Museum Reveals Tank 785 Fought With No Armour
THE OLDEST surviving tank that saw combat marks the centenary of the action this month – but it should never have gone to war in the first place, it can now be revealed.
The astonishing story of Tank 785 is being told at The Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset, where it is shown the tank went into battle without armour, and experts think its crew were not told the steel was untreated and that ordinary rifle fire could penetrate it.
The Mark II tank was one of 45 summoned to take part in the Battle of Arras in France on the Western Front, despite being built solely for training purposes. The museum’s tank was commanded by 2nd Lt Herbert Chick who advanced on May 3 1917 with his eight-man crew. He attacked German lines, knocked out several machine guns and broke the wire. However, with five of his crew wounded, two seriously, he was unable to continue the offensive. Chick returned to allied lines and filled in a form reporting the numbers of wounded, the rounds used and the damage sustained, as well as details of the engagement.
After Arras the Mark IIs were gradually removed from the front as the fully-armoured Mark IV tanks rolled off the production line. Howe…
