THE JUGGERNAUT CAR OF BATTLE
A Weird-looking Object Makes Its First Appearance Upon the
Battlefield--And Surprises Us Almost as Much as It Surprised
Fritz--A Death-dealing Monster that Did the Most Marvellous
Things--And Left the Ground Strewn with Corpses--Realism of
the Tank Pictures.
What in the world was it?
As we stood there peering at the thing, we forgot for the moment that
our heads were well above the parapet. We were too fascinated by the
movements of the weird-looking object to bother about such a trifle as
that! And the Bosche trenches were only two hundred yards away! For the
life of me I could not take my eyes off it. The thing--I really don't
know how else to describe it--ambled forward, with slow, jerky,
uncertain movements. The sight of it was weird enough in all conscience.
At one moment its nose disappeared, then with a slide and an upward
glide it climbed to the other side of a deep shell crater which lay in
its path. I stood amazed and watched its antics. I forgot all about my
camera, and my desire to obtain a picture of this weird and terrifying
engine of destruction. Like everyone else, its unexpected appearance on
the scene first surprised and then held me under its strange influence.
So that was the "Hush! hush!"--the Juggernaut Car of Battle. One of the
Tanks, the secret of whose appearance, and indeed of whose very
existence, had been guarded more carefully than all the treasures of the
Indies.
Truly Bosche was in for a big surprise.
[Illustration]
All this time I had scarce taken my eyes off the ugly-looking monster.
It waddled, it ambled, it jolted, it rolled, it--well it did everything
in turn and nothing long--or wrong. And most remarkable of all, this
weird-looking creature with a metal hide performed tricks which almost
made one doubt the evidence of one's senses. Big, and ugly, and awkward
as it was, clumsy as its movements appeared to be, the thing seemed
imbued with life, and possessed of the most uncanny sort of intelligence
and understanding. It came to a crater. Down went its nose; a slight
dip, and a clinging, crawling motion, and it came up merrily on the
other side. And all the time as it slowly advanced, it breathed and
belched forth tongues of flame; its nostrils seemed to breathe death
and destruction, and the Huns, terrified by its appearance, were mown
down like corn falling to the reaper's sickle.
Presently it stopped. The humming ceased. The spell was broken. We
looked at one another, and then we laughed. How we laughed! Officers and
men were doubled up with mirth as they watched the acrobatic antics of
this mechanical marvel--this Wellsian wonder.
Now the metal monster was on the move again. It was advancing on the
German position. The Bosche machine-guns got busy and poured a very hail
of shells and bullets upon the oncoming death-dealer. It made no
difference. The Tank pursued its way, unperturbed by all the racket of
the exploding metal on its sides. Shells seemed to glide off it quite
harmlessly. Bullets had no effect upon this extraordinary apparition.
Fritz must have thought the devil himself had broken loose from hell and
was advancing to devour him. The Huns scurried to their funk-holes and
craters, their hiding-places, and their trenches like so many rabbits.
Still the Tank advanced, pausing now and then, astride a particularly
wide crater, and sweeping the surrounding pit-scarred ground with its
machine-guns. Up popped a German head. Zip went a bullet; and down went
the head for the last time. How many Germans were crushed in their holes
in that first advance goodness only knows.
Presently the monster stopped again. There was a pause. Nothing
happened. A minute--two minutes went by. Still nothing happened. The
Germans began to regain their courage. Heads popped up all over the
place. Enemy troops began to edge nearer and nearer to it, in spite of
the hail of bullets from our trenches. Then they began to swarm round
the strange creature the like of which they had never seen before. To
do them justice, these Germans showed exceptional courage in the face of
unknown and altogether exceptional danger.
Mr. Tank meanwhile was not a bit disconcerted by their attentions, and
continued to breathe forth flames of fire, which did great havoc in the
ranks of the sightseers. But once their curiosity was satisfied the Huns
did their level best to damage the brute. They fired at it; they
bombarded it; they shelled it; they clambered over it. All to no
purpose. Presently that ominous humming, snorting sound reached us
again, and the monster began to move away. Where it had stood the ground
was strewn with the dead bodies of German soldiers, and I was told
afterwards that over three hundred corpses were counted to the credit of
the first Tank that ever crossed "No Man's Land."
Meanwhile our boys had been busy. Following in the wake of the Tank,
they had cleaned up quite a lot of ground, and all the time, with my
camera on them, I had secured a series of fine pictures.
I don't think I ever laughed so heartily at anything as I did on the
first day that I saw the Tanks in action, and officers and men all agree
that they never saw a funnier sight in all their lives. But whilst they
amused us they put the fear of the devil into Fritz, and whole parties
of men ran forward, hands up, waving their handkerchiefs, and shouting
"Kamerad," and gave themselves up as willing prisoners in our hands.
The Tanks have been one of the big surprises and big successes of the
war.