Mark I - British first tank

The history of tank began in the
United Kingdom, 1916.

World War I tears apart Europe with a conflict in a scale never seen before. The British army urges for a machine capable of turn the tides of war in its favor.

The Mark.I was based on a urgent need for a machine that could break through enemy lines, moving over trenches while dealing with enemy fire using its machine guns (4x  .303 / 7.62 mm Hotchkiss) to decimate infantry while the cannons (2x Hotchkiss QF 6 pdr / 57 mm) deals with fortified structures and MG nests.

Weighting 28 tons the Mark I was powered by a 105 hp six cylinders petrol engine, the hull used plates of 6 to 15 mm thick in a very distinctive shape with tracks going all around it providing good capacity to cross obstacles, the armament covers the flank of the tank for a good purpose, shot inside the trench while crossing it.

Despite its very low speed of only 3.7 mph (5.95 kmh), high rate of breakdown and cramped space for the crew with a hot engine and pipes in the middle of crew compartment, the Mark I proved to successfully accomplish its purpose having its baptism of fire in September 1916 in the Battle of Flers-Courcelett when they surprised the German troops in the dawn of a new era in war, ever since these heavy armored vehicles called tank changed the way of every conflict.