The Tanks at Flers
AN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST USE OF TANKS IN WAR
at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, the Somme.
by Trevor Pidgeon
A set of two case-bound volumes, 230mm x 300mm. Volume 1 contains 247 pages of text and illustrations of which 106 are in black and white, 40 in colour. Volume 2 contains twelve trench maps A2 size, of which one is at 1:20,000 and eleven at 1:10,000 (approx. six inches to a mile).
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The story of the tanks' entry onto the battlefield on 15th September 1916 has never been fully told. A few pages here, a paragraph or two there, have done less than justice to the machines and to the men of the 'Heavy Section, Machine Gun Corps' - the embryonic Tank Corps - who fought and died on the day when tracked armour first appeared in war.
This book amply fills the gap. Original documents, contemporary photographs and personal recollections have gone to make this a unique record of the tanks' entry into history.
Volume 1 traces the inception and construction of the first machines, the selection and training of the crews, their arrival in France and their launch into the bloodbath of the Somme. Individual chapters are then devoted to their work with each division involved in the fight, and each is provided with a Field Guide which takes the reader along almost every yard that the tanks themselves covered. An additional dimension is provided by a series of excellent aerial photographs in colour. Also in colour are photographs of the mechanisms and inner workings of the tanks.
Volume 2 consists of twelve large-scale trench-maps - b/w copies of the 1916 British originals - each in fold-out form, with four-colour annotations giving the location of every site related to the tanks' progress. As a bonus, the British infantry positions in each sector are also shown. Some of the maps include inset maps at an even larger scale, e.g. 56th Division at Leuze Wood and Bouleaux Wood, the Guards at Ginchy, and 47th Division in High Wood.
Copies of The Tanks at Flers may be ordered from any bookshop in the UK quoting ISBN 0952517523, at the price of £35.00. Purchasers in the USA and Canada should contact Articles of War Ltd, 3 Rodeo Road, Silver City, NM 88061-8710, USA, tel: (505) 534-8840, fax: (505) 534-8842, e-mail: warbooks@aol.com where the price is US$ 64.95
Published by: Fairmile Books, PO Box 273, Cobham, KT11 2FL, UK. t.pidg@btinternet.com