Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Great War => Topic started by: tin shed gamer on 14 February 2016, 12:32:19 AM
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Does any have any information on the 4th divisions use of dummy tanks ?(if) My memory serves me they actually used them in an attack some time in mid to late 1918. I'd like to make a couple for a game.(they didn't actually look like mk4's or any other mark) I think they were comically oversized and and slightly more of pointed and angular rhomboid shape.But its been a long while. Since I've seen an image of one they were in a text book many many years ago.I hope its not a dodgy memory and they really did exist,otherwise this is going to make me sound odder than usual lol
Thanks in advance,
Mark.
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Just a quick Google search to get you started:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/E04934.jpg)
(http://www.cwgc.org/victory1918/imagelibrary/photo_lib/9813.jpg)
(https://www.awm.gov.au/images/collection/items/ACCNUM_SCREEN/C04505.JPG)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dummy_tank
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-armour/allied/aust-ww1.htm
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=OEQnC5e3vG0C&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=Australian+Dummy+Tanks&source=bl&ots=qCLlybf272&sig=hMG-BzyfQMNmnumd-FHzxcQ2K3Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi66ayUjvbKAhUCNJQKHcT5DJUQ6AEIQzAJ#v=onepage&q=Australian%20Dummy%20Tanks&f=false
http://www.cwgc.org/victory1918/imagelibrary/imageView.asp?imageid=181&start=64
There's also a whole lot of other designs I found, like a large wooden FT-17 (looks liek they used a 1/35 scale tank in a 28mm game lol).
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From http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1302421h.html#Image12:
"The other expedient was amusing, although no less effective. This was to make up for the shortage of real Tanks by fabricating a number of dummy ones. As soon as the word went round Engineers and Pioneers vied with each other in rapid "Tank" manufacture. Dumps and stores were clandestinely robbed of hessian, paint, wire nails, and battens, and some weird monstrosities were produced. The best and most plausible of them were selected, and actually used on the day of the battle. Four men dragged out each dummy, before dawn, into a position from which it was bound to be seen by the enemy and there abandoned it. There is little doubt that this trick contributed its share to the day's astonishing success."
(http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1302421h-images/Image12.jpg)
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Thank you Sir,
If anyone would know,it would be a local :D.
There not going to be a difficult build,(possibly card ;))just have to figure out how many feet to have sticking out the bottom. I know four men could move one ,but it's more a case of being arty farty and making it strong enough.
For me the art of deception ,and camouflage is a great source of painting inspiration ,we worry about how to paint something to look realistic ,Then look at the 'Ghost' armies of both ww1 and ww2,These deceptions are the work of professional artists,and a great way to learn about the use of shadows/shading.
Mark.