In mid September 1918 the tank featured in War Loan rallies in Adelaide, South Australia. The tank's crew was made up of eight men of the Permanent Military Forces, all formally of the Australian Imperial Force, led by Captain N L Brown. The tank was used as a propaganda tool and toured to raise money for the war effort. Head to The Challenger’s Facebook page for a regular dose of epic tank videos and stories.In June 1918 this newly manufactured Mark IV Female tank arrived in Australia, from Glasgow. Fascines are still used by tanks today, although with different materials, such as plastic drainpipes. With a number of tanks doing this, they could fill the trenches and allow the vehicles to cross. As they reached the German trenches, the securing straps were released by the crew inside the tank, and the fascines rolled into the trenches. Rails were fitted to the Mark IV tanks and the fascines were loaded on top. When the British employed this technique during the First World War, these bundles were referred to as fascines. Engineers looked to medieval knights crossing moats or defensive ditches-similar to trenches-and found they used bundles of tree branches bound together to cross these enemy fortifications. In fact, the Mark IV (8 m) was almost 2 meters shorter than the Mark I (9.9 m).įuture developments for the tanks were inspired by glimpses into the past. The obvious solution for the British would have been to lengthen their tanks, but instead, they chose to shorten them.
Following engagements with Mark I tanks in 1916, they widened their trenches to inhibit the machined advances. However, despite the tank’s offensive potential when partnered with other forces, Germany developed a novel way to counter the threat.
In early trench warfare, enemy defenses, such as barbed wire and other obstacles, were easily overcome by the steel treads of the tanks.
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