Lost for over a century, discovery of wartime letter has rekindled interest in unlocking the secret of the world’s first prototype tank
A
t the height of the second world war, while British authorities were calling on citizens to donate metal to be recycled into weapons and warships, attention at the army base of Bovington Camp in Dorset turned to a collection of historic vehicles dating from the first war – among them a legendary tank that had been nicknamed “Mother”.
Mother was the prototype for the world’s first battlefield tank, the Mark 1, which had been developed by Britain in 1915-6 to break the deadlock of the trenches. The vehicles were a huge technological leap forward that caused a sensation when rolled out on the battlefields (“astonishing our soldiers no less than they frightened the enemy”, as the Manchester Guardian put it) and helped tip the scales in favour of the allies’ eventual victory.
Mother was a unique and hugely important piece of military and technological history. But with people across Britain donating their railings, saucepans and even keys for the war effort, there was no room for sentiment. Mother was surrendered to the scrappers to be melted down and recycled.
