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Season 2023 – Talk 17- Deborah
In ‘Deborah’ Jim Hastie tells us the story about the First World War Tank D51, Deborah.
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Jim tells us that Deborah is a very favourite lady of his. He says that this is her story in the Battle of Cambrai, the first major tank battle in November 1917.
Deborah was a female tank. A part of D Battalion in the Royal Tank Corps.
Male and Female tanks:
150 tanks are built, 75 male and 75 female. Male tanks have sponsons mounting a 57mm 6 pounder gun whilst female tanks have two cumbersome sponsons designed to carry two Vickers, water cooled, heavy machine guns.
Why Deborah? Tanks receive a name, often of wives or girlfriends, before their first battle. The names have the prefix HMLS – His Majesty’s Landship.
In 1917 there are two tanks with the name ‘Deborah’. This is the story of the second, now preserved in France.
Deborah II and Cambrai:
Second Lieutenant Frank Heap commands a new Mark IV female tank. Manufacturer number 2620, crew number D51 and the name Deborah with a crew of 7.
These tanks are not very reliable and Deborah is knocked out by shellfire. Today four of the crew are buried side by side at the British cemetery at Flesquieres Hill.
Recovery and display:
Cambridge schoolboy, Philippe Gorzinski, has a passion about World War I tanks and a desire to find relics in and around Cambrai.
In 1977 he meets local shopkeeper, Michael Bacquet, known locally as Iron Man. Iron Man contacts British service organisations and French civic authorities and a 60th anniversary reunion takes place. There are more than 60 men with an average age of 82 there.
In 1992, their investigation takes them Marthe Bouleux, a teenager in 1917, who tells them about a buried tank.
Listen to Jim tell the full story and also talk about Talbot House, in Poporinge, a refuge for all service personnel irrespective of rank.
About this podcast:
This is an edited recording of a talk given to the Farnham u3a World History: Ancient, Medieval and Modern Group.
This podcast is also available through Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Deezer, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher , Vurbl , You Tube and others.
AKM Music licenses Media Magazine for use with this talk.
© The MrT Podcast Studio and Farnham u3a World History: Ancient, Medieval and Modern Group 2018 – 2024
