Transcriber’s note: Cover created by Transcriber, using a photograph from the originalbook, and placed in the Public Domain.
TANKS IN THE GREAT WAR
TANKS
IN THE GREAT WAR
1914–1918
BY
Brevet-Colonel J. F. C. FULLER, D.S.O.
(Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry)
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY
1920
I
I dedicate this book to the modern military scientists, thatsmall company of gentlemen who, imbued with a greatidea, were willing to set all personal interest aside in orderto design a machine destined to revolutionise the scienceof war.
II
I dedicate this book to the modern armourers of the Britishfactories, those men and women whose untiring patriotismand indomitable endurance in the workshops produced aweapon whereby the lives of many of their comrades weresaved.
III
I dedicate this book to the modern knights in armour, thefighting crews of the Tank Corps; those Officers, Non-commissionedOfficers and Men, who, through their own highcourage and noble determination on the battlefield, maintainedLiberty and accomplished Victory.
The following work is the story of a great and unique adventureas heroic as the exploits of the Argonauts of old, and,though the time perhaps has not yet arrived wherein tojudge the part played by tanks in the Great War, I feelthat, whatever may be the insight and judgment of theeventual historian of the British Tank Corps, he will probablylack that essential ingredient of all true history—thewitnessing of the events concerning which he relates.
I, the writer of this book, first set eyes on a tank towardsthe end of August 1916. At this time I little thought thatI should eventually be honoured by becoming the ChiefGeneral Staff Officer of the Tank Corps, for a period extendingfrom December 1916 to August 1918. The timespent during this long connection with the greatest militaryinvention of the Great War, it is hoped, has not been altogetherwasted, and the story here set forth represents myappreciation of having been selected to fill so intenselyinteresting an appointment.
Besides having witnessed and partaken in many of theevents related, those who have assisted me in this bookhave all been either closely connected with the Tank Corpsor in the Corps itself, they one and all were partakers ineither the creation of the Corps or in the many actions inwhich it fought.
So much assistance have I received that I can at mostbut consider myself as editor to a mass of informationprovided for me by others. Those I more especiallywish to thank amongst this goodly company are thefollowing:
Captain the Hon. Evan Charteris, G.S.O.3, Tank Corps,xii