‘Tankography’ of the first battle of Bullecourt: archival sources as tools to locate battlefield sites of tank wrecks

ABSTRACT

This article uses archival resources to investigate the material remains of tank warfare at Bullecourt. During the Battle of Arras, tanks were used to assist the British 1917 Spring Offensive. The first assault at Bullecourt was a complete disaster and in addition to the high infantry casualties, the majority of the tanks employed were destroyed on the battlefield. The action of the tanks, their routes and final positions in the landscape has often been neglected because accurate sources are limited. This article incorporates tankography viz. combining unit war diaries, contemporary historical aerial and ground photographs, and soldier’s testimonies to determine the spatial distribution and possible sites for locating material remains of the derelict tanks.

KEYWORDS:

• Tank warfare
• aerial and battlefield photography
• battlefield archaeology
• mapping and cartography
• spatial distribution

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. German postcards and unique photos held in private collections.

2. The artillery would concentrate on neutralising the German batteries.

3. Three instead of four as one did not start.

4. 2IC Captain Richard Haigh and Lieutenant Frederick ‘Jumbo’ King.

5. This study is able to identify the map (Bean 1917b) associated with Bean’s diary notes from the interview of Lt Colonel Raymond Leane, the commanding officer of 48 Battalion AIF, located in: Records of Charles E W Bean, Diary March–April 1917, AWM38 3DRL 606/75/1.

6. Tank 593 can also be seen in Figure 17 on 14 April 1917.

7. Nomenclature OG1 and OG2 refers to the first and second line trenches in the Hindenburg Line, and colloquially known as Old German 1 & 2 (Bean 1941, 287).

8. Jean and Denise Letaille founded the Bullecourt 1917 Museum.

9. See 12th Brigade War Diary April 1917 for comparison of 12 Brigade Order No 136 issued at 7.00 pm 10 April and final Order No 137 (no time recorded of issue).

10. Order No 137 (no time recorded of issue).

11. Newton Wanliss was the author of the unit history for 14 Battalion AIF, known as ‘Jacka’s Mob’. The author’s son, Captain Harold Boyd Wanliss, who participated at Bullecourt was later killed at Zonnebeke.

Additional information

Funding

This research was unfunded.

Notes on contributors

Brenton Brooks

Brenton Brooks is an independent scholar and member of the Military Historical Society of Australia. His particular interests include the Battles of Bullecourt in WWI and war crimes committed against Australians in WWII. The research focus is to account for the missing war dead based on analytical investigation of historic records.