The Tanks At Flers

The Tanks at Flers: An Account of The First Use of Tanks In War at The Battle of Flers-Courcelette, The Somme, 15 September 1916.

Now available: Trevor Pidgeon’s definitive work on the first use of the tank in warfare, updated and republished as a boxed collector’s edition. 

The Tanks at Flers: An Account of The First Use of Tanks In War at The Battle of Flers-Courcelette, The Somme, 15 September 1916 was first published in 1995 following years of meticulous research, but has been out of print for many years.

Drawing on war diaries, operational orders, plans, field maps, correspondence, first-hand accounts, and photographs from both sides, his was the first work to appropriately commemorate the officers and men of the world’s first tank unit.

The Tanks at Flers begins with the genesis of the tank, its trials and acceptance into service, the selection of tank crews and their training before examining the action at Flers-Courcellete.

Readers will learn how the tanks were deployed in support of the infantry divisions, and how they and their crews faired with the fighting described in detail.

Each chapter closes with a Field Guide which takes the reader step by step over the battlefield as it is today so readers might follow in the footsteps of the tanks as they went into action.

The Tanks at Flers has been updated and enriched with new research by historian Stephen Pope, author of The First Tank Crews and is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the First World War and the development of the tank.

Each copy comes boxed with rescanned A2 maps and a new foreword from The Tank Museum’s David Fletcher.

This book has been made using FSC certified paper and card