US troops digging in pause to watch a Whippet tank.
Whippet Tank in actionTroops digging in - FranceLogo: The Chicago Daily News War PostalsReverse:The Chicago Daily NewsG. J. KavanaughWar Postal Card Department
"April 5th.—The Brigade has been on an hour's notice to move since midnight, but no one slept less soundly. Our other Brigades have gone to meet a German attack between Albert and Aveluy ('Aveloy') Wood, made at 7 this morning. Early reports understated the German success; the counter-attack failed. Our Brigade has been transferred to Army Reserve. Companies are on the range at last. Officers are reconnoitring again. The day is gloomy, there's more rain. The new 'Cavalry' Tanks, 'whippets,' are armed with machine guns only, are easy to manœuvre and do fifteen miles an hour instead of three, like the old heavily-armed pattern."
Entry for April 5, 1918 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J. C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and fellow soldiers who served with him. Dunn had reached Hédauville, France, 20 km northeast of Amiens on the night of April 2nd, to reinforce the British line against the German Somme Offensive, Operation Michael, which was suspended on the 5th.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 464, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
1918-04-05, 1918, April, Whippet, Whippet tank
