Bovington, Dorset: Secret Tank Training

Available for over a year

The tank was invented to break the stalemate on the Western Front, and the problem of breaking through barbed wire. This new machine would cross trenches, survive machine guns, and act as shields for the infantry. It first saw action in September 1916, in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. They turned out to be unreliable, travelling at only half a mile an hour. But some significant gains were made and the potential of the tank was recognised. The small training camp in Suffolk soon became insufficient for the immense training programme that would be needed. So extra land was purchased in Dorset, and the new “Heavy Section Machine Gun Corps” moved to what is to this day its home. Dorset was chosen because it was regarded as isolated. The rolling downs, the woods and the streets in Bovington were regarded as being very similar to the battlefields of France. Location: Bovington Camp (near Wareham), Stanley Barracks, Dorset BH20 6JG Image shows a test drive of a 86-G3 - Mk III Female, at Bovington Camp Image courtesy of Bovington Tank Museum Presented by BBC Reporter Tony Adams