Despite the tank’s protective armour, each hit sent tiny particles of hot metal flying off the inside walls and onto the men’s faces.
Crazy tanks from wwii driver#
The driver and commander sat above the tank’s engine, wearing asbestos-impregnated suits to protect themselves from the heat, while others preferred to sit atop the tank when not in action to escape the fumes and discomfort of the interior. The German models held much larger crews than the British, with anywhere between 18 and 26 men on board. These newly invented war machines were hot, noisy, and cramped.
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