Tanks at the Somme

The British have a new secret weapon. Is the tank what the Allies need to win the war?

In August, the New Zealand Division prepares for its first major battle on the Western Front. Hopes for victory are high as tanks will be used for the first time.

In the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on the Somme (15–22 September), tanks are supposed to crush paths through the barbed wire, and destroy German machine-gun nests and other strongpoints. But the tanks are incredibly slow, mechanically unreliable, and too few in number. The New Zealanders are given just four, and only one is still running by day’s end.

The villages of Flers and Courcelette are eventually captured, among other small victories over the next eight weeks. But casualties are high. Artillery bombardments are especially deadly, and over 8000 men are lost – almost as many as in the entire eight-month Gallipoli Campaign.