Kentish Express Ashford & District
Invention that changed world of warfare forever
After two years in trenches, suffering blisters, trench foot, wounds, bitter winters and a daily dice with death, many soldiers on the Western Front thought they had seen it all.
But exactly 100 years ago today (Thursday) that all changed as men were left staggered at the first sight of “extraordinary monsters” crawling over the barbed wire and shell holes.
The First World War was well and truly bogged down into attritional trench warfare stalemate – particularly on the Somme in France – and something was needed to break the deadlock.
Back in Britain, scientific minds had been working on one of the most outlandish creations in human history from as early as 1915.
Tanks went into action for the very first time on September 15, 1916, on the small section between the French villages of Flers and Courcelette in a bid to bust through the German defences.
Only the men who were going into battle with the beasts knew about their arrival in France in August 1916.
Sidney Taylor, a soldier who was stationed on the front at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, remembered the first time the tanks went over the top: “It was a funny sensation to see a dozen tanks coming over shell holes, no stopping. Didn’t matter what they came over, they got over it all right, and it was horrifying.
“It gave you a funny sensation to think that all these were coming and they were on our side, they weren’t against us! But we realised that this was the very first time they’d ever been used.”
The first model was known simply as a Mark I and various amendments were made over the following months.
Machines like the one based in Ashford town centre – a Mark IV – did not enter service for another year, first seeing action in mid-1917 at the Battle of Messines.
Nevertheless, this week marks the start of an association which is synonymous with Ashford.
Every resident in the town will know about the tank and ARRIVAL IN TOWN On August 1, 1919, the British Mark IV “Female” Tank No 245 trundled up Station Road and the High Street at a maximum 3.7mph after being met by a Tank Corps crew at the station.
Called a female because of its armament of five Lewis machine guns as opposed to the male version with a 6lb gun and three machine guns, it was parked in its current location, then known as St George’s Square.
It has been a meeting point, a signpost for directions and even an electricity substation – and threatened with removal on numerous occasions.
In recent months it has even been home to a few Pokemon since the launch of Pokemon Go earlier in the summer. where it is, and it has become a landmark.
But the long road to Ashford all started exactly 100 years ago – a history the town continues to remember and use every day.
What do you think? Write to Kentish Express, 34-36 North Street, Ashford TN24 8JR or email kentishexpress@ thekmgroup.co.uk