I'm aware that the earliest tanks were generally a mixed bag when it came to their battlefield performance, but I'm curious about the more intangible effect they would have had on the battlefield. Would soldiers have been happy to fight alongside them and frightened of having to fight against them, or were they seen as just another entry in the long list of hazards present in trench warfare?
As my expertise lies with Canada, I will focus on Canadian experiences and particularly the Battle of Flers-Courcelette (often referred to as just the Battle of Courcelette in the Canadian literature) as it was the first use of tanks. I will leave the non-Canadian experience to other experts but Andrew McEwan’s article (cited below) does include discussion of British and New Zealand experiences, which appear to be similar to those of the Canadians.
For the Battle of Flers-Courcelette (15 September 1916), the Canadians, more specifically the 2nd Canadian Division, were assigned 7 tanks; 6 of which went into battle. While the use of tanks did not lead to a breakthrough, it did have an effect on morale. Tanks surprised and frightened German troops as well as provided a morale boost to Canadian soldiers.
In the days leading up to the battle, soldiers who observed tanks behind the front lines believed they would have a positive impact on the battlefield. On 13 September, Captain D.E. Macintyre of the 28th Battalion witnessed a tank being tested behind the front lines:
It is a type of armoured car but runs like a caterpillar and can go anywhere. They brought it up and we tried it over the worst ground we could find, shell holes, trenches, cellars, brick walls, trees, it made no difference, but went through or over them all. […] We felt they would make a big difference to our side in any fight they were in and we felt mighty pleased at witnessing its first test under actual war conditions and under fire, in the ruins of a village already famous in this war.^(1)
The next day, Macintyre added that “[n]o less than six of these huge Juggerhauts [sic – Juggernauts] came up and the very sight of them was enough to scare anybody.”^(2) Another member of the 28th Battalion, Private Edgar Goddard, wrote that he and his friends were pleased about “the surprise that the Germans would get the next day.”^(3)
The tanks provided a morale boost, as well as some tactical help, to Canadian troops in action on 15 September. Tanks could draw fire away from trapped infantry, allowing them to advance. Lance Corporal Donald Fraser of the 31st Battalion and his comrades were stuck in shell holes when a tank (“the latest invention of destruction") appeared:
Suddenly men from the ground, looked up, rose as if from the dead, and running from the flanks to behind it [the tank], followed in the rear as if to be in on the kill. The last I saw of it it was wending its way to the Sugar Refinery. It crossed Fritz's trenches, a few yards from me, with hardly a jolt. When first observed it gave new life and vigour to our men.^(4)
The commander of that tank, Captain Arthur Inglis (a British officer), was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his actions on that day. Another tank commander, Second Lieutenant John Allan (unclear if British or Canadian), was awarded the Military Cross (MC).
As the tanks rolled onto the battlefield, they proved effective at shocking and scaring German soldiers, who might surrender or flee. During the battle, Macintyre spoke with German prisoners of war behind Canadian lines: “They saw our ‘Tanks’ as the armoured cars were called, and they evidently had a demoralising effect on them. Many surrendered on their approach and one remarked that it was not war but ‘savage butchery.’”^(5) Fraser recalled how “several Huns, minus rifles and equipment, got out of their trench and were beating it back over the open, terrified at the approach of the tank.”^(6)
While tanks were generally effective at raising Canadians’ morale and lowering that of the Germans, it is unclear how widespread these effects actually were. As only 6 tanks participated across the entire 2nd Canadian Division, many Canadian soldiers did not fight alongside one nor would all German troops have faced one. 4 out of the 6 tanks were incapacitated during the battle, either broken down or stuck. A member of the 21st Battalion complained that tanks “didn’t go very far…they bogged down. They got caught in the old trenches, you know, and they tipped over. … they weren’t a success.”^(7) While stuck tanks could make use of their guns, that was only useful if they were close enough to enemy lines and the incapacitated tanks barely made it past the Canadian starting lines. Macintyre acknowledged the mixed performance of the tanks: "Of our three one never started owing to damaged steering gear, the other fell into a trench soon after starting, but the third rambled all over our front after our troops had taken their objectives but was quite a success."^(8)
Ultimately, the first use of tanks had an effect on Canadian and German morale but the size (and presence) of this effect was conditional. I think historian David Campbell sums it up well: “In the end, personal opinion of the tanks’ effectiveness depended upon one’s proximity to either of the two machines that did advance, and upon the circumstances that one was in at the time.”^(9)
^(1) War Diary, 13 September 1916, MG30 E241, Duncan Eberts Macintyre fonds, Library and Archives Canada [LAC].
^(2) War Diary, 14 September 1916, MG30 E241, Macintyre fonds, LAC.
^(3) As quoted in Andrew McEwen, “‘A useful accessory to the infantry, but nothing more’: Tanks at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, September 1916,” Canadian Military History 20, 4 (2011): 12-13.
^(4) "Leaves from my Diary," 14-16 September 1916, MG30 E470, Donald Fraser fonds, LAC.
^(5) War Diary, 15 September 1916, MG30 E241, Macintyre fonds, LAC.
^(6) "Leaves from my Diary," 14-16 September 1916, MG30 E470, Fraser fonds, LAC.
^(7) As quoted in David Campbell, “A Forgotten Victory: Courcelette, 15 September 1916,” Canadian Military History 16, 2 (2007): 39.
^(8) War Diary, 14 September 1916, MG30 E241, Macintyre fonds, LAC.
^(9) Campbell, “A Forgotten Victory,” 39.
Sources/Recommending Readings:
Canadian War Museum, “Tanks and Armoured Vehicles,” Canada and the First World War – this website has some interesting tank photographs and ephemera