PUFF88
Scharfuehrer
Posts: 388
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Post by PUFF88 on Dec 31, 2002 15:02:15 GMT -5
I was watching i believe it was Heavy Metal , on the history channel. They said when England first started making its first tank , the little willie, it was so top secret they told the civilian contractors that it was a water carrier for troops in the deserts of Africa. So they started calling it a tank. and the name stuck. Kinda funny i thought.
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Jan 1, 2003 4:33:35 GMT -5
Yea, I remember that. Strange how a name sticks. Then if you think about it what else would you call it thinking in terms of early 20th century mentality, if the name tank had not stuck?  Today we have names Main Battle Tank, or Armored Fighting Vehicle, etc. |
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Post by cadfael on Aug 20, 2006 7:17:13 GMT -5
To the best of my knowledge, the original name for the tank was the 'Land Battleship'. This was, I seem to recall, to much of a give away should it become widespread knowledge, so it was given the cover name of 'the tank' Whether or not as a 'water carrier in the deserts of Africa' or not, I don't know. Only thing is we weren't actually fighting anyone in the deserts of Africa at the time - Arabia and Palestine, now that's a different matter. I can't seem to recall the use of tanks against the Turks; armoured cars, yes, and of course terrorists/insurgents/guerrillas (depending on who you were talking to at the time).
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