100th anniversary of the first deployment of tanks in battle, at the Somme.
(I posted this on the War Films board on the 15th, but forgot to post it HERE! Duh...)
Tank 'Daredevil' is believed to have been the first to fire a shot in anger, during a skirmish in Delville Wood, and tank 'Dracula' is believed to have led the first successful tank attack.
- What are you gonna do, when the world catches on?
Wow, Daredevil and Dracula. Fun names but that was about all that was fun in 1914-1918.
"Encerrarlo, y no habla."
The crew could use any nickname for their tanks that they wanted to, among themselves. But the Army would only officially use a nickname/callsign for your tank that started with the same letter as your Company designation. So 'Daredevil' and 'Dracula' were 'D' Company tanks, while 'Harrier' and 'Harvester' were from 'H' company.
- What are you gonna do, when the world catches on?
Tanks are reminiscent of that old Virginia Slims slogan. You've come a long way, baby.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AjlJYrEri-Y/UMZGwtbflaI/AAAAAAAAolA/xAe4F-54wxc/s1600/Tank-Type-99-China.jpg
"I hear no voice. The dead cannot speak."
How so?
"Encerrarlo, y no habla."
Um......maybe because the tanks in WWI were primitive compared with the tanks of a century later.
Yeah, maybe that.
After Egyptian anti-tank missiles butchered Israeli tanks in the Yom Kippur War of 1973, there was a big debate as to whether tanks were obsolete, and more than forty years later they are still rolling along.
At least WWI tank crews had no fear of anti-tank weapons, as none existed then. Their biggest problem was mechanical breakdown which occurred every few miles.
"I hear no voice. The dead cannot speak."
Their biggest problem was mechanical breakdown which occurred every few miles.
Even in WWII, more tanks - from every combatant nation - were lost to mechanical failure and ditching (i.e., getting stuck) than were lost in combat.
Or so I've read. I obviously wasn't there, except for at Cambrai.
What? The damn Oo-Jar board SAID I was there!
The Oo-Jar board said that I stepped out of my Whippet tank (nicknamed 'Morlock') and got stomped to death by an enraged mule.
The first sentence of my reply is, as far as I know, FACT.
The rest is just for somebody's entertainment.
- Lord, have mercy on a country boy
Even in WWII, more tanks - from every combatant nation - were lost to mechanical failure and ditching (i.e., getting stuck) than were lost in combat.
I was unaware of that.
"I hear no voice. The dead cannot speak."
The same is pretty much true for the air force. I read recently that nearly as many US pilots (the only nationality accounted for in the article) died in training or non-combat related missions as in combat losses. I would assume that's true for most of the other nations involved.
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