JMB1943 Posted 15 June Share Posted 15 June (edited) @Gareth Davies @johntaylor A topic for the tank experts: How were British tanks numbered for purposes of identification? Were the white numbers on the hulls purely sequential serials? Regards, JMB Edited 15 June by JMB1943 Tag names Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 15 June Share Posted 15 June (edited) The letter and number combo such as this are crew numbers but most people refer to tanks by these numbers, even if it’s strictly not accurate. Edited 16 June by Gareth Davies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMB1943 Posted 16 June Author Share Posted 16 June Thank you, sir! Regards, JMB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 16 June Share Posted 16 June Hi, just to add that most tanks had two numbers. The crew or battalion number referred to above was normally at the front right as shown, but was sometimes on the rear armour plate to assist the following troops. These numbers started with the letter for each battalion (e.g. D for D Battalion, later 4th Tank Battalion). Tanks also had a smaller manufacturer's number painted on the lower left-hand side, which remained throughout the tank's life and wasn't transferred (unlike the crew number). It was also painted inside the cab above the commander's and driver's seats. Second Lieut James Cheyne Macintosh of D Bn described this in his book Men and Tanks, available online: https://archive.org/details/mentanks00maciiala/mode/2up: "It may here be explained that a Tank possesses two numbers, a manufacturer's number and a battalion number. The former is branded upon its hindquarters at birth, and remains until dissolution ; the latter varies from time to time according to which crew are inhabiting the beast at the moment, and is intended to facilitate identification at a distance." All the best, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMB1943 Posted 17 June Author Share Posted 17 June John, Thank you for that info. Could I assume that the manufacturer’s number WAS a serial number? Regards, JMB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 18 June Share Posted 18 June That's correct - the Landships website has done a great job of compiling a list of these numbers: https://sites.google.com/site/landships/home/general-tank-information/serial-numbers John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMB1943 Posted 26 June Author Share Posted 26 June John, Apologies for my very late response to your posting re the serial nos website—much appreciated. Regards, JMB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 27 June Share Posted 27 June No problem - I hope the information comes in useful! All the best, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenbecker Posted 12 hours ago Share Posted 12 hours ago Mates, I found this document in one of our war diaries and it maybe of interest page 103 from the 7 FAB part 2 datedBritish tank 8Bn.pdf June 1918 Hope this works as I am not good at this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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