Delville Wood

The world's first tank to engage in war was D1, the first tank of D Company of the so-called Heavy Section of the Machine Gun Corps (thus named in order to disguise the unit's true nature). Moving slowly and alone, it left its start point south-east of Delville Wood at 5.15 a.m. on 15 September 1916. Its commander, Capt Harold William Mortimore, had orders to attack the nearby 'Brewery' Salient and clear the German trenches there (Hop, Ale, Beer, Lager, etc) before the main attack began.

In this he succeeded but he then advanced too far and strayed into the British barrage, where a shell put his machine out of action. But Mortimore's place in history is secure, for every tank that has seen action anywhere in the world - British, American, French, German, Russian or any other - must in a sense look to Mortimore's D1 as its direct forebear.

Flers

The central target of the British attack in the Somme sector on 15 September 1916 was the village of Flers. Of the ten tanks ordered forward to support 41st Division's assault, only four succeeded in reaching its defences. One of these, D17, christened Dinnaken by its Scottish commander  Lt Stuart Hastie, was seen by an observer of the Royal Flying Corps who then sent back the famous message: "A tank is walking down the High Street of Flers with the British Army cheering behind".

The age of mechanised armour had dawned. This map shows the routes of the tanks attacking each side of the village and through its centre. The coordinates include those reported by the RFC.

Courcelette

The 36 tanks supporting the British attack on 15 September 1916 were too few in number to be spread other than thinly along the six-mile front, but on the extreme left flank the 2nd Canadian Division, targeted against Germans defending a large beet-processing plant, the Sugar Factory, found the tanks' presence there of the greatest value.

In particular, C5 Crème de Menthe and C6 Cordon Rouge (C Company's machines here were all named after French drinks) smashed their way through the outer defences and destroyed the emplacements found inside. The main defence-work protecting Courcelette thus now lay open. This map shows some of the Canadian infantry positions at the start of the attack.