Landships II

I'm surprised there hasn't been a response to this. It is a considerable achievement.

First the bad stuff: I hadn't heard of Guy Martin, but I'm assured he's a "television personality". I think we could have dispensed with a lot of Guy's grinning and gabbling, of which he does plenty. It dismays me when the show is as much about the presenter as about the subject matter. Do we need a shot of the tattoo on Guy's leg? Does he have to keep interrupting experts to give his potted version of what they've just said? And so on. But . . .

Bilimey. In 5 months they got a German CAD expert to do the plan of the exterior, got JCB to design the structure,and got a military enthusiast to find a suitable vintage engine. They cut the steel sheet, manufactured the track shoes, made the rollers, and so on. A bit of cheating = for example the steel sheet was welded, with cosmetic bolt heads, rather than bolted to angle iron as in the original. Externally, it's absolutely brilliant.

Historically? Well, they got Philippe Gorcynski to explain everything to Gurning Guy, which is a good start, and he was, of course, most authoritative.There were also some nice CGI battlefields. Unfortunately, the programme makers' explanation of Cambrai itself was poor. It was depicted as a "tank battle", with no mention of Hugh Tudor and so on. The shots of tanks were the usual suspects, a mishmash of Mk I to V, genuine and fake, although, surprisingly, the Boirault and the Tsar Tank got a very brief mention. Did we need Guy to go and drive a modern tank? Well, I wouldn't have put it in. And he doesn't seem to know the difference between Remembrance Day and Armistice Day.

Although they didn't get to drive it through Lincoln, they did drive it along a road towards Cambrai itself, on its own tracks.

The whole thing must have cost a packet. I wouldn't like to guess. And I'll be interested to hear what they do with it now.

Here's what the police said about the alleged ban on the vehicle participating in the parade http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2017/11/lincolnshire-police-responds-guy-martin-claims-lincoln-tank-tv-programme/

You might also notice this line from Lincoln's very own local paper: "Guy filmed the tank in Cambrai – where tanks were first used on the battlefields."

I won't comment on the show itself. I was the German modeller who supplied the CAD model at the beginning. It is the one you can see in the thread in the modelling-subforum.

It was a great experience for me, getting a little bit of an insight into the production of such a programme, and of course getting the chance to ride in the tank.

It was also a pleasure to meet Guy Martin, who I did not even know from TV before. He was just as nice as the rest of the crew.

I truly enjoyed the involvement.

That being said, yes, there are a few compromises which had to be made on the realisation of the vehicle, but it is very accurate overall and gives a stunning sight when you stand in front of it or see it moving in person. As far as I know, it will be part of the collection of the Norfolk Tank Museum.

Best regards,
Thorsten

-- Edited by thorst on Wednesday 22nd of November 2017 10:42:52 PM

Like Thorsten, I won't say much about the programme because I was also involved as "Tank Consultant". It was a privilege to take part and I thoroughly enjoyed it, as well as making something that I think has been very educational for a lot of people.

From my point of view, the programme was not about the Battle of Cambrai but rather about the tank itself, about some of the engineering involved and the attempts to recreate a Mark IV today. Consequently I don't feel particularly guilty about the programme failing to give a full account of the battle. I don't think that was ever a realistic possibility.

What I do feel strongly about is what I see as the misplaced vilification of the police and local authorities regarding the abortive parade of the tank in Lincoln. Tanks and people simply don't mix and are best kept well away from each other. One of the Tank Banks crushed two little sisters against a railing in 1918. If that had happened in 2017 there would have been an outcry and anyone interested in tanks would have found the barriers put up and possibly tanks like that in Ashford scrapped in an equally misplaced knee-jerk reaction. What happened was, in my view, for the best.

Gwyn

I believe that the tank will visit Lincoln next year. I feel that parading it around on a flat bed would have been an anti-climax: what would have been the point of putting an engine in it?

Anyway, nuff said from me.

Gwyn

There were many parts of this that were absolutely great. However, Guy Martin's continual and sometimes dopey interjections got on my nerves. I don't like the idea that everything has to be filtered through the presenter, but that's the way it is these days.

The point about Cambrai - and the prog was full of references to it - was that the doco presented it as "Tanks finally got their chance and were used in large numbers", whereas numerous authors point out that it was the all-arms approach that made the tanks' success possible. That's a very important point, and it would only have taken a couple of minutes to explain, perhaps instead of Guy Martin driving through puddles.

CharlieC wrote:

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The documentary is on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fabo4JM7qVo

Charlie

 

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 It was removed by the user..
Ist there any possibility for users abroad to view the documentation?

Thanks

 

Oliver

Ok, then I'll wait for it...

A pity, but I think it will come round youtube some time, or there might be a stream on an official website which is also capable for foreign countries..

Thanks

Oliver