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Landships II -> Landships WW1 Forum -> Modelling -> Cambrai 1917 - 1/6 Mark IV
Post Info TOPIC: Cambrai 1917 - 1/6 Mark IV
siquisiri


Corporal

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Cambrai 1917 - 1/6 Mark IV
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"THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI, 1917"

After the prolonged fighting on the Ypres salient in the fall of 1917, 3rd Armies Gen. Julian Byng would champion a visionary plan outlined by Tank Corps officer Col. JFC Fuller.    
The Battle of Cambrai, launched on November 20 1917, heralded the first time tanks used in masse would play a significant role in warfare. A new era in military history had begun.
At 0600 on the morning of November 20,1917 378 Mark IV tanks of the Tank Corps under Brigadier General Hugh Elles waited with their engines running for the battle to begin. One of these tanks was "Hilda", part of H batallion located at the center of the line.
   

5 minutes before the battle was to begin, The Tank Corps commander Brigadier General Hugh Elles, arrived at the front line and informed one of the company H commanders , Major Gerald Huntbach, he would personally lead the battle riding in the front row tank "Hilda." He carried with him the brown , red, and green flag of the Tank Corps Flag wrapped around his ash walking stick. Huntbach would inform a surprised 2nd Lt. Leach and the crew of "Hilda" that they were to take the Tank Corps Commander into action with them.

As the crew of Hilda readied for action, Elles popped his head and shoulders through the manhole on the roof of the tank holding the tank corps flag. He would remain in that position, leading the attack, as the tanks rolled into action. 

 
The brown, red, and green horizontal stripes signifying, 'Through mud and blood to the Green fields Beyond' 

At ten past six, "Hilda" and all the front tanks along the line began to move forward crossing into No Man's Land. The Battle of Cambrai had begun.


Companeros,

First off, a special thanks to Gerald "Rhomboid" Moore for his invaluable help with this project. It is greatlly appreciated.
I have been trying to build a Mark IV for some time. After about a year  of putting it off. (Its a HUGE project, literally) I decided this year to build a a WWI dio for my world history classes I teach and decided to jump headfirst into the project. Here are the details:
- The tank is entirelly made of school presentation board cardboard.
- 800+ 7mm google eyes
- hobby foam for the tracks
- Thin balsa wood was used for the rails and unditching posts
- The guns were made from PVC pipe and thin hobby styrene tubes.
- Bamboo was used to create the fascine.

I hope you enjoy. 

saludos,
siquisiri



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Centurion


Legend

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You have been busy. Where did the figures come from? Are they scratch  built or converted?. I like the idea of photoing in sepia.

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siquisiri


Corporal

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C,
The figures are from 1/6 companies Dragon, BBI, SST, or DID.The base uniform I used was the Sideshow WWI Infantry uniform. The rest of the uniforms are HEAVILLY modified or hand made
saludos
siquisiri



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Kaiser


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Considering the materials you've used - it's impressive work! I can barely imagine the size of your MK IV, being a braille-scaler myself.smile

Questions;
The brown, red, green flag sounds interesting. Is it based on historical references?
The man leading the tank with his stick, are there any accounts of that happening too?

I'm just curious, since I wish to do something similar myself one day.

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Centurion


Legend

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Kaiser wrote:

The man leading the tank with his stick, are there any accounts of that happening too?

It was a fairly common practice for a tank officer to lead his tank on the approach to the final jumping off point on foot as this was often done at night and the white tapes laid down for guidance were dificult to see (or indeed could sometimes be missing). In many cases the officer would have recconoitered the route the day before. (A lesson learnt from Flers where this was not done) Carrying a stick into battle had long been a tradition of junior infantry officers (I believe it dates from the decline of the sword, originally a subalten would 'dress' the line of muskets, ensuring that they were properly aligned, by sighting down the sword  and later stick held out at arms length, this is also the origin of a sergeant's drill stick). By WW1 the officer's stick was a tenaciously held tradition (and one held in the face of  great danger as it marked the officer out as a target of choice for the enemy) but this died out  (along with many of those who insisted on clinging to it) sometime in 1917. By the time of the great tank assaults of 1918 (Amiens etc) much greater atention was being paid to marking the approach, providing guides  etc so that the nead for the tank commander to expose himself in this way was much less.

-- Edited by Centurion at 12:20, 2007-03-31

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Kaiser


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That settles it - now I know what my next WW1 vignette will be! Thank's Centurion!

Modelling WW1 is so very interesting for this reason, being a war where old traditions clashed with 20th century war machines.

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philthydirtyanimal


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This is still an amazing piece of work.

Siquisiri, if you are still here, can I gather this information and the photos up and use them in an article on the main site, please?

If Siquisiri is not here any more, can anyone who knows him contact him? Or can someone advise on any potential copyright issue, please?

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Rectalgia


Legend

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Kaiser wrote:

...Questions;
The brown, red, green flag sounds interesting. Is it based on historical references?
...

See http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-armour/allied/ww1.htm, General Elles' original hand made Battle Flag is shown there, this is reflected in the Flag of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment and no doubt echoed in various commonwealth countries too - such as the RAAC's 1st Armoured Regiment colour patch - http://www.australian-armour.com/1ARNEW.html (scroll down, see RH side).

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philthydirtyanimal


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The flag is explained properly in Tank Warfare by Frank Mitchell, 1933. It symbolises, "From Mud, Through Blood to the Green Fields Beyond" which is now the unofficial motto of the RTR, but back then may well have been Hugh Elles idea for the official motto.

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Rectalgia


Legend

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RTR traditions are outlined in http://www.greenflash.org.uk/traditions/index.html FWIW. Colonel Fuller is credited with the official motto and I have seen him also credited with the "From mud, through blood to the green fields beyond" interpretation of the colours. The myth is that Maj Gen Elles simply purchased what silk was available in three colours in suitable lengths but of course all of that might be be totally wrong. But ... nothing wrong with a good myth I always say - more memorable than the truth, and less mutable.

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