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00:00France, 1916.
00:05A terrifying new killing machine appears on the World War I battlefield.
00:10The tank, on a mission to crush German defenses and end two years of bloody trench warfare.
00:17The advent of tanks changes warfare completely. It will never be the same again.
00:21The rolling 28-ton monsters horrify the Germans and send panic through the lines.
00:26These guys have no idea what's coming towards them.
00:29None of these guys had ever seen a machine like a tank.
00:36The Germans respond with ferocious firepower.
00:41You're sitting in a metal coffin that will turn into an inferno in seconds.
00:46And finally field lethal tanks of their own.
00:49Machine gun bullets are smashing against the tank and that noise is death.
00:54The face of modern warfare changes forever.
00:57And the stage is set for history's first great tank battle.
01:24The tank, undisputed king of the battlefield.
01:32Through the 20th century they had been key to modern mobile warfare.
01:36The deciding factor in many of history's greatest battles.
01:39The tank's journey began almost a century ago, during the desperate fighting of World War I.
01:54In 1916, the Great War is a stalemate. We've got trench warfare.
02:09There's a line of trenches with the British and the French on one side, then the Germans on the other.
02:16The result? A 700-kilometer network of trenches, barbed wire and machine guns, cutting a deadly swath through Belgium and France.
02:25This is the Western Front.
02:27But the technology of 1916 is based on infantry, which are vulnerable to machine guns.
02:42And, of course, always held up by trenches and barbed wire.
02:47So even at the very beginning of the war, people are aware that there must be a way of overcoming barbed wire, trenches, machine guns.
03:03The British believe the solution can be found in tracked vehicles.
03:08But the idea of a mobile weapon on the battlefield has been around for ages.
03:14From Hannibal's war elephants, to the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.
03:21And right up to the science fiction ironclads of H.G. Wells.
03:28The British launch a top secret weapons program, calling it the Tank Project, to trick German spies into believing their water carriers.
03:35The reality is lethally different.
03:39These are mobile killing machines.
03:42What makes the tank so important in the First World War is that for the very first time, you get the combination of thin armor plate, a power source, and the technology of the track.
03:56On January 29th, 1916, the British unveil history's first tank, the Mark I.
04:02Outfitted with two enormous 20-meter-long tracks, the Mark I is designed to span even the widest of trenches and can be armed with either two six-pounder naval guns or four deadly Vickers machine guns.
04:19Wheels at the back help keep it stable.
04:21But it's slow, cumbersome, and requires a large crew to take it into battle.
04:30There would normally be eight men in one of these tanks.
04:34Four of them are dealing with the guns.
04:36The rest of the crew, the other four men, are all involved in driving.
04:40Now this tank is virtually identical inside to the tanks that first went into action on the Somme in September 1916.
04:48The Battle of the Somme, fought over five months in 1916, was British Commander Douglas Haig's attempt to end the two-year stalemate.
05:04By September, it has already cost the Allies over 300,000 casualties.
05:10Desperate to stop the carnage, Haig turns to his new weapon.
05:13And the decision was taken, use the tanks as soon as they were available.
05:18They'll go into battle north of the Somme River.
05:21For his attack, Haig has amassed 200,000 men.
05:26More than 700 artillery pieces.
05:30And 49 of his brand new tanks.
05:36And they're up against more than 100,000 German soldiers, dug in an 11-kilometer front.
05:41But before Haig can launch his main attack, he must first eliminate a threat to his flank by clearing the Germans from Delville Wood.
05:50And for the first time in the history of warfare, tanks will lead the attack.
05:54This is Delville Wood. This is the start line of the attack by three tanks of D Company in the first ever tank attack on the morning of the 15th of September 1916.
06:07But when the tanks were here, their crews wouldn't have seen nice, pretty countryside.
06:12They would have seen shell holes, splintered trees. It would have been hell on earth.
06:17They even called it Devil's Wood.
06:23Three tanks from D Company move out into the pre-dawn darkness.
06:28The crews trusting their lives to these unproven new weapons.
06:32In a matter of moments, one tank breaks down and is unable to continue.
06:43Another gets stuck on uneven ground.
06:47But one tank, nicknamed Daredevil by its commander Captain Harold Mortimer, continues the attack.
06:53On that morning, the whole thing seemed so unreal.
06:57I didn't think my tank would be the first in the world to fire a shot in anger.
07:02I saw lots of flashes coming from the edge of the woods.
07:10I gave the order to open fire with one of the Six Pounders.
07:14I managed to get astride one of the trenches, but we got a direct hit.
07:23They broke my track.
07:26All three tanks are lost, but the infantry take Delville Wood, clearing the way for Haig's main attack.
07:34Which calls for 200,000 Allied troops to advance along an 11-kilometer front.
07:39Their objective? The fortified villages of Courselet, Morval and Fleur.
07:48And for the first time, tanks will lead a mass infantry attack.
07:52Their mission? Crush the barbed wire and suppress machine gun fire,
07:57allowing the infantry to advance and storm the German trenches.
08:01This is where the battle begins.
08:03Early in the morning of the 15th of September, down this road here come the tanks,
08:06moving towards the village.
08:09Already assembled are all of 41st Division.
08:12The infantry waiting to go forward with their tanks leading.
08:22Essentially, everything is heading towards that village.
08:26That down there is the objective, the first tank attack.
08:29After a massive artillery barrage, the tanks crawl slowly towards German lines in small groups.
08:38Inside the tank now, things are really unpleasant.
08:43Not only do we have this tremendous amount of noise roaring off the engine, which is right in the middle,
08:48these exhaust stacks carrying the fuse out through the top of the tank will now be so hot you won't be able to touch them.
08:55In fact, they'll start glowing pink after a while in the dark, and you'll just feel the heat radiating off them onto your skin.
09:02Now we're getting closer to the firing line.
09:06The ground's getting rougher. The tank's slowing down.
09:12Lieutenant Basil Henriques' tank approaches No Man's Land, the point of no return.
09:19We got our first look at what looked like impossible ground.
09:24Hardly a yard was not a shell crater.
09:26It was like a rough sea, made of holes.
09:36After a hundred yards, George stopped with engine trouble.
09:40This time, for good.
09:45The majority of the tanks actually break down.
09:48That they stall, that they run into mechanical problems,
09:51things simply break into the tank, and they stop.
09:53Down one very steep incline, something happened to Archie's car.
10:02He reported that he was out of action, and that I was to go on alone.
10:11Of the original tank force, only nine remain operational.
10:16With them is Lieutenant Arthur Arnold, and his tank nicknamed Dracula.
10:22The going was now simply one succession of shell craters.
10:25It was thrilling the way the tank would go down into a crater, stick her tracks into the opposite wall, and then steadily climb out.
10:33So you're in a dimly lit compartment.
10:38You've then got the situation where it's bucking up and down.
10:40Unless you hold onto things, then actually you're going to fall over, and things are moving in there.
10:45Gunner Alfred Reifer is in a D Company tank, which crawls closer to the German trenches, and spots serious trouble.
10:54A German observation balloon.
10:58It can quickly call in a deadly artillery attack, and halt the advancing tanks and infantry.
11:03It must be destroyed immediately.
11:06Percy Bolt excitedly told me he was going to fire at a German observation balloon.
11:10Several rounds are fired, and Bolt claimed a direct hit.
11:27A handful of tanks breach no man's land, and bear down on the German front line, where hundreds of defenders are shocked to see the approaching metal monsters.
11:36In 1916, the Germans had basically no idea that the tank was in development.
11:41So they're sitting there and staring out, and then the first thing they realized was the sound.
11:48Because tanks are loud. These guys had no idea what's coming towards them.
11:52None of these guys had ever seen a machine like a tank. Most of them hadn't even seen a car.
12:02They started firing too, with machine guns and rifles.
12:04The world's first tanks are now almost on top of the German lines, and are about to face their biggest battlefield test.
12:14By now, machine gun bullets are smashing against the tank.
12:18It's like being in a hailstorm in a tin box. And that noise is death.
12:22That noise is death.
12:38September 15th, 1916. The first tank attack in history is underway.
12:43Here at the bloody Battle of the Somme, the British hope the new armoured weapons will crush German defences, and help to end two years of trench warfare.
12:52Mechanical problems and rough terrain stop most of the tanks in their tracks.
12:57But some make it across no man's land, and grind slowly forward into German fire.
13:11By now, machine gun bullets are smashing against the tank.
13:16And that noise is death.
13:18As we approached, they let fire at us with might and name. Then a smash against my flap caused the splinters to come in, and the blood to pour down my face.
13:29Dracula reached the line first. A row of German heads appeared above the parapet, and looked in some amazement at what was approaching out of the murve of the bombardment.
13:40In 1916, the Germans had basically no idea that the tank was in development. These guys had no idea what was coming towards them. None of these guys had ever seen a machine like a tank.
13:55One stared and stared and stared, as if one had lost the power of one's limbs. The big monsters approached us slowly, but always advancing. Someone shouted, the devil is coming.
14:08They started firing too, with machine guns and rifles.
14:17Both didn't do any good.
14:19Damn, this fire-spitting thing crosses over shell holes, and is coming steadily and surely towards us.
14:27The fear of being overruled.
14:30It's a very deep fear. Everybody has been squashed in the ground.
14:33So, the German soldiers developed something. It's called German Panzerangst. That's tank-film.
14:42Now a hail of machine gun bullets passes over us.
14:47Out, out, out. Monsters are coming.
14:50We were advancing. The tank was on top of the trench, and there we paused.
15:04Whilst the thickest guns rigged the enemy to port and start.
15:07Then on we went again.
15:10One of the remaining tanks approaches its final objective at the centre of the German defensive line.
15:20The village of Fleur.
15:24We came into the village, which was a heap of rubble with a few skeletons of houses still standing.
15:29There was hell outside all right.
15:43Bolt spotted a couple of German machine gunners who were firing at us.
15:47Four ramps from the six-pounder put them out of action.
15:53Four ramps from the six-pounder put them out of action.
15:56The village of Fleur has been liberated.
16:16A British spotter plane observes tank D-17 moving down the main street.
16:21The scene in flares was without precedent.
16:23Firing as it went, the tank lurched up the main street, followed by parties of cheering infantry.
16:30The news spreads quickly.
16:32Back home, the British, eager for any good news from the front, celebrate their new lethal weapon.
16:40This is the high-water mark in the Battle of Fleur.
16:43Because it's on this spot that the tank D-17 turns around, stops, the infantry come up,
16:49and it becomes the point at which the battle ends.
16:54Is it a total success?
16:55Well, within four days, Hague, General Hague, ordered a thousand tanks.
17:01As far as he's concerned, it's definitely proved a point.
17:04Tanks have a role in modern warfare.
17:06Seven months later, in April of 1917, Hague sends his lethal armored weapons into action near Arras.
17:18His plan, exploit what is considered the weak point in the German line,
17:23attacking the small village of Mont-Chilepeu with a massive strike of artillery, infantry, and tanks.
17:32Dawn, April 11th, 1917.
17:35The attack is set to begin at 5 a.m., but it's snowing and bitterly cold.
17:41Allied commanders order a two-hour delay, hoping the weather will clear.
17:44They notify the artillery and infantry, but nobody thinks to tell the tanks.
17:50And promptly at 5, three tanks move out, all alone.
17:55Without knowing it, these tanks are pioneering a new armored tactic.
18:00The surprise attack, unheralded by a warning artillery barrage.
18:04With them is driver Jack Harris.
18:06It seemed odd to be advancing without the usual artillery barrage.
18:12But our orders were clear to advance at 5 a.m. and capture Mont-Chilepeu.
18:17Throughout the Great War, artillery is seen as being critical to prepare the way for the attack.
18:22It breaks up the enemy defenses, it cuts the wire, it may kill a few Germans.
18:27But it also warns them of what's happening.
18:29At Mont-Chilepeu in 1917, when there is no warning barrage,
18:32then the Germans are caught by surprise because the tanks simply appear on that position.
18:39We stare aghast as slowly a tank crept towards us, and we open fire.
18:48We hope the right ditch at the side of the road would stop it.
18:55But it doesn't, and now the tanks have Mont-Chilepeu at their mercy.
18:59We just drove straight down the main street, while the crew fired at everything inside.
19:16Every gun in the tank was firing.
19:18I could see lots of jerrys getting out of the place as fast as they could.
19:22The tank crew opened up with a murderous machine gun fire.
19:25Those that were not killed instantly screamed as they lay their wounded.
19:28We got clear through to the other side of the village.
19:31And when we looked back, we saw that Jerry had tumbled to the fact that we didn't have any infantry with us.
19:38And I could see German soldiers popping up out of cellars and dugouts, and reoccupying the positions we'd just cleared.
19:39The officer said, looks like we've got to capture it all over again.
19:41The officer said, looks like we've got to capture it all over again.
19:44We got clear through to the other side of the village.
19:47And when we looked back, we saw that Jerry had tumbled to the fact that we didn't have any infantry with us.
19:52And I could see German soldiers popping up out of cellars and dugouts, and reoccupying the positions we'd just cleared.
20:02The officer said, looks like we've got to capture it all over again.
20:08So we did.
20:10But this time, they will not have the element of surprise.
20:18The tanks were not well armored on the top because the main armor had to be in the front.
20:23And if you throw grenades, which the Germans have in abundance, onto the roof, that may well rupt the fuel tank.
20:40And the explosion will go in every way, so down also, and kill hopefully the crew.
20:47You know that with the fuel tanks inside the vehicle in which you're sitting, then you're sitting in a metal coffin that will turn into an inferno in seconds.
21:05One tank takes a direct hit, and the remaining two keep moving, right into a wall of armor-piercing bullets.
21:12If you can imagine being inside an armored vehicle when you're hit by armor-piercing ammunition.
21:20So it'll zip around the tank, bouncing off things.
21:23And if it hits a person, you can work out what that'll do.
21:26If it bursts a fuel line or it hits ammunition, then it'll turn it into a funeral pyre in a few seconds.
21:31German gunners destroy the second tank, and heavily damage the third, driven by Lieutenant Jack Harris.
21:52I managed to get the old bus out of that corner. By that time, we were all wounded. I got a bullet in the side of the neck. Bit of a bloody mess. It came in through the gun mountain.
22:03Harris has almost made it out of the town and to safety.
22:15At 7 a.m., Allied artillery opens up on Morshi Le Proulx, unaware that their own tanks are already in the town.
22:22And things get even worse for Harris and his crew. As a British shell destroys their tank. Only Jack Harris survives.
22:34The tank attacks on Morshi Le Proulx fail, but succeed in teaching the tank commanders the value of tactical surprise.
22:41And it will be the element of surprise that the Allies will employ in their coming winter offensive.
22:48The Battle of Cambrai in November 1917 is a completely new way of using tanks.
22:53Now we're actually using them en masse, over 500 of them.
22:57The stage is now set for what will become the first massed armoured attack in history.
23:03November 1917. British tanks have been on the World War I battlefield in small numbers for more than a year, proving they have a role in modern warfare.
23:26Now, Allied commanders raise the stakes drastically.
23:29They send not dozens, but hundreds of tanks to the Western Front, all of them manned by history's first specially trained tank corps.
23:37The era of the massed tank attack is about to begin.
23:41The motto of the British Tank Corps is, through the mud and the blood to the green fields beyond.
23:46And that was what they'd been looked for throughout the Great War, and that was what they hoped to achieve.
23:52With the new tank corps, the Allies hope to punch holes through the Hindenburg Line.
23:56And capture the strategically important city of Cambrai.
24:03The Germans have made this part of the line one of the most heavily fortified sectors on the Western Front.
24:09There are more than 250,000 troops, dozens of machine gun posts, a maze of barbed wire, and for the first time, specific countermeasures against the tanks.
24:18One of the great antidotes to the tanks was the German Hindenburg Line, with trenches, say, 16 feet wide.
24:28And that was done on purpose, to defeat the tanks one great ability to cross trenches.
24:33Now we're actually using them en masse, over 500 of them.
24:38We're now using the Mark IV tanks, which are much, much better.
24:42The Mark IVs have thicker armour, making them less vulnerable to machine gun fire.
24:50November 20th, 200,000 troops and almost 500 tanks are poised for an all-out strike on the Hindenburg Line.
24:58And the first massed tank attack in history begins.
25:06Advancing with them is Major William Watson.
25:09To right of me and to left of me, in the dim light, were tanks.
25:13Tanks lined up in front of the wire, tanks swinging into position.
25:17There was one tank to every 30 yards of front.
25:19When the guns began, the tanks were moving over the crest of the hip.
25:27The enemy trenches were already enveloped in thick smoke.
25:31The German defenders are taken by surprise.
25:35All hell broke loose.
25:36I could see the trench lit up by a sea of flame caused by the incessant exploding shells.
25:41The sentries suddenly made an extraordinary remark.
25:49Herr Leutnant, something four-cornered is coming.
25:53Then we saw a whole chain of these steel monsters advancing towards our trenches.
25:59I clung onto the hope that the trench would be wide enough to present the tanks with an impassable obstacle.
26:05It's also realized that some of the tanks need to be equipped with fascines or very big bundles of brushwood.
26:13And these are put on the nose of the tank.
26:14The intention is they can drop them into the very deep German trenches.
26:19The Hindenburg Line has enormously deep trenches.
26:21Without them, they'll become bogged.
26:22They had a system to go over trenches while one tank was dropping wood in the trenches, covering the second tank.
26:37The second tank was going over the trench, and that was like a murderous belay rolling towards them.
26:42So the mass attack of the British tanks was very successful.
26:45The tanks made rapid progress, crossing the trench to our left and right, maintaining heavy fire against the trench.
26:55We were utterly defenseless in the face of these monsters.
26:59This was no longer a battle. This was a massacre.
27:02The Germans facing the mass attack at Cambrai were facing a new dimension of tank attacks, and they had no technical and psychological instruments to cope with it.
27:17They were completely overwhelmed on a military and a psychological base.
27:20It looks like an overwhelming victory, but the battle for Cambrai is far from over.
27:27And the Germans have prepared a lethal surprise for the steadily advancing allies.
27:41November 20th, 1917. The Allies launch history's first mass tank attack.
27:50Almost 500 new British Mark IV tanks lead infantry across the first trenches of the Hindenburg Line,
27:58and advance towards their objective, the French city of Cambrai.
28:04It's incredibly successful. The enemy, it would appear, have no way of dealing with this large number of tanks.
28:10The tanks have crossed two lines of German defenses, and now stand poised to break through the Hindenburg Line.
28:17Tanks of H Battalion are among waves of armor, moving up the right shoulder of Fleskier Ridge.
28:24Tank Harrier, commanded by Gordon Hassel and the others, stop at the summit.
28:30Cambrai, the Allied objective, lies in the distance. It seems too good to be true.
28:36I said to my driver, Sergeant Callaghan, I don't like this somehow. I don't know why.
28:47A shell from a German field gun destroys Hong Kong.
28:53Harrier and the other tanks tried desperately to get out of its range.
29:00We're going downhill, and we're able to get up a bit of speed.
29:06Then I heard a tremendous explosion, and saw one of our tracks go flying through the air.
29:17But then we got another hit, which carried away our roof.
29:23Then a third shot crashed through the back, and we were out of action.
29:28The gun that destroys Harrier also hits Huntsman and Harvester.
29:45The Germans have sprung their surprise, unleashing fire from a weapon that quickly becomes their main tank killer.
29:51The 77mm Krupp field gun.
29:56Normally used for indirect fire on trenches, the 77 has been modified for direct fire against tanks.
30:03And its 6kg armor-piercing shells are accurate at distances of up to a kilometer.
30:10Now the Germans had started by the summer of 1917 to train their gunners in anti-tank work.
30:18And the first real evidence we have of this is a location on the Combray battlefield,
30:25a village called Flechoyer, where a line of British tanks run across the front of a German battery,
30:31trained in anti-tank fire.
30:37And the tanks, with their fuel stored inside, are highly vulnerable to field guns.
30:41The petrol, the gasoline, was actually here in the front, 25 gallons of it either side.
30:50So the chances are, that if a shell came in, the tank would ignite.
30:54It would probably then set the ammunition off, the tank would blow up.
30:58And nobody would come out of it alive.
31:07Tanks suddenly appeared to our front around Flechoyer.
31:11I ordered sights to be set at 700 meters.
31:13And with our third shot, we knocked out a tank.
31:30In short order, we followed this with three more.
31:33Then, with my one remaining gun, dealt with four more tanks.
31:51It was like a shooting gallery.
31:52The British tanks were rolling over the hill, not knowing what was coming.
31:55He was waiting for them, knowing what was coming.
31:57At close quarters, with direct fire, our courageous artillery destroyed all tanks within range.
32:11An impressive number of these expensive pieces of fighting equipment
32:15were strewn around the battlefield like so much scrap iron.
32:19In two days of fighting, the Allies lose 179 tanks, but take Flechoyer,
32:25clearing the way to their main objective, Cambrai.
32:30It's really regarded as a tremendous success.
32:33This is a victory.
32:36The success of Cambrai, however, is illusory.
32:42At the Battle of Cambrai, which is often referred to as the first big tank battle.
32:47Yeah, the tanks made good progress.
32:49They covered ground up to 30 kilometers.
32:51But what's always forgotten, the German stormtroopers took back the same area within a few days,
32:57and then with very few losses.
32:59And now the Germans come up with another response to the rolling British armor.
33:04A monster tank of their own.
33:06History's first tank-on-tank battle is about to begin.
33:09In World War I, the tank has become the Allies' best bet for crossing German trenches.
33:22By 1917, hundreds are in action on the Western Front.
33:26But unknown to the Allies, the German High Command has been secretly developing a tank of their own.
33:38The misconception many people of our age have is that this was an easy task.
33:43Building an armored vehicle in the First World War was an enormous challenge.
33:46It's like nuclear technology in our days.
33:50By March 1918, a year and a half after the debut of the British tank,
33:57the German Empire sends a 30-ton monster to the front.
34:00The A7V is powered by two 100-horsepower gasoline engines,
34:07protected by 15 millimeters of side armor,
34:11and armed with a 57-millimeter main gun and six heavy machine guns.
34:22The German tank in use in 1918 is a strange beast in many ways.
34:27It is, however, very big. It mounts a big field gun right in the nose,
34:31and it's got machine guns.
34:32Lots of people in there, about 18 to 23 people,
34:36so it's pretty crowded in there.
34:37But at Villers-Bretonneux in 1918, it goes into action.
34:42April 24th, 1918.
34:45The Germans, armed with their new tanks, capture Villers-Bretonneux
34:49and send the tanks south to the nearby village of Cachy.
34:51Three British tanks advanced, unaware that they are about to make history,
34:59led by Lieutenant Frank Mitchell.
35:01The order came, proceed to Cachy, hold it at all costs.
35:08Suddenly, an infantryman shouted through our flap,
35:11Look out! Jerry tank's about!
35:17I looked out. There, some 300 yards away,
35:20a round, squat-looking monster was advancing,
35:23and farther away, to left and right,
35:25pulled two more of these armed tortoises.
35:32A great thrill ran through us all.
35:34So, we had met our rivals at last.
35:37For the first time in history, Tank was encountering Tank.
35:43The most interesting thing about this fight is,
35:46both sides didn't have the slightest idea how to fight a tank-to-tank battle.
35:50Both sides were astonished at the sight of the other,
35:52and both sides were improvising.
35:54And after a second of astonishment on both sides,
35:58the British fired the first shot in the first tank battle of history.
36:01We kept on a zig-zag course. The right gunner made a sighting shot.
36:12Three British and three German tanks bear down on each other,
36:18over the shell-cratered ground.
36:20The lead German tank opens fire with its main gun.
36:41Hitting both female Mark IVs, and blowing holes in their sides.
36:45Their machine guns are useless against the heavy armour of the A7V.
36:50They withdraw, leaving Mitchell's tank to face the A7Vs alone.
36:55Two of their Mark Tanks fled the battlefield,
36:58not because they were scared, but because they were female tanks,
37:01so they just had machine guns.
37:03But the male Mark tank, the third Mark tank, with a gun,
37:06shut it out with the A7V.
37:07The right gunner made a sighting shot.
37:12The shell burst some distance beyond the leading enemy tank.
37:18No reply came.
37:19A second shot boomed out.
37:24Landing just to the right, but again, no reply.
37:30Suddenly, against our steel wall, a hurricane of hail pattered,
37:37and the interior was filled with myriads of sparks and flying splinters.
37:41My face was stung with minute fragments of steel.
37:46The jerry tank had treated us to a broadside of armour-piercing bullets.
37:57The ground was heavily scarred with shell holes.
37:59We kept going up and down like a ship in a heavy sea,
38:04making accurate shooting difficult.
38:09Another raking broadside of armour-piercing bullets
38:12gave us our first casualty, the Lewis gunner,
38:15after piercing the side of the tank.
38:19We turned.
38:20I took a risk and stopped the tank for a moment.
38:33It's a dangerous move.
38:35Mitchell is now a stationary target for the German tanks.
38:39April 1918.
38:48Three British and three German tanks meet
38:51in history's first tank-on-tank battle.
39:02After his two companions are forced to retreat,
39:05British commander Frank Mitchell stops his Mark IV
39:07to give the gunner a better shot at the German A7V.
39:11I took a risk and stopped the tank for a moment.
39:16The Mark IV is now a stationary target.
39:23The pause was justified.
39:28And a carefully aimed shot hit the turret of the German tank,
39:32bringing it to a standstill.
39:34The shot instantly kills a gunner and mortally wounds two others.
39:41Another roar and yet another white puff at the front of the tank
39:48denoted a second hit.
39:50Then, once more, with great deliberation,
39:53he aimed and hit for the third time.
39:55We had knocked the monster out.
40:05The two remaining A7Vs creep forward.
40:09If they both pour concentrated fire on the British tank,
40:12it will be obliterated, along with Mitchell and his crew.
40:15Now I thought we shall not last very long.
40:19We sprinkled one of them with a few sighting shells,
40:22when to my intense joy and amazement,
40:24I saw it go slowly backwards.
40:26Its companion did likewise,
40:28and in a few minutes they both had disappeared from sight,
40:30leaving our tank the sole possessor of the field.
40:32It's all over in minutes.
40:33This first chance encounter, in the spring of 1918,
40:35between the Germans and the Allied armies,
40:37becomes a defining moment in the history of modern warfare.
40:41Seven months later, the great war,
40:44is the first chance encounter in the spring of 1918,
40:47a warzy ship the force of the British king.
40:49It's all over in minutes.
40:50This first chance encounter, in the spring of 1918,
40:53between the Germans and the Allied armies,
40:55becomes a defining moment in the history of modern warfare.
40:59Seven months later, the Great War finally ends.
41:13Although tanks can't be said to win the war,
41:15the fact that they're available is very, very important for the Allies.
41:19They're part of that mix which allows ultimate victory to be achieved.
41:24The advent of tanks changes warfare completely.
41:26It will never be the same again.
41:28Once you've let this out of the box, you can't put it back again.
41:33The motto of the British Tank Corps is
41:35Through the mud and the blood to the green fields beyond.
41:38And that was what they'd been looked for throughout the Great War.
41:43And that was what they hoped to achieve.
41:45The End
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