5 Battalion 22 August 1918

The Battle of Albert. 22^nd August 1918 (or 21^st August – war diary)

5^th Battalion with 142^nd brigade, 47^th Division, III Corp, 4^th Army ^(OH)

5^th Battalion had 6 tanks in action on 22^nd August 1918

Composite Company - Maj Gatehouse MC ^(H5)

“A” Company

3 tanks

“B” Company

3 tanks

Two, three or four of:

9096 (m)

9176 (m)

9147 (m)

9409 (f)

9034 (m)

Notes

The allocation of 5^th Battalion to 142^nd Brigade is an educated guess as the 5^th Battalion records don’t indicate which units the tanks were supporting and the Official History doesn’t indicate which tanks were supporting the infantry.

The five tanks whose WD numbers are listed were all received by 4^th Battalion on 25^th August, 4 of these tanks were presumably those handed over by 5^th battalion. ^(W4a)

Orders

“A” Coy were to clear the happy valley. ^(H5)

“B” Coy to support infantries attack on first objective, a line beyond the Bray – Meaulte Road. ^(H5)

zero was 4:45am; tanks to start at z -12mins. ^(H5)

Account of Operations

Tanks were shelled and crews gassed at their lying up place. ^(H5) K11o.5.c ^(W5)

The tanks advanced in a thick mist, further thickened by the smoke in the barrage. The tanks and infantry advanced, the tanks silencing MG nest. The infantry took the first objective by 8am with light casualties. All 3 “B” company tanks were hit and knocked out, 2 were burnt out.

“A“ company successfully cleared the happy valley, one tank being knocked out. The other two tanks towed 2 tanks back with them. ^(H5)

The official history states 5 of the 6 tanks supporting the 142^nd Brigade were knocked out, the sixth entered Happy Valley and rounded up some Germans before engine trouble and crew casualties forced its withdrawal. ^(OH)

One tank was equipped with a wireless, this was also knocked out, it is not clear if this was one of the 6 MK V or a MK IV ^(W5)

Summary

Total Tanks: 6

Failed to Start:

Engaged enemy:

Ditched / Broke Down:

Hit and Knocked out: 4

Rallied: 2

Aftermath

All four of 5^th battalion’s surviving tanks were handed to 4^th battalion on the 25^th august. ^{(H5) (W5)}

Sources

H5 - 5^th Battalion War History - transcript from Bovington tank museum.

W5 - 5^th Battalion War Diary - transcript from Bovington tank museum.

W4a – 4^th tank battalion - Summery of Tanks on Strength – August 1918. - PRO WO 95-110

OH – Official history. 1918. Volume IV p197 and 199

Albert - 21 to 29 August 1918