8 Battalion 9 August 1918

The Tanks at Amiens. 9^th August 1918

8 Battalion, with 8^th Brigade, 5^th Australian Div, Aus Corp, 4^th Army ^(OH)

8 Battalion, Composite Company had 7 fighting tanks in action on 9^th August 1918 ^(W8):

Composite Company – Major J Bennewith

4 tanks from A Company

Probably 4 of the following:

H7, 9015, 2Lt Atherton F

H8, 9324, Sgt Wynni AD

H10, 9439, 2Lt Gibson JW

H11, 9054, 2Lt Vickers WA

H12, 9393, 2Lt Eastwood H

2 tanks from C Company

9310, Lt Jackson

9198, 2Lt Still

Notes

Crew number H10 an educated guess other crew numbers correct for 4^th July 1918.

Orders

Seven tanks allocated ^(W25) to support 8^th AIF Brigade, 29^th AIF Battalion attack ^(w8bAus) on line west of Vauvillers and High ground North and south thereof. ^(W8)

Account of Operations

The Brigade narrative and battalion war diary both list five tanks as being in action. The war diary states four tanks were knocked out, the narrative states three were knocked out and one rallied ^(W25)(w8) the author has assumed the Brigade War Diary is correct.

Attack delayed by enemy shelling so started at 11.40am without the barrage that came down at the original 11am Zero hour. The tanks were rapidly knocked out by an unsuppressed AT gun firing from a shed in Vauvillers ^(OH) (Vauxvillers ^(w25)) before the village was reached, ^(w8bAus) three [two] “A” company tanks and 9310 were knocked out. 9198 ditched; ^(W8) the final tank carried on and rallied ^(w25) the infantry thus suffered casualties from MG fire. ^(w8bAus) 2Lt Gibson died on on this date ^(CWG) so presumably 9439 is one of the KO "A" Company tanks.

Crew of one knocked out tank bailed out and immediately engaged enemy with Hotchkiss guns until Infantry came forward. Another tank, despite seeing five tanks knocked out by AT fire, still advanced on and silenced an MG nest in K9d.9.5. 29^th AIF Battalion infantry expressed admiration at the tanks work. ^(w8bAus)

Two Officers killed, Five officers and eighteen other ranks wounded (one other rank on duty), two other ranks missing. ^(W8)

Captain Viveash, who was not involved in the action died on this day, apparently of natural causes ^{(S61.p229) (CWG)}

All objectives were taken but co-operation with the infantry was poor. Neither 9310 nor 9198 rallied. ^(W8)

Summary

Total Tanks: 7

Failed to Start: 2

Engaged enemy:

Ditched / Broke Down: 1

Hit and Knocked out: 3

Rallied: 1

Note

Failed to start is an educated guess.

Rallied doesn't include the two tanks that failed to start.

Aftermath

“A” Company had three tanks and one salvaged tank left, they moved to Bayonvillers on the evening of the 9^{th (W8)}.

“B” Company moved 6 tanks to Bayonvillers ^(W8).

“C” Company moved 5 tanks to Bayonvillers ^(W8).

H51 , 9310 photographed ditched: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7700258@N05/937583018/in/set-72157601074581465/

Sources

W8 – 8^th tank Battalions War Diary transcript form Bovington tank museum.

W8bAus – 8^th Australian Brigades War Diary. Downloaded from AWM.

W29aus – 29^th Australian Battalions War Diary. Downloaded from AWM.

OH – Official History. 1918. Volume IV. Pg 105

S61 – Rolling into Action 1936 DE Hickey p229

W25 – 5^th Tank Brigade War Diary. Narrative of Operations in PRO WO 95 / 112

Amiens