By 1918 British armor had evolved from the early Mark Is to the heavy Mark V. 1918 also saw the focus of both the Triple Entente and the Central Powers fixed firmly upon the Western Front for victory in the First World War. In order to achieve this, the British sought an armored vehicle that had greater mobility and speed. The Mark A Whippet medium tank satisfied the British requirements.
The Mark A Whippet Tank
The Mark A Whippet tank was one of medium design. William Tritton, an engineer of the William Foster and Company which specialized in agricultural machinery, developed the Whippet. The design specifications which Tritton met focused on the need for a tank light enough, but strong enough to capitalize upon the break through of the heavier Mark IV and Mark I tanks.
Characteristics of the Medium Mark A Whippet
The Whippet weighed in at 16 tons and could attain a maximum speed of 8.3 mph. The Whippet was 8ft 7in in width with a length of 20ft. The Whippet could also breach trenches up to 7ft in width and had a road range of 80 miles with the fuel it carried according to Randal Gray’s Kaiserschlacht 1918: The Final German Offensive.
The Whippet was powered by a twin 45bhp engine and carried a crew of four. The crew was protected 9ft high fighting compartment. This compartment carried 14mm armor plate from believed which the crew could fire the three to four Hotchkiss machineguns according to Gray. The compartment itself was ventilated by a fan, a distinct improvement over the stifling in earlier tanks.
The Whippet on the Western Front
By October 1917 the Whippet appeared on the Western Front. By 1918, and in response to German General Erich Ludendorff’s grand attack Kaiserschlacht, the General Staff of the British Expeditionary Force was employing the Whippet to its full potential. The heavier units of Mark IV and Mark V tanks broke through the German defensive positions in counterattacks the Whippets quickly followed.
The Whippets raced into the exposed rear areas. Unburdened by artillery pieces the crews of the Whippets employed their machineguns to devastating effect. The Hotchkiss guns inflicted tremendous casualties on reserve and rear area troops, but the Whippets were the prime targets of German anti-tank rifle crews.
Often being the first tanks deep in the enemy lines left the Whippets open to attack by German batteries and Panzers. While German armor was often simply captured and rebuilt Triple Entente machines, this still left the Whippets open to assault by the heavily armed armored Panzers. These German tanks were often accompanied by elite Stormtroopers who would swarm over a disabled Whippet and deliver the coup de grace.
The Whippet overall, however, is an excellent example of the evolution of military technology. Created to satisfy the need for fast and mobile armor, the Whippet did just that. While unable to stand up against heavier tanks, artillery, and the German anti-tank rifle, the Whippet could tear through rear areas, broadening the area of penetration for the attacking troops.
Sources
Bull, Stephen, Dr. Battle Tactics: Trench Warfare. Pennsylvania: Casemate.
Gray, Randal. Kaiserschlacht 1918: The Final German Offensive. London: Osprey Publishing, 1998.
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