It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that one of the most famous and bloody examples of the use of tanks during the First World War was the raid of the British tank "Music Box", which took place on August 8, 1918 on the first day of the Battle of Amiens - the so-called "Black Day of the German army ". Then the tank "Whippet" under the command of the Cavalier of the British Empire Lieutenant Arnold penetrated into the rear of the German positions and stayed there for ten hours, inflicting great damage on the enemy and bringing chaos and demoralization into his ranks. This story is remarkable, and it is high time to tell it.
Tank "Whippet" ("Greyhound") moves to the front line. For quick identification, red and white cockades are painted in front of the nose armor plate and track screens.
Tank "Music Box" "Whippet" belonged to Company B, 6th Battalion. The crew, in addition to Arnold himself, included two more: the machine gunner Ribbans and the driver Carney - that is, the standard crew of this machine, which was considered a "high-speed tank" in the British army. Its design was primitive. It was planned to put a rotating turret with a machine gun on the tank, but something did not work out with it, and the tank received a wheelhouse, from which four Hotchkiss machine guns protruded in all directions.
It was planned that way, but it did not become that way.
The story of the "Music Box" began at 4.20 am, hour "X", August 8, 1918, when the offensive of the British troops began and she moved towards Villers-Bretonne. Lieutenant Arnold later recalled: "We crossed the railroad and passed through the Australian infantry, moving under the cover of our heavy tanks (Mark V.)"
However, further Arnold and his comrades were not lucky. “After 2000 yards, I was left alone, our other tanks were thrown back. I saw the Mk V tanks followed by the Australian infantry. Then I came under direct fire from a German four-gun field battery. What this means can only be understood by those who know that the then field cannon could fire at a speed of ten to twenty rounds per minute, that is, fire forty shells in just one vain minute. The battery's firing was so accurate that it knocked out two Mk V tanks moving alongside the Music Box. Arnold reacted by turning to the left and, reaching maximum speed, moved diagonally along the front of the battery at a distance of 600 yards, maneuvering in such a way as to fire at the target with two machine guns at once. Arnold then reached the group of trees and became immune to artillery fire. Then he moved in line with the battery, turned to the right and attacked it from behind.
But he became like that! The Whippet from Bavington.
The Germans did not have time to deploy their guns, as the machine gunner Ribbans and Arnold finished them off with the fire of their machine guns. The destruction of the German battery was immediately reflected in the infantry. "The Australians also moved forward and took cover behind a road 400 yards in front of the abandoned battery."
Here Arnold allowed himself a little rest: "I got out of the tank and asked the Australian lieutenant if he wanted help, and during our conversation he was hit by a bullet in the shoulder." There was no choice but to get back into the tank and ride it further. Where to? East, of course. There, where shots rang out and clearly there was a battle, because here everything was already over.
“Moving further east, I came to a narrow ravine, marked on my map as an 'ammunition depot.'When I approached, there were many people and many boxes, and when I opened fire on people, they began to scatter and hide. I drove around the ravine, and then Ribbans went out and counted the dead, which turned out to be about sixty."
There were four such machine guns on the Whippet!
Then Arnold turned to the left of the railroad and made a "trip around the world" along the front line, along the trenches of the enemy infantry. “We fired at them from 200 to 600 yards away. As our cruise continued, enemy losses grew.” And then his tank ended up in the rear of the Germans. "I did not see any more of our troops or vehicles after the departure of our cavalry patrol, but decided to continue moving." The tank was continuously fired upon with rifle fire. Bullets clicked on the armor, but they could not penetrate it. The other thing was bad. Additional cans of gasoline were hung on the outside of the tank. Bullets, of course, pierced them and gasoline, flowing out and evaporating, made staying in the tank simply unbearable. Therefore, the tankers had to put on gas masks, the duration of which was about 10 hours.
Whippet and British infantry.
Nevertheless, despite all these difficulties, the tank continued to move. "At about two evenings, I headed east again and ended up at a large airfield, where I fired at the vehicles there and shot down a balloon with two observers who fell from a great height and, of course, crashed."
Then Arnold's tank shot a truck moving along the road and went out to the railway. “The railroad was very close, and I saw many soldiers landing at ranges from 400 to 500 yards. I started shooting at them and did a lot of damage to them. Leaving them in a panic, the "Music Box" moved on, firing successively at the retreating columns of German troops, as well as at motor and horse transport from a distance of 600 - 800 yards. Here the tank came under fierce fire, and the ball mount of one of the machine guns was damaged. Arnold pulled a machine gun out of it and closed the hole. For a nine-hour stay under fire, this was minimal damage, but fate should not be tested for so long, and the lieutenant forgot about it. Gasoline, abundantly flowing out of the punctured canisters, flared up at this time. Driver Carney tried to turn around, but then their tank received two shell hits at once.
The "music box" is in the hands of the Germans!
“Carney and Ribbans opened the door and collapsed to the ground. I also managed to fall to the ground, and I was able to drag both of them away, as the flaming gasoline ran towards us along the ground. Fresh air revived us, we all got up and made a short dash to get away from the burning gasoline … At that moment Carney was shot in the stomach and died."
It's good that this tank had such a big door!
“Then I saw how the enemies were approaching me from all sides. The first one ran up to me with a rifle and a bayonet. I grabbed it and the front of the bayonet slid into my forearm. The second man hit me on the head with a rifle butt. When I regained consciousness, there were already dozens of German soldiers around me, and everyone who could get to me tried to hit me. He further writes that since the clothes soaked in gasoline were still smoldering on him, then … these blows, in general, were even useful, because they completely knocked the flame off him.
It was from such field guns that the Germans fired at and knocked out an English tank.
“In the end we went to the dugout. Later we passed the field kitchen, where I showed by signs that I was hungry. We haven't had anything to eat since 8.30am so no wonder I got hungry. I was then taken to the senior officer and interrogated. When I answered, “I don’t know,” he said, “Do you mean you don’t know, or will you not tell me? "I replied:" As you want, understand! ", After which he hit me in the face and left." Only after that, Arnold was fed, bandaged wounds and again sent for interrogation.
“The second time, when I was interrogated, I received five days of solitary confinement in a room without a window - this time, however, they gave me some soup and bread. Here Arnold threatened to report the behavior of the officer who interrogated him to the senior in rank, and this threat made a terrible impression on the German. He was immediately sent to a prisoner of war camp in Freiburg, where he … met his brother, taken prisoner shortly before! And then in a camp near Canterbury, in January 1919, through which the brothers were repatriating, they met a living machine gunner Ribbans.
Lieutenant Arnold in a POW camp. Freiburg, 1918
In general, the raid of the "Music Box" tank lasted from 4-20 to 15-30. The losses inflicted by him on the enemy, the British assessed as approximately the same as in the same conditions an infantry brigade could inflict on him at the cost of … the failure of half of its composition.
From the book "Battle Tanks - A Story of the Royal Armored Corps in Action 1916-1919", published in 1929, edited by G. Murray Wilson.
Distinguished Service Order (DSO) Distinguished Service Order from Lieutenant Arnold.
P. S. When Lieutenant Arnold returned to England in 1919, he was awarded the Order of Distinguished Service, which was usually awarded with the rank of major and above, and only in exceptional cases to junior officers. The command considered that this was just such a case!
