Tanks In The Great War, 1914-1918 [Illustrated Edition] by Fuller DSO Major-General J.F.C

Author:Fuller DSO, Major-General J.F.C. [Fuller DSO, Major-General J.F.C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Verdun Press
Published: 2014-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

In July 1918 the preparations set on foot to double the Tank Corps for 1919 threw a great deal of work on to the Training Centre. Thirteen British, three Canadian, and one New Zealand Battalion were to be raised, as well as a number of subsidiary units. In August, in spite of shortage of infantry reinforcements, an allotment, given precedence over all the other arms, of 4,500 men, was made to the Tank Corps Training Centre, so that the raising of the above new units might forthwith begin; besides this, nearly half a million pounds worth of buildings were sanctioned without estimates being called for, so important was it now considered that not a day should be lost in the Tank Corps preparations for 1919.

By the date of the armistice about half the building programme was finished, and eight British and one Canadian battalion had been raised.

The following is a summary of the total number of tank units and reinforcements raised and trained at the Training Centre between November 1916 and November 1918.

British Tank Battalions—22 (6th to 26th).

Canadian Tank Battalions—1 (1st Canadian Tank Battalion).

American Tank Battalions—3 (301st, 302nd, and 303rd).

Gun Carrier Companies—2 (1st and 2nd).

Tank Supply Companies—6 (1st to 5th).

Tank Advanced Workshops—2 (Nos. 4 and 5).

Tank Salvage Companies—1 (No. 3).

American Tank Salvage Companies—2 (306th and 317th).

Various Headquarters— 3

Total Tank Units raised—41

The whole of the above units, with the exception of eight British and one Canadian Battalion, were sent out to France prior to the armistice.

In all, some 21,000 officers and men passed through the Training Centre, 14,000 in formed units, and 7,000 as reinforcements; besides these, 950 cadets were trained. In October 1918 the Training Centre, which from one camp at Bovington had grown to include Worgret, Lulworth, and Swanage Camps, had on its strength in all ranks and service approximately 16,000 men.

The time required wherein to raise and train a new Tank Battalion averaged four months. The system of instruction adopted from November 1916 onwards was to start with a very thorough individual training and then to pass the recruits through the various schools, leaving collective and tactical training to be carried out in France.

Recreational training played an important part in the above instruction, and the Training Centre gained a considerable reputation in the Southern Command for efficiency in sports and games.

In the expansion which commenced on September 1, 1918, 30 per cent. of the personnel for each new unit was sent to the Training Centre from the trained Tank Corps personnel in France, and this trained personnel, together with the increased numbers of training tanks and other improved facilities, would have gone far to effect a more efficient and rapid training of the units, before their departure overseas, than heretofore.

Besides raising and training new units and reinforcements the Tank Corps Training ()entre was intimately connected with much of the experimental work, armament design, and the fittings of all types of tanks from the introduction of the Mark V and Medium “A” tanks onwards. The following were the main improvements initiated.

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