d in
this sector which had been shelling the British positions for several
days, but during this battle for some reason, perhaps lack of
ammunition, they played an unimportant part, and were far outclassed
by the British artillery.

CHAPTER V

THE "TANKS"--BRITISH CAPTURE MARTINPUICH

It was in this battle that the British for the first time introduced a
new type of armored cars which proved veritable fortresses on wheels,
and came to be popularly known as "tanks." These destructive engines
of warfare were from twenty to forty feet long and were painted a dull
drab, or some unassuming color calculated to blend with the tones of
the landscape. In a dim light they suggested the giant slugs of a
prehistoric age. Sliding along the ground on caterpillar wheels, with
armored cheeks on each side of the head, above which guns stuck out
like the stalked eyes of land crabs, their first appearance in this
sector may well have created consternation among the German troops who
saw them for the first time. There was something uncanny about these
steel-scaled monsters that slid over the ground as it were on their
stomachs, balanced by a flimsy tail supported on two wheels. Weighing
many tons, when the "tank" came to an obstacle, such as a house or
wall, it rammed the obstruction with its full weight, and then
climbing over the debris lumbered on its way. Through vast craters and
muddy shell holes and over trenches the monsters waddled along,
scattering death and destruction as they advanced. The German
soldiers, after the first consternation caused by the appearance of
these war engines in the field, bravely attacked them; swarming over
the sides of the "tanks" and seeking to batter in the steel scales and
armored plates and to silence the guns that spouted fire from the
head, but the daring efforts were useless and caused many casualties.
Machine-gun fire was also ineffectual. They could only be disabled by
a direct hit from a large gun. It is said that the Germans voiced
their disgust for this kind of warfare, and protested that the British
were not fighting fair!

At first the Germans thought they could rush a "tank" as they would a
fort, and lost heavily in such futile attacks; they could make no
impression on the steel "hide" of the monsters. Once astride a trench,
the guns of the tank could rake right and left, mowing down the
defenders whose volleys pattered harmlessly on the steel plates of the
war engine.

A y