Before the formation of the Royal Armoured Corps, and at the time of the introduction of the tank, the first tank crews must have been recruited from elsewhere n the army.
My question is what was the actual crew composition, where did the first tank crews come from and how were they badged? I reckon that the drivers and mechanics would have been Army Service Corp!!! Tank commanders would probably have been junior infantry officers; infantry soldiers would probably have manned the machine guns and artillery men the heavier guns. Can anyone give an authorative answer on the Drivers?
If I can show that the first persons to drive tanks in combat were badged Army Service Corps I stand, at the next Cambrai dinner on the 22 Nov, to win a substantive bet with a modern day tanker who has been impertinent enough to disparage the ASC as non combatants.
You are correct. There is a report by the commander of this unit in the National Archives which I saw many years ago in which he alleges that many of the tanks in the first attack failed to get into action because the MGC crews sabotaged them.
He also describes the MGC as 'over-officered and under-disciplined' or words to that effect. Check out Mitchell's account of his training and experience in the Tank Corps.
