THE FIRST TANK ATTACK
______Early tanks were developed by the British during World War One to find a way to break the bloody stalemate on the Western Front. Trench warfare and the machine gun had combined to make advances almost impossible for either side, so the British worked to create a machine for which trenches would not be an obstacle and small arms fire would not be a problem. Called a "tank" to confuse enemy spies, these "land battleships" were ready for use by the middle of 1916.
______The place chosen for the Allies to use their tanks was at Flers-Courcelette as part of the Somme Offensive. Only 49 Mark I tanks were available prior to the planned assault. However, out of that original number 17 failed to make it to the assault positions and another 7 broke down while awaiting the order to charge. Thus the first tank assault saw only 15 tanks move across no-man's land at a staggering 6 kilometers per hour... it wasn't exactly a blitzkrieg.
______The attack did demoralize the Germans in the front trenches, at least temporarily. The British and Canadians moved up 2 kilometers in three days, which was a major achievement when measured against the low expectations of trench warfare. And Flers-Coucelette fell to the Allies prior to the end of the Somme Offensive on September 22nd.
______The new weapons had failed to cause a true breakthrough, despite the disquieting effect it had on German soldiers whose bullets just bounced on it. Mechanical failures and slow speeds limited what the machines could do. But Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig was impressed enough with the potential of tanks to request 1,000 of the machines. By the end of World War One tanks were becoming a decisive factor in some of the great land battles in France. By World War II they were a permanent part of every major power's army.
WHAT GROUP OF UNION SOLDIERS INVADED CANADA?
