Lewis war diary, August 1917-March 1919 / James Ray Lewis - Page 118
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[Page 118]
Tanks were to be used as never before, the modern tank was a great improvement on the old ones. It carried I think 4 hotchkiss machine guns and two hotchkiss quickfirers, firing a two pound shell, which has two tiny copper driving bands. The tank can turn around in its own length, and hardly any obstacles will stop them, trenches, embankments fruitrees, and shell holes, its all the same, and a supply tank will carry as much as a fatigue party of 300 men. Tank wood, about 2 kilo's away, is said to be full of tanks, and one can see them about the river and hear them going up at night.
Aeroplanes had flown low over Fritz's line at night making a "chug, chug", sound like a tank so as not to wake Fritz up.
That evening a Fritz plane, had a go at one of our Balloons and the men jumped out with the parachutes; it was funny to see them swinging down a thousand feet or so. One can see the Abbey at Corbie from here, which reminds me that Morlancourt could be seen away in the distance on the left when in the line at Villers Brettoneux.
On the evening of the sixth, we moved up closer to the line, and camped in a trench for the night, and all next