Guy Martin builds exact replica of First World War tank

TV daredevil Guy Martin spent five months hand building an exact replica of a 30-tonne First World War tank from scratch. 

Filming the project for a Channel 4 show, the motorcycle racer and mechanic built a British Mark IV tank – which rumbled into action for the time 100 years ago tomorrow at Cambrai, Northern France.

The creation was in tribute to the engineers who designed them and the eight-man crews who drove them into the fierce heat of battle during the First World War.

Such was the deafening noise the machines produced, soldiers inside the steel hull were forced to use sign language to communicate, and risked carbon monoxide poisoning from engine fumes.

‘It’s hot. It stinks. It takes two of us to drive it. And you’re going nowhere fast,’ Guy told The Mirror, having driven the Mark IV for the first time on camera.    

Adding: ‘That’s all very well when you’re driving around a car park but with six more people in it – and you’re getting shot at – it’s a different matter.

‘I’ve nothing but respect for those guys 100 years ago.’

Coincidentally, Guy, 36, was born in Lincolnshire, the same area where agricultural engineers William Foster & Co designed and built the revolutionary war machines.

The tanks were 26ft long by 10ft wide and rolled on to the battlefield at the Battle of Cambrai on November 20, 1917. 

It was the first time tanks had been used en mass, as part of a strategic land and air attack, designed to penetrate Germany’s supposedly impenetrable lines, breaking the bloody stalemate at Passchendaele and Ypres.

They had previously been used sparingly in support roles such as the 72 tanks hidden in south-west of Ypres at the Battle of Messines but never so aggressively, and never in these numbers.

And so on November 20, 1917, about 476 Mark IV tanks were made ready for the battlefield, facing down German heavy artillery weaponry.

The creation was in tribute to the engineers who designed them and the eight-man crews who drove them into the fierce heat of battle during the First World War. Such was the deafening noise the machines produced, soldiers inside the steel hull were forced to use sign language to communicate, and risked carbon monoxide poisoning from engine fumes

Coincidentally, Guy, 36, was born in Lincolnshire, the same area where agricultural engineers William Foster & Co designed and built the revolutionary war machines. The tanks were 26ft long by 10ft wide and rolled on to the battlefield at the Battle of Cambrai on November 20, 1917

Despite significant improvements in maneuverability and weaponry from it’s predecessor the Mark I – the Mark II and III only incorporating minor improvements, spending much of their run in training sequences – the Mark IV’s weaknesses were still exposed, with many succumbing to gunfire, shelling and mechanical frailties. 

Come the second day of the battle, only around half of the tanks readied for action were still operational, having pushed just five miles into enemy territory.

William Foster & Co would go on to build 1,220 tanks but only seven originals still exist, rusted and broken.

Guy’s task was made all the harder as no original blueprints for the designs still exist, meaning his team created a 3D design using modern computer technology based on old photographs and a Haynes Workshop manual.  

It was the first time tanks had been used en mass, as part of a strategic land and air attack, designed to penetrate Germany’s supposedly impenetrable lines, breaking the bloody stalemate at Passchendaele and Ypres. They had previously been used sparingly in support roles such as the 72 tanks hidden in south-west of Ypres at the Battle of Messines

On November 20, 1917, about 476 Mark IV tanks were made ready for the battlefield, facing down German heavy artillery weaponry. Guy painstakingly rebuilt one from scratch, including the insides, weaponry stations and periscopes

The steel chassis was welded together by a team at JCB’s factories in Staffordshire.

He also enlisted Hertfordshire-based engineers Chasestead Ltd to manufacture more than 360 components, including gun mounts, periscopes and even 3,000 fake rivets for authenticity.  

Like the Mark I before it, the tanks came in Male and Female versions, which differed based on their weaponry and usage – some heavily attack orientated, others used for defensive or support roles. 

While no original Daimler engine exists, Guy was able to procure an old Rolls-Royce engine, bought some 25 years ago by a tank enthusiast Stephen Machaye for only £100. 

Guy’s task was made all the harder as no original blueprints for the designs still exist, meaning his team created a 3D design using modern computer technology based on old photographs and a Haynes Workshop manual

The steel chassis was welded together by a team at JCB’s factories in Staffordshire. He also enlisted Hertfordshire-based engineers Chasestead Ltd to manufacture more than 360 components, including gun mounts, periscopes and even 3,000 fake rivets for authenticity

Guy and his team called their creation Deborah II, after one discovered buried on the Cambrai battlefield in 1998.  

In a poignant moment, Guy’s team achieved their dream of driving the tank on the Cambrai battlefield in a moving re-enactment of the first battle.

Starting at the same spot, Guy said: ‘I won’t ever forget driving this incredible tank across the historic battlefield on such a ­significant day. It was a very emotional experience as we stood quietly and remembered those who died at Cambrai.’

Guy and his team called their creation Deborah II, after one discovered buried on the Cambrai battlefield in 1998. In a poignant moment, Guy’s team achieved their dream of driving the tank on the Cambrai battlefield in a moving re-enactment of the first battle 

The Mark IV came fourteen months after the Mark I faltered into action at the Battle of Fleurs-Corcelette on September 15, 1916. 

Still in their design infancy and plagued with mechanical errors, only 32 of the 49 tanks shipped to The Somme took part in the initial assault and only nine made it across no-man’s land.

But their introduction signalled a new, deadly era in modern warfare that would swing the pendulum in the Allied forces favour in the harsh, deadlocked trenches of Northern France.  

The war was into its third year and Britain had suffered huge casualties. What was meant to have been a swift victory had turned into a prolonged, bloody campaign.

The Mark I tank, pictured, had four successive remodels based on feedback from the Battle of Flers Courcelette (pictured: Mark I tank)

The heavily shelled ground made advancement in large numbers impossible without risking the lives of thousands of troops.

Plans for a vehicle that could overcome the arduous terrain had been considered before but none had come to fruition.

It was left to Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, to establish the Landships Committee in 1915, to tackle the stalemate.

Armoured vehicles were soon developed to be able to travel over difficult terrain, cross trenches, resist small-arms fire and to capture enemy positions by breaking through no man’s land. 

Soldiers pictured repairing trenches next to a damaged Mark I tank after it broke down during The Somme, a common problem with early tanks (pictured: Mark I tank)

According to Peter Johnston the Head of Collections, Development and Review at the National Army Museum, it was the Royal Navy that spearheaded the development of the tank.

Mr Johnston said: ‘Initially called ‘landships’, they became known as tanks after factory workers at William Fosters and Co. in Lincoln likened them to steel water tanks. 

‘There were two types of tanks, male and female versions. The male version had two quick firing 6-pounder naval guns attached while the female carried five machine guns.

‘The tank was not ready for deployment until 1916, and even then it was considered hasty by the French who felt their use in limited numbers had cost the Allied forces the crucial advantage of surprise.

The tanks were too primitive to make a lasting impact but did prompt a mass manufacture of later models (pictured: Mark I tank production line at William Foster & Co’s factory in Lincolnshire)

‘The battle took place ten weeks into The Somme. The great advance hadn’t gone as planned and Britain has suffered 60,000 casualties already. Fighting had regressed and shrunk into smaller, localised battles and one of such was Flers-Courcelette.’

Churchill considered the design too primitive for successful deployment. Yet the need for a decisive victory meant that the battle was too crucial to not take the risk.

On the 15 September 1916, 32 tanks were fielded in battle for the first time ever, and made their way across no man’s land as part of a creeping barrage.

Though their introduction served a purpose in terms of shocking the enemy, they’re effectiveness was debatable.

Early on in the battle the use of a tank alongside an infantry assault inflicted huge casualties on the enemy at Leuze Wood, but it was eventually stopped at Combles Trench after being set alight.

Many others broke down or failed to navigate the wide trenches, while their armour failed to stop large calibre bullets. 

Recognising their lack of progress with tanks, the Germans often chose to restore damaged British tanks rather than build their own (Mark I pictured)

The tanks’ vulnerabilities were exposed and even the nine surviving vehicles were so badly damaged that they played no further role in the war.

Even when they did break through enemy lines, the tactics were so new that troops had little idea how to capitalise on their advantage, meaning the battle, while ending in victory, was far from decisive. 

Mr Johnston said ‘What they [tanks] did show, however, was the enormous potential of armoured warfare and in 1917 the Royal Tank Corp, the oldest tank corps in existence was formed, which allowed crucial tactical development and refinement.

‘Their usage was a game changer in warfare. While the victory was achieved, it was far from decisive and the Germans had retained much of their ground.’ he added.

Ironically, it was actually the Germans who would go on to use tanks to greater effect in future conflicts, with the Panzer division often dominating the battlefield in the Second World War. 

The use of the tank paved the way for the creation of the Royal Tank Corp in 1917 which led to technical improvements (Mark I pictured)

Recognising the tanks’ capabilities for warfare, Adolf Hitler ensured the mass mechanisation of his army along with an innovative battle tactic called the Blitzkrieg – a quick, powerful and mobile attack designed to shock and outmanoeuvre enemies.

In the hundred years since their introduction, the tank has gone through a battle tested and technologically led evolution making it crucial in ground combat. 

Though it was a British innovation that changed combat forever, Flers-Courcelette will be remembered ultimately as a failure for the tank.

Its success however, was to offer a glimpse into the potential of mechanised combat, changing the face of warfare in the decades to come.