War Office: Tanks manual, 1918 (WO 158/832)
We hope you enjoyed watching our Education Service video with collections expert Will Butler looking at our War Office series. This video focuses on a manual from August 1918 about the role of tanks in warfare. It helps explore the impact of this technology during the First World War.
Download Spotlight On: Tanks Resource Pack
Employment of tanks, 1916-18. Catalogue Ref: WO 158/832
Watch the video then try and answer the following questions:
- What was the War Office?
- When was it created?
- What type of sources can be found in the War Office collection?
- What does this reveal about the range of material available?
- What is the date of the document examined in the video?
- What does the earlier correspondence in the file suggest about the document examined?
- From looking at the cover of the document, why do you think the document says it is for ‘For Official use only’?
- Who issued the document?
- Can you explain the purpose of the document?
- Why does the document say on its cover that is ‘ To supersede….S.164…S.S..204…S.S.135’
- What insight, according to the video, does the document reveal about military views on:
- The use of tanks on the battlefield
- How they should be used by the military in an offensive
- The impact of tanks on the enemy?
- Find out about the use of tanks at: Battle of Flers-Courcelette (15th September 1916); Battle of Cambrai (1917), the first large scale use of tanks. For more information on the use of tanks in the First World War see the Imperial War Museum
- Use The National Archives research guides to find records on the First World War.
Related Resources
- Medicine on the Western Front (part one)
- How did trench warfare affect injuries and treatment?
- Medicine on the Western Front (part two)
- How did trench warfare affect injuries and treatment?
- Letters from the First World War, part one
- How did these men experience the conflict? (1915)
- Letters from the First World War, part two
- How did these men experience the conflict? (1916 – 18)
- Great War soldier’s record
- What can we find out?
Connections to Curriculum
Key stage 4
- AQA GCSE History
- Conflict and tension: the First World War, 1894–1918: Military developments in 1918 and their contribution to Germany’s defeat: the evolution of tactics and technology.
Key stage 5
- Edexcel GCE History
- The British experience of warfare, c1790–1918: Western Front: the use of new fighting techniques and new technology.
- OCR GCE History
- The Changing Nature of Warfare 1792–1945: The impact of technological change