Chapter 4. Amiens. War Memoirs 1917-1919

The final check-up tended to be a somewhat desultory affair: throughout the whole of the approach march to the battle area, the tanks had been fully maintained. No matter what the fatigue of the crews, the orders were strict – before they went to attempt any rest whatever, the tanks were to be fully greased and oiled. In addition, the ammunition had been sized – that is to say, every round of small-arms ammunition carried by the tanks had been tested to see that its fit was perfect for the barrels of the machine-guns by dropping each single round into the breach and extracting it and replacing it in its clip. This arduous task had been made necessary because it was well known that there was much defective ammunition, in particular that supplied from the United States. This had now been withdrawn and was used only for practice purposes; it was useful for training in rectifying stoppages in machine-guns while they were firing. Nevertheless there were still anxieties that, by some chance, defective ammunition existed, and a stoppage of a machine-gun in battle was too serious a matter to be risked through any negligence in preparation.

As Asser saw over his tank and talked to his corporal, Corporal Smith, he noted the various items that had to be in order, and then passed on to have a word with other tank commanders, chatting to members of the crews and occasionally to the officers. He was at some pains to talk to Cartwright, who, he knew, must be very sore at having been displaced by him. It is doubtful whether a more experienced officer would have worried to do this, because it was quite clear that Cartwright was suffering not merely from chagrin at being displaced, but was already a seriously demoralized man. However, the

desultory exchange of comment went on and then Asser moved over to talk to Hauser, who, as usual, was fussing around with his crew and complaining bitterly of supposed defects in their preparations.

‘Are you looking for somebody?‘ Asser asked Carte