Category: World War 1

The Tank Museum in Bovington, United Kingdom has announced it’ll be releasing a biography about famed World War I-era tank commander Capt. Albert “Bert” Baker. Titled Tank Man – The Life and Times of Captain Bert Baker, the book will cover not only his wartime exploits, but his life following the conflict.

Albert Baker with the gun captured at Graincourt-lès-Havrincourt. (Photo Credit: The Tank Museum)

The upcoming biography was written by Albert Baker’s grandson, Jonathan, who spoke with The Tank Museum about what he covered in the book. Along with covering his grandfather’s drive to serve, it also serves as a “social history” of his post-war life.

“Bert was no more prepared to fight in a war than any of the countless thousands of others who streamed into army recruiting offices in the autumn of 1914,” Jonathan shared. “His life up to that point had been confined to a small family dairy in south London.”

He added, “The book is also a social history. Growing up in the newly emerging suburbia in London, the ins and outs of running an urban dairy and his own post-war involvement as a chemical analyst in the efforts to produce milk that was safe to drink.”Albert Baker. (Photo Credit: The Tank Museum)

Albert Baker was the recipient of two Military Crosses during World War I. The decoration is presented to members of the British Armed Forces, in recognition of “an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy on land.”

An analytical chemist by trade, he began his military service in the trenches, before joining the newly-established Tank Corps in its early days. “Tanks had a painful infancy,” Jonathan told The Tank Museum. “But as an officer in the Tank Corps, he featured in two actions that helped establish it once and for all as a frontline weapon – winning a Military Cross in the first and a bar to it in the second.”

Baker’s first notable action occurred during a raid outside of Ypres, Belgium in August 1917. He and others from the Tank Corps were tasked with taking German pillboxes, the largest of which was “The Cockroft.” Surrounded by eight-foot-thick concrete walls and housing upwards of 100 enemy soldiers, it was a daunting sight.

Twelve tanks from G Battalion attacked the position, with many of the armored vehicles proving ineffective against the pillboxes. That being said, the British were ultimately successful in their endeavor, and were able to take the area with light casualties; the Tank Corps only suffered two deaths and 13 wounded.German soldiers digging out a British Mark IV tank in Cambrai, France. (Photo Credit: Bundesarchiv, Bild 104-0941A / Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 de)

The event that saw Albert Baker receive his second Military Cross occurred during the Battle of Cambrai in the latter part of 1917. In command of the Mark IV tank Gorgonzola II, he and other British tanks advanced toward the German-held French village of Graincourt-lès-Havrincourt.

Gorgonzola II and the rest of the armored vehicles immediately became the targets of German field guns. Undeterred, Baker, his crew and another tank pushed on and managed to “see off the gun crew and capture the gun intact.” This allowed British infantry to continue on and liberate the village.

Following the war, Baker returned home to Britain, where he went back to work as an analytical chemist in the dairy industry.Tank Men exhibition at The Tank Museum. (Photo Credit: The Tank Museum)

In honor of Albert Baker’s heroics, The Tank Museum has set up an exhibit, which features the gun he captured in 1917. The institution also holds the notebook where he recounted his wartime experiences.

Tank Man – The Life and Times of Captain Bert Baker is currently available for pre-order via The Tank Museum’s shop. It’s slated for release in mid-October 2023.

Zone Rouge – or the “Red Zone” – is a chain of former battlefields across northeastern France that the government has cordoned off due to the many dangerous ordnance that remains from the First World War. The area originally spanned over 460 square miles, from Nancy through to Lille, and incorporates such battlefields as the Somme, Verdun and Vimy Ridge.

While the size of the region has lessened over the 100-plus years since the end of the conflict, the area is still characterized by the scars and remnants of the Great War.

Scars of World War I

German trench in Delville Wood, near Longueval, Somme, France, 1916. (Photo Credit: John Warwick Brooke / Imperial War Museums / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)

Over the course of World War I, an unprecedented amount of munitions were used by the Triple Entente and Triple Alliance to try and gain a victory over the other side. The destruction these weapons caused to the French landscape saw entire villages and cities transformed into rubble and craters. People were driven from their homes, and whole regions were made uninhabitable.The destruction of the French landscape was one thing, the dangerous remnants of the fighting were another. Across many of the former battlefields are unexploded ordnance, made up of artillery shells, gas shells, grenades and small arms ammunition. Their existence has seen lead, mercury, chlorine, arsenic and acids, as well as human and animal remains, create soil pollution.

These remnants and their effects have seen the complete destruction of life in this region. For instance, 99 percent of all plants die in Zone Rouge, due to the level of arsenic, which constitutes up to 175,907 mg per kilogram of soil. When the area was designated following the conflict, the vast region was viewed as “completely devastated. Damage to properties: 100%. Damage to agriculture: 100%. Impossible to clean. Human life impossible.”

While this was well over 100 years ago, it’s not all that much different today.

A region comprised of four zones

Map showing the four designated zones: red signals totally destroyed; yellow indicates major, but limited damage; green stands for moderately damaged; and blue covers areas that remained undamaged. (Photo Credit: Tinodela / Lamiot / Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.5)

Zone Rouge is ultimately one of four different ones on and around the former battlefields of the Western Front. Ranging from the most to least dangerous, these areas serve as an eerie reminder of the past.

As aforementioned, the majority of the towns and cities located within these zones – in particular, Zone Rouge – have long since been abandoned in what National Geographic describes as a “minor forced relocation.” When the French government weighed the time and cost of rehabilitating the natural landscape, as well as the inherent dangers, it was decided that total abandonment was the best solution.

“Those villages were considered a casualty of the war,” Joseph Hupy, a geography professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, told the publication. They’ve since been given a special name, “village detruits” – or “destroyed villages.”

Since no one can live in these zones, the areas still possess the remnants of war; large shell craters, trench networks and military equipment stick out from the ground. Nature was quick to reclaim the region, with historian Christina Holstein telling National Geographic, “They found the vegetation – trees, grasses, bushes, and briar – all came back very quickly.”

This wasn’t the only life to return, as animals did so, too. While unexploded ordnance still poses a threat to these creatures, the removal of humans has given rise to a unique wilderness in northwest France.

Return to normal?

Craters on the battlefield at Vimy Ridge, 2006. (Photo Credit: Ormondroyd / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)

Zone Rouge will likely never be returned to the state it was before the First World War. That being said, France isn’t planning on keeping the area isolated forever. The government established the Department du Deminage (Department of Mine Clearance) to clear unexploded munitions.

Since its inception, it’s destroyed hundreds of thousands of pieces, allowing the land to be returned to the public. The majority of the cleared region and beyond has been turned into farmland, which is helping to bolster the country’s agricultural sector. That doesn’t mean, however, that farmers and the general public haven’t come across ordnance that’s been missed.

According to Joseph Hupy, those who come across regular shells need not worry, as those rarely kill. “The people who die in the munitions removal, they don’t really die from the explosive ones,” he told National Geographic. “They die from gas shells.”

It’s likely Zone Rouge will never be fully cleared. It’s been projected that it will take at least 300 years of work to completely clear the battlefields of their dangerous remnants. Even then, the likelihood there will still be some shells lurking beneath people’s feet is high.

Iron Harvest

Unexploded German artillery shell along the side of a road in Belgium, awaiting collection, 2006. (Photo Credit: Redvers / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)

The town and battlefield most think of when discussing Zone Rouge is without a doubt Verdun. It was the site a 300-day battle between the French and Germans, which resulted in over 300,000 soldiers losing their lives. Millions of pieces of ammunition and munitions were used, permanently altering the landscape. A large portion were duds that became lodged in the ground.

Given this, an event known as the “Iron Harvest” has happened annually. Occurring throughout the spring planting and autumn plowing seasons, it sees the collection of unexploded ordnance, shrapnel, trench supports, barbed wire and bullets in both France and Belgium’s rural areas.

There are signs posted at the sides of roads, in the shape of a shell, that indicate where farmers can place unearthed ordnance and wartime remnants. The Department du Deminage will then come by and pick them up.

Development in Zone Rouge

Sheep graze in shell and mine craters on the battlefield of Vimy Ridge, 2017. (Photo Credit: Sylvain Lefevre / Getty Images)

Despite the government closing off the area and the existence of unexploded ordnance, human activity continues to occur in and around Zone Rouge. Hunters, for instance, will hunt deer and wild boar in the area. It’s also become part of the timber industry. As Joseph Hupy stated, “Everyone needs their lumber products, and for the French, this is a great area to practice forestry.”

The landscape of Zone Rouge will likely never return to what it once was. The First World War, bringing destruction to the region, ensured it would never be the same. However, it’s now seeing some new developments. As described by Christina Holstein, “It is a bit like Sleeping Beauty. Things have just gotten frozen in time.”

While Zone Rouge is characterized by the destruction brought about by war, there are possibilities for recovery.

The Tank Museum in Bovington, United Kingdom has acquired documents relating to the development and design of the World War I-era Mark I tank. Along with these pages, the hundreds of sheets of paper also consist of illustrations and correspondence once belonging to famed British developer Sir William Tritton.

Telegram sent to Fosters of Lincoln regarding the registering of the word “tank.” (Photo Credit: The Tank Museum)

The Mark I documents were acquired by The Tank Museum via the same auction house that sold the “lost” blueprint of the tank to the institution in 2022. According to a press release, a team will now sift through each to “record and catalogue them so that the importance of the trove can be fully understood.”

Many of the documents are believed to relate to William Tritton, who co-invented the tank with Maj. Walter Wilson.Sir William Tritton. (Photo Credit: The Tank Museum)

The first ever tank to see combat, the British Mark I debuted on the battlefield during the Battle of the Somme. It was equipped with two six-pounder guns and three Hotchkiss .303 machine guns, and its unique rhomboidal design afforded it the ability to cross over trenches. It was also intended to crush barbed wire and travel over difficult terrain – in particular, No Man’s Land.

The conflict saw 150 of the heavy tanks leave the production line, 75 male and 75 female. It was followed by a number of variants, which improved upon the original design. For example, some of the later versions were equipped with Lewis guns, as opposed to the Hotchkiss.

The Tank Museum is home to the last surviving Mark I, which was presented to Lord Salisbury in 1919. Upon coming under the purview of the institution, it underwent restoration, receiving the tail and hydraulics of a Mark II. Its guns were also cosmetically restored with wood.Sir William Tritton’s business card. (Photo Credit: The Tank Museum)

While the majority of the documents still need to be sifted through, several pieces of note have already been uncovered. These include Tritton’s business card, illustrations providing insight into the intention of the Mark I’s rear wheels and a telegram sent by Fosters of Lincoln to the trademark office to “register the word tank.”

Several letters written by Tritton to the British War Office have also been discovered, in which he discusses his desire to patent his design and receive the “reward” he and Wilson had been promised “for their success after the war.”

His exasperation appears to increase with each letter, with one ending with, “Is not the labourer worth of his hire?… Major Wilson and I should receive the due reward of our professional work.”Letter from the British Ministry of Munitions to Sir William Tritton. (Photo Credit: The Tank Museum)

The Tank Museum will share additional information once the documents have been properly looked over and cataloged.

The Neches River has been plagued by an enduring drought this summer, which has seen water levels drop. This has resulted in a number of items surfacing in the Texas waterway, including a plethora of World War I-era shipwrecks. In fact, five were recently found with connections to the US Shipping Board’s Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC).

USS Banago, a wooden cargo ship built by the US Shipping Board’s Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) during World War I, 1918. (Photo Credit: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)

Bill Milner was jetskiing in an area along the Neches River on August 16, 2023 when he came across several pieces of wood jutting out from the river. Not sure what he’d stumbled upon, but believing it could be important, he took photos and video footage. This was sent to the Ice House Museum in Silsbee, which contacted the Texas Historical Commission.

It was the latter that confirmed that Milner had stumbled upon not just one, but five different World War I-era shipwrecks in the east Texas river. According to the museum, the vessels “appeared to have a hefty double hull, with an outside wall connected to an inside wall with cast iron spikes, that are from 2 to 3 feet long and about 1 to 2 inches thick.”

The ships are believed to have belonged to the US Shipping Board’s Emergency Fleet Corporation, established in 1917, not long after the United States declared war on Germany. With the aim of combating the German U-boat threat in the Atlantic, the EFC was tasked with “acquiring, maintaining and operating merchant ships to ferry American soldiers and supplies to France.”

Using older shipyards, the EFC constructed 282-foot 19th-century wooden ships that were powered by steam-driven engines. The reason for this was two-fold: the US government didn’t want to overwhelm modern shipyards, and the country was facing a metal shortage, due to the war.

“The amazing story of these shipwrecks began in WWI, when German submarines were making more than a little headway sinking US merchant ships in the Atlantic,” the Ice House Museum wrote in a statement. “There was a grave concern that the loss of these merchant ships would seriously impede their ability to get materials for the war, as well as food and other commodities needed by the American people.”

Following the First World War, the government struggled to sell the outdated wooden ships. While some were turned into barges, others sold for just a fraction of what it cost to build them. The majority, however, were scuttled in rivers, where officials decided to “let salvagers get what they could from the iron in timber.”

Incomplete ships built by the US Shipping Board’s Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) in Seattle, Washington, 1919. (Photo Credit: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)

It’s believed the shipwrecks Milner came across in the Neches were the result of a fire in 1924. In an interview with Business Insider, Susan Kilcrease of the Ice House Museum explained that six of these wooden vessels had departed from the Port of Beaumont, in Beaumont, Texas, and not long into their journey caught fire and sank to the bottom of the river.

As for the future of these World War I-era shipwrecks, Amy Borgens of the Texas Historical Commission told the Texas Standard, “With vessels of this type, of this size, where there are so many of them, really the best approach for preservation is what we call a situ preservation: just leaving them in place and not disturbing them.”

The Tank Museum has announced it’s collaborating with historian Stephen Pope to republish Trevor Pidgeon’s The Tanks at Flers: An Account of the First Use of Tanks In War at The Battle of Flers-Courcelette, The Somme, 15 September 1916. Having been out of print for several years, the news comes on the anniversary of the historic battle.

Photo Credit: Robert Hunt Library / Windmill Books / UIG / Getty Images

According to The Tank Museum, The Tanks at Flers, first published in 1995, looks into the early days of tank development and how crews were chosen to operate the armored vehicles on the battlefield. The information provided in its pages comes from firsthand accounts, operational orders, field maps, photographs, diaries, correspondence and plans from the First World War.

This new edition features additional information from Stephen Pope, and includes rescanned A2 maps and a forward from David Fletcher. Speaking in a press release, Simon Prager, head of commercial operations at The Tank Museum, said:

“The Tanks at Flers has been updated with new research from historian Stephen Pope and is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the First World War and the development of the tank. We are proud to have put this fantastic work back into print.

“In this republished edition, each book comes inside a presentation box with the maps that were in Volume 2 of the original publication so readers can follow the footsteps of the tanks over the battlefield.”Photo Credit: Robert Hunt Library / Windmill Books / UIG / Getty Images

The Battle of Flers-Courcelette began on September 15, 1916 and was the first time tanks appeared on the battlefield. Occurring during the middle of the Somme Campaign, the engagement saw the French Sixth Army, the British Fourth Army and a reserve force take on the German 1st Army.

The British entered the battle with Mark I tanks, which were used to cut through barbed wire and forge a path for infantrymen to approach the Gerrman enemy. They were also tasked with destroying machine gun emplacements.

While reports state that only a third successfully made it across No Man’s Land (the rest either suffered mechanical failures, were hit with shellfire or became stuck), their effect on the enemy led to calls for more units.

When the fighting concluded on September 22, thousands of battlefield casualties had been suffered. That being said, the British and French emerged from the battle with a tactical victory, securing Flers, Courcelette and Martinpuich.Photo Credit: Underwood Archives / Getty Images

Pre-orders for The Tanks at Flers are currently available via The Tank Museum’s online store. Those who order the book before October 13, 2023 will have their names included in the acknowledgments section.

Let’s dive into something that’s been bugging many for decades: how did old fighter aircraft shoot at the enemy without blasting their own propellers into oblivion? Picture this: the early 20th century, the First World War. The airplane was the new kid on the block – and a game-changer. However, engineers were scratching their heads when it came to its use in combat, wondering, “How do we fire through the propeller without shredding it?”

Enter the interrupter gear, also known as the synchronization gear. No, it’s not a fancy piece found at a steampunk convention – it’s pure, refined ingenuity. Anthony Fokker, a Dutch engineer, was the man behind this unique device. He saw the problem and thought, “Nope, not on my watch.”

What’s so special about it, you ask? The interrupter gear was like an early tech version of playing The Floor Is Lava, but with bullets and propeller blades. The gear made sure an aircraft’s machine gun only fired when the propeller was out of the way, meaning pilots could go full trigger-happy without the risk of turning their propellers into Swiss cheese.

What’s the trick to the interrupter gear?

Vickers machine gun with an interrupter gear, as fitted to an aircraft. (Photo Credit: British Official Photographer / Imperial War Museums / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)

Here’s the deal: the interrupter gear is all about timing. It’s linked up to both the propeller and the machine gun, creating a sort of mechanical rhythm between the two. The basic idea is to make sure the gun only fires when it’s safe to do so – basically when it’s not going to obliterate the propeller. The propeller is spinning and each time a blade is safely out of the way, the interrupter gear lets the machine gun pop off a round. The second a blade is back in the danger zone, the gear blocks it from firing.

It’s like having a buddy watching your back while you’re shooting hoops, making sure you never throw the ball when someone is in the way. Your friend simply puts a hand on your shoulder to stop you from throwing whenever someone’s there, keeping the game safe and fun!

This synchronized dance of machinery is what allowed early pilots to fire through their propellers without turning them into accidental kindling.

Not-so-top-secret

Anthony Fokker. (Photo Credit: Fritz Heuschkel Sr. / Library of Congress’ Prints and Photographs Division / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)

Now, you’d think this was a top-secret kind of deal, but Anthony Fokker wasn’t as secretive as you might imagine. Word got out about the interrupter gear and other engineers started creating their versions.

One notable variant was the Constantinesco (“CC” gear), named after its creator, George Constantinescu, a Romanian engineer working for the Allies. He thought, “Why not use hydraulic tech to keep our propellers safe?” So he created yet another brilliant propeller-saving mechanism.

These gears, regardless of the type, acted like a mechanical guardian angel, ensuring bullets and propeller blades never met in a catastrophic collision. It’s simple when you think about it, but boy, oh boy, it must have been a mind-boggler to create back then, under the pressures of wartime.

Interrupter gears were still in use during World War II

Messerschmitt Bf 109E with a traditional pair of synchronized machine guns. (Photo Credit: Unknown Author / Imperial War Museums / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)

By the time World War II rolled around, aircraft had developed a fair bit. Air forces started manning monoplanes with enclosed cockpits, and retractable landing gears became more standard. Interestingly, however, some fighter aircraft still used propellers that could be in the line of fire, meaning interrupter gears were still relevant.

Even though technology had advanced, with some aircraft adopting wing-mounted guns that didn’t need to worry about propeller interference, there were still plenty where the guns were mounted in the fuselage, firing through the propeller arc. For those, the interrupter gear was crucial to avoid an aerial catastrophe.

The basic principle remained the same: ensure bullets and propeller blades didn’t try to occupy the same space at the same time, and as engines and weapons evolved, so, too, did the gears. They became more reliable, capable of handling faster firing weapons and more robust, efficient engines.

Interrupter gears stuck around, doing their thing to keep pilots safe and enemy aircraft firmly in the crosshairs, from the early days of dogfights in the First World War right through the high-stakes aerial battles of WWII.