BATTLE OF THE SOMME 1st Use of TANKS 1916 Newspaper WWI

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BATTLE OF THE SOMME 1st Use of TANKS 1916 Newspaper WWI is a complete, genuine historic newspaper with the following title, date and description: THE NEW YORK TIMES , Sept. 16, 1916 * First use of tanks in warfare * Battle of the Somme, World War I * original reporting - great, unique gift The top of the front page has a 3 line, 3 column head reading: "British Pierce German Lines 2 Miles, Smash 6-Mile Front, Taking 2,300 Men; Three Towns Taken; Combles Doomed" with other small heads (see photos). Also included is a very nice "sidebar" article headed: "Monster Armored Cars, used by British in Charge, Defy Trenches, Barbed Wire, or Craters to Stop Them". This articles goes into detail concerning the very first use of armored tanks in wafare--an historic event in military history. You get the complete 20 page newspaper, slightly irregular at the spine and browning along the central horizontal fold. Otherwise the issue is in rather nice condition. Historical Background: The last great Allied effort to achieve a breakthrough came on 15 September in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette with the initial advance made by 11 British divisions (nine from Fourth Army, two Canadian divisions on the Reserve Army sector) and a later attack by four French corps. The battle is chiefly remembered today as the debut of the tank . The British had high hopes that this secret weapon would break the deadlock of the trenches. Early tanks were not weapons of mobile warfare with a top speed of 2 mph (3.2 km/h), they were easily outpaced by the infantry but were designed for trench warfare . They were untroubled by barbed wire obstacles and impervious to rifle and machine gun fire, though highly vulnerable to artillery. Additionally, the tanks were notoriously unreliable; of the 49 tanks available on 15 September , only 32 made it to the start line, and of these, only 21 made it into action. Mechanical breakdowns were common, and many others became bogged or ditched in the shell holes and trenches of the churned battlefield. New Zealand infantry in the Switch Line . The British made gains across the length of their front, the greatest being in the centre at Flers with an advance of 3,500 yards, a feat achieved by the newest British division in France, the 41st Division , in their first action. They were later joined by the tank D-17 , giving rise to the optimistic press report: "A tank is walking up the High Street of Flers with the British Army cheering behind." It was also the first major Western Front battle for the New Zealand Division , at the time part of the British XV Corps , which captured part of the Switch Line west of Flers. On the left flank, the Canadian 2nd Division captured the village of Courcelette after heavy fighting, with some assistance from tanks. And finally after two months of fighting, the British captured all of High Wood , though not without another costly struggle. The plan was to use tanks in support of infantry from the 47th (1/2nd London) Division , but the wood was an impassable landscape of shattered stumps and shell holes, and only one tank managed to penetrate any distance. The German defenders were forced to abandon High Wood once British progress on the flanks threatened to encircle them. British infantry advancing near Ginchy during the Battle of Morval , 25 September . The British had managed to advance during Flers-Courcelette, capturing 4,500 yards of the German third position, but fell short of all their objectives, and once again the breakthrough eluded them. The tank had shown promise, but its lack of reliability limited its impact, and the tactics of tank warfare were obviously in their infancy. The least successful sector on 15 September had been east of Ginchy w the Quadrilateral redoubt had held up the advance towards Morval the Quadrilateral was not captured until 18 September . Another attack was planned for 25 September with the objectives of the villages of Gueudecourt , ... read more

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