Amiens 100 - Bovington, 8 August

[Chris Hall]

Bovington Tank Museum are running this show, on the Centenary of the Battle of Amiens. This is an important historical event - General Erich Ludendorff himself called 8 August 1918 'the Black Day of the German Army' as it marked the point where the Allied Forces, spearheaded by over 500 tanks, attacked at Amiens and the Imperial German Army never stopped going backwards until the Armistice on 11 November 1918 (a period known as The Hundred Days, although I've never bothered to exactly count it !). Details of the event can be seen at http://www.tankmuseum.org/whats-on/events/bovevt64445.

Armortek owners have again been invited to run their tanks for the delectation of the Public. Somewhat surprisingly (at least to me) this is not restricted to WW1 vehicles only, so anyone can come with any Armortek product. The Armortek stand will not be present (although I've told Kian that I'll happily hand out sales leaflets and 'sing the company song' to any potential buyers ) - apart from that, it'll be the same as Tankfest, based on the car park. We had a large running area, with security fencing, and used railway sleepers, sandbags and astroturf to create an imaginative and fun display. We'll need to set this up ourselves before the Public come in, so a 7.30am start for as many of you as possible would help a lot. And then pack it up afterwards so the Tank Museum can store it away.

I'm handling this one, as WW1 is my particular passion (who knew ? ) so, if you're interested in attending, please send me a PM with the following details:

• Name
  Car details (Make, Registration, Colour) (for Parking Pass)
  Home address (for free entry wristband)
  Number / type of Armortek products being brought
  Whether you require overnight camping before and/or after the event
  Evidence of £5M Public Liability insurance cover (unless already supplied for Tankfest and/or Tiger Day) NB. This can easily be obtained by joining groups such as the UK Tank Club or the Southern Armour Group. Unfortunately, the Tank Museum won't let you play without it .....

I'll put the usual list in the Owners Area of who's coming. It's an unusual event being a Wednesday, but hopefully enough of us will make it an enjoyable day for us and all tank aficionados.

All the best,

Chris

[Chris Hall]

I'm not getting much interest in this, sadly (but, perhaps, unsurprisingly). Looks like it could be only 3 or 4 of us !

In order to get the tickets from Bovington and send them out, I really need to 'close the book' by this Friday, 28 July. So, if you fancy a day out at Bovington, please contact me ASAP.

All the best, in hope,

Chris

[Steve Stuart]

Hopefully the media will love the models and that will make up for the numbers.
Steve

[Pete Nash]

I hope you got my information Chris

Pete

[Chris Hall]

Pete - you have a PM.

Chris

[Stephen White]

On the Centenary of the Battle, I thought it appropriate to mark the occasion with this summary, written by Colonel Gareth Davies, of the Royal Tank Regiment.

The Battle of Amiens is one of the most important anniversaries being marked in 2018. It is the final major commemoration before the centenary of Armistice Day. The battle took place on 8th August 1918 and involved forces from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France and the United States. The subsequent Hundred Days Offensive comprised four months of advances by the allies and ended in the signing of the armistice on 11th November.

Twelve Battalions of the Tank Corps were in action on the opening day, 8 August 1918. These Bns created a force of 324 heavy tanks (1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 10th, 13th, and 14th Bns), 96 light tanks (3rd & 6th Bns), and 12 armoured cars (17th Bn). This force was supported by over 100 supply tanks and 22 Gun Carriers.

At 4.20am after a heavy artillery barrage, the battle began. By the end of the day the Allies had advanced some 11km into German held territory. But the battle wasn’t a walkover; it was the most deadly day of the war for the Tank Corps. One hundred and three Tankies died that day and 53 the following day. Four DSOs, 82 MCs, 19 DCMs, and 78 MMs were awarded to the Tank Corps as a result of individual actions at Amiens on 8 August.

The Battle of Amiens marked the beginning of the end of the First World War and the start of the 100 days offensive. This anniversary gives us a chance to reflect on how the war in Europe moved from entrenched conflict to the signing of the Armistice in 1918.

The Commemorations

A commemorative event will take place at Amiens Cathedral in Amiens, France at 1500 local time on Wednesday 8th August 2018. The event is being led by the UK Government (DCMS) in partnership with the governments of Australia, Canada, France and the United States. The organisers have invited 600 descendants of those who fought in the Battle of Amiens to attend the commemorative event. The event will tell the story of the Battle of Amiens through music, poetry and personal accounts of the battle. The Central Band of the Royal Air Force will lead the musical elements before and during the event at the Cathedral. The Royal Anglian Regiment will form part of the Guard of Honour in front of the Cathedral ahead of the event. Senior leaders from the Armed Forces will attend the commemorations.

Gen Sir Chris Deverell KCB MBE ADC Gen will be in attendance. The Regiments that fought at Amiens will be represented by a serving Major or below. The RTR will be represented by Maj Mike Fielder, who has been asked to read the following passage written by a Tank Commander, Capt Wilfred Bion:

“At 9.50pm Handley Page bombers were due to start flying along the front; the noise of their engines was supposed to cloak the roar of the tank engines so the enemy would not become suspicious. Soon we heard the characteristic pulsating tone….. Just then from two miles away we heard the roar of the first tank engine starting up…. The tanks, after the first one, helped to screen each other. As each engine started, the driver throttled down to slow speed so that the roar became a diffuse murmur, and the murmur became and undifferentiated noise like traffic on the roads; it was just possible to believe that the enemy would be deceived.”

Comment: interesting for anyone building a Rolls Royce that the 17th Bn, RTC were equipped with twelve for the battle.

FEAR NAUGHT

Stephen

[Chris Hall]

Thanks for the excellent summary, Stephen. I've only recently realised just how important this battle was in the story of WW1, and in particular the significant part the Tank Corps played in it. The tankies were actually 'sacrificial lambs' during this 3-day battle, as all the enemy firepower was directed at them rather than the infantry. There are documented instances of infantry officers threatening to shoot tankies if they chose to retreat (for sound operational reasons - no failure of morale), as the distraction they offered was too valuable. So they stood, did their duty, and died anyway. Men of Iron.

I've just got back from Bovington, where the event was commemorated. The historical highlight was that the four Victoria Crosses won by Tank Corps officers in WW1 (all posthumously) were brought together in one place for the first time ever - one (Sewell) held by the Tank Museum, one (West) lent by the Ashcroft Collection (the largest collection of VC's in the world), and the other two (Robertson and Wain) lent by the original families who still treasure them. I believe they're on display until November if you want to make a pilgrimage.

From the Armortek perspective, the 'Band of Brigands' turned up trumps ! We had 5 working Mark IV's present (Steve, Daniel, Pete, Brian Clay and myself) as well as Adrian's part-built one which drew as much attention as the finished models - the public were fascinated to see how they all went together ! The trench system was set up again (thanks, Denny), which looked so much better than a bare tarmac car park (although I'm not sure Bovington will store it for much longer, unfortunately). And the weather was kind - cooler than of late, but without the thick fog of 100 years ago.

Stupidly, I forgot to take my camera ! Fortunately, Daniel took loads of photos, so I'll leave him to put up the best of them, including the obligatory group shot.

Many thanks to the 'Band of Brigands' for commemorating this important event in style, and to Fiona (Steve's wife) for adding a welcome touch of glamour, class and decorum .

All the best,

Chris

[Pete Nash]

Here's a couple of images I took

[Daniel Scholefield]

Group shot of the Band of Brigands, I will post the rest when I have more time tomorrow.

[Steve Stuart]

Thank you Dan for the pictures and thank you Chris for being the Brigand Chief for the day!
Steve

[Armortek]

Great to see so many Mark IV's together at one time - perhaps the largest running contingent since the 20's ?
Glad the weather behaved and thanks for the organisation Chris.

Kian

[Chris Hall]

Kian -

Probably earlier than that ! The Mark IV was very quickly superseded by the Mark V and Mark V* - only two Battalions (G and L) continued to use them from about mid-1918 to the Armistice. At the war's end, most of them would have been broken up in situ or left in France for war memorials. Very few would have been shipped back to the UK (the vast majority of the war memorials in the UK were training tanks that never left these shores).

It was a good line-up - it would be great to do it again sometime, but with some more. I really must crack on with Flaming Fire II .....

All the best,

Chris

[Daniel Scholefield]

Proper update this time. Another fun day out at Bovington, nowhere near as crowded as a show day but much more pleasent weather than Tankfest!
My thanks to Chris for organising it all and to everyone else for making the long car trip worth it.

Start line 19/2018

Mr & Mrs

Say cheese

Oh dear

Oh and Adrian, you were right, I found the bag with the 'missing' parts