In addition, the vehicle design was quite peculiar and had a few elements would seem comical today. It was unreliable: out of 49 tanks that were to mount an offensive against German forces in the Battle of the Somme, only 18 made their way to the battlefield. The tank had modest speed: it could accelerate to a maximum of 6 km/h, which could be compared to that of a walking man. Mark I had two modifications: one with guns and machineguns mounted in sponsons and colloquially known as “Mother”, and the one equipped with a cannon. So, the 1st batch of these heavily armored combat vehicles was developed under the guise of building water tanks and shipped to the front in crates marked “tanks”, and the name stuck. To keep the project a secret, British counterintelligence spread a rumor that the British government had ordered a batch of water tanks. The British wanted these new vehicles to remain a secret from the German Army. On September 15, 1916, the Mark I made its explosive battlefield debut.ġ8 huge steel monsters crawled slowly across German defensive lines, crushing everything in their path and instilling fear in the bravest of soldiers.
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