New Vanguard 100: British Mark I Tank 1916

by David Fletcher, illustrated by Tony Bryan

Published by Osprey Publishing Ltd, ISBN 1-84176-689-5, 48 pages.

David Fletcher is one of our most respected authorities on British Tanks, and here he deals in detail with the very first tanks. Not just the Mark I, Little Willie is here as the first tank ever built and so is Mother as the prototype for the Mark I, with photographs of both and descriptions of how they came to be built and how they were tested. Then comes the Mark I itself, with a look at how it was constructed, the differences between the Male and Female tanks, crew duties, and training. The first tank combats come next, in France and Palestine, and there’s a lot of intriguing detail given here.

Conversions to supply and radio tanks are discussed, and the Marks II and III are covered too with enough information to allow them to be distinguished. Combat use of the unarmoured Mark II at Arras is looked at as well, with the comment that if the Germans tested their new anti-tank ammunition against captured Mark II hulks they would have been badly deceived by the penetration figures.
There’s a good selection of photographs, with excellent captions, colour schemes are discussed and the plates are excellent.

Highly recommended to all armour fans, even if WWI doesn’t interest you now this book will get you hooked. Now all we need is a decent kit of the Mark I to work with.
John Prigent

More details from Osprey Publishing

Read an extract at Osprey Publishing