I am currently reading this book which is a Holmes / Watson story set during the late summer 1916 at the tank training ground at Elveden Hall near Thetford aerodrome. I can see that the "tank" aspects appear about correct but there are various aspects which I cannot seem to correlate with any historical reference on the Net or in my own library : fantasies ?
- voices from inside a pontoon-less Mk1 are projected far away with a kind of ventriloquist effect (in the novel this is indicated as giving to the local villagers the impression the Army is testing a gimmick to make soldiers invisible !)
- there is a French attaché to the Landship Comittee called "Levass" (distorsion of Levassor???)
- mention is made of an Admiral Hersch of German naval intelligence which Google do not know
- same about a German women spy unit called Sie Wolfe
- "taten statt worte Zähne statt Tränen" is quoted in frontispice as the motto of the "Sie Wölfe special naval unit 1916-7"
So basically : has anyone more knowledgeable than I am read this book to tell me what's true and what's fantasy in this novel ?