This idea--of the use of mechanical means to save casualties--undoubtedly had much to do with the production in the Tank Corps, a new unit and without traditions, of the very high _esprit de corps_ it has always shown, and without which it could not have developed successfully.
"Tanks were first used by the British on the 15th September, 1916, in the Battle of the Ancre.

They had, however, been designed to meet the conditions which existed _in the preceding year_, before the tremendous artillery bombardments of the middle stages of the war reduced the ground to a series of shell-holes and craters, which were so closely continuous over a large area of ground that they could not possibly be avoided.

Compared with the latest type of tank, our first effort--known as Mark I .-- may appear crude; but much genius had been expended upon it, and it is worth noting that both the French and German tanks, produced long after this tank, were much inferior to it.
"The Ypres salient, let me begin by saying, was never favourable to the employment of tanks.

In the Third Battle of Ypres (31st July to November, 1917), which I personally believe to have been the hardest battle of the whole war, the tanks were unable to cope with the wet and shelled ground." Nevertheless, towards the end of the Ypres battle the tank attack in the first Battle of Cambrai was being planned, and there, at last, the enthusiasts of the Tank Corps had the conditions for which they had been long hoping--a good ground and a surprise attack.
"It is important to remember, the letter continues, that the Hindenburg line at that time presented an insoluble problem.

The _sea of wire_ which protected its well-developed trenches and machine-gun positions was placed almost throughout on the _reverse slope_ of the hills or rising ground of which the line took advantage.