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Remembered Today:


Gareth Davies

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On ‎12‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 19:08, Gareth Davies said:

The answer from Philippe is that they are working on the update.

 

Sorry to nag ... but any more news, please?

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No, I know no more. Philippe has been focussing on the museum.

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I've been told that the Helion reprint of The Tanks at Flers is no longer going ahead.   Anyone know why?

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Hi, I don't have any information on The Tanks at Flers, but I did ask Philippe yesterday about progress on Following the Tanks.  The latest news is that he and Jean-Luc Gibot are still aiming to get the revised version out in time for the centenary in November, so fingers crossed.

 

John

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On ‎28‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 10:20, johntaylor said:

Hi, I don't have any information on The Tanks at Flers, but I did ask Philippe yesterday about progress on Following the Tanks.  The latest news is that he and Jean-Luc Gibot are still aiming to get the revised version out in time for the centenary in November, so fingers crossed.

 

John

 

Thanks very much!

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  • 2 months later...
On ‎7‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 10:20, johntaylor said:

Hi, I don't have any information on The Tanks at Flers, but I did ask Philippe yesterday about progress on Following the Tanks.  The latest news is that he and Jean-Luc Gibot are still aiming to get the revised version out in time for the centenary in November, so fingers crossed.

 

John

 

Have you any more news on this, please?

 

Thanks.

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I have written to Phillippe, and received this reply:

 

"We are concentrated onto the Centenary event now. So the book is in the process to be updated with correction, new informations and many unpublished photos! We will launch a subscription at the beginning of 2018 to get the book published for September/October 2018 (2nd Battle of Cambrai and liberation + Centenary)"

 

So, although we're going to have to wait a little longer, it is still good news!

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I posted this about two weeks ago:

 

"For those Pals who are members of the Army Records Society, a quick reminder that this year's volume will be hitting our doormats soon. It is:

The Military Papers of Maj-Gen J F C Fuller, 1916 to 1933."

 

It hit my doormat this week, and is an interesting read. Much of it seems to consist of letters home to his parents, but it also contains a number of memoranda on the use of tanks. Some of these are known to be by Fuller; others are ostensibly from Hugh Elles or generically from "HQ Tank Corps", but the editor tentatively attributes these to Fuller on the basis of marginal corrections in his handwriting.

 

Ron

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  • 1 month later...

Pioneers of Armour is to be released by Pen&Sword in Feb 2018. It is about the two armoured units created in Australia during the Great War: the 1st Armoured Car Battery (and its successor, the 1st Aust Light Car Patrol), and the Special Tank Personnel for the MkIV (Female) tank sent to Australia in July 1918, and still housed at the Australian War Memorial.

 

I'm new on this forum .... so I hope you don't mind me bringing my (and my co-author's) book to your attention.

 

MKC

Colbert WA USA

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  • 3 weeks later...

Not one but several.  Basil Liddell Hart wrote 2 volumes of The Tanks: The History of the Royal Tank Regiment and its Predecessors.  Volume 1 covers 1914 - 1939 and Volume 2 is 1939 - 1945.  They were published in the 1950s.  Ken Macksey wrote The Tanks: History of the Royal Tank Regiment, 1945-75 which was published in 1979.  And last year we got @charlesmessenger 's The Tanks: The History of the Royal Tank Regiment, 1976-2017.  

 

 

 

 

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  • 8 months later...

Phillippe has confirmed to me that 'Following the Tanks'  will now not be republished.

 

So …. is it worth me buying an original (November 1998?) and, if so, does anyone have any suggestions of where I can get one, please?

 

Thanks.   

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Stephen Pope, aka Delta , is publishing towards the end of the year, the first book of a multi-volume history of the Tank Corps in the Great War. This info comes to you from Amazon.

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Dear John,

Thanks for posting "A Company of Tanks". 

The attached page makes one proud, knowing that one's grandfather was an AIF Coy Cdr...

Kindest regards,

Kim.companyoftanks00watsrich_0282.jpg.82f3cd22d79f103a4e293e701082ef23.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Kim, I can understand why you would be proud of that fact, on many fronts (to coin a phrase).  When he wrote this, William Watson was no doubt aware that his previous experience of working with the Australians had been a much unhappier affair, leading to mutual blame and recriminations which continued long after the war.  This relates to the Battle of Bullecourt in April 1917, and is also described in his book.

 

John

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First Bullacourt was indeed a disaster, with many fine Australian infantry and British Tank personnel lost.

 

It resulted in the Australians being very wary of relying on tank support until well into 1918. I've not had access to/read Watson's account - sounds like I should. 

 

Mike 

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3 hours ago, MKC said:

First Bullacourt was indeed a disaster, with many fine Australian infantry and British Tank personnel lost.

 

It resulted in the Australians being very wary of relying on tank support until well into 1918. I've not had access to/read Watson's account - sounds like I should. 

 

Mike 

“the Australians “? What, all of them?

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Even that's too strong.  Do we know that it was all of those present or all of those who survived?  No, we don't 

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Hi Gareth, this is an interesting question as I've also heard this said, i.e. that after 1st Bullecourt there was a general wariness about tanks on the part of Australian soldiers in general.  However it's always important to challenge these accepted statements, and it made me wonder whether there's any actual evidence.

 

It turns out that Watson himself made this comment - see p69 of A Company of Tanks.  There was also a letter from an anonymous tank officer about Bullecourt in the Royal Tank Corps Journal (Feb 1934) which makes a similar statement - see attached.

 

So it seems this was fairly widely believed within the Tank Corps, and it would be very interesting to see what the Australians themselves said.  Presumably Bean covers this in his writings and I wonder if anyone has come across statements that might support this?

 

John

Watson p69.JPG

RTC Journal Feb 1934 1.JPG

RTC Journal Feb 1934 2.JPG

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Just to add to this, a similar statement is made by Clough Williams-Ellis in the official history, The Tank Corps (p106).  He quotes A Company of Tanks as the source - but it shows again that this view was widely accepted.

 

John

Tank Corps p106.JPG

Edited by johntaylor
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