A Company of Tanks
Authentic WW1 Memoirs of 1917-18
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A Company of Tanks
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Narrated by:
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Stephen Lowe Watson
About this listen
A Company of Tanks, first published in 1920, is the final part of WHL Watson's memoirs of World War One. Watson, a young History graduate from Oxford University, enlisted as a corporal in the Royal Engineers on the outbreak of the war and was sent over to France as a motorcycle despatch rider. In 1915 he published Adventures of a Despatch Rider based on his letters home, but by then he had been promoted to Lieutenant and transferred to the Divisional Cyclists (known as the Gaspipe Cavalry because the cycle frame tubes resembled gas pipes).
A Company of Tanks picks up his story in October 1916, when Major Watson (as he had become) volunteered to join the Heavy Machine Gun Corps (as the Tank Corps was then called) and was placed in command of No. 11 Company, D Battalion. Watson tells how the tank crews trained by carrying dummy tanks of wood and canvas (to the great amusement of local children) before engaging in initially disastrous battles. At Bullecourt, tanks were delayed by a blizzard and then, conspicuous against snow, devastated by enemy fire that penetrated inadequate armor. In the Third Battle of Ypres they were bogged down in mud and gassed. Lessons were learned, and at Cambrai tanks began be used more successfully. At the end of 1917, after a bout of trench fever, Watson returned to England to form a company of "carrier tanks" (used to provide logistical support on the battlefield) which he commanded in France until the end of the war.
After the war, Watson joined the Civil Service and rose to high rank in the Ministry of Labour before his untimely death in 1932, at the age of 41.
A Company of Tanks is a personal memoir filled with details of the messy process of industrial war, with its tragedy and horror but also humor, people, landscape, food, and drink. It will be of interest to professional historians or anyone interested in World War One. In this audiobook, it is read by Stephen Lowe Watson, a grandson of the author.
©1920 Stephen Lowe Watson (P)2017 Stephen Lowe WatsonListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about A Company of Tanks
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 02-02-22
A wonderful story of an officer and his men
absolutely great narration with a story that grips you even in it's quite moment's.
It manages to convey insightfully and entertainingly detailed recollections of the often overlooked parts of conflict.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- A. DONALDSON
- 17-08-23
Well narrated diary of a tank officer
A well narrated story (narrator is descendant of the writer) telling the story of an officer commanding a company of tanks over several years during the second half of WW1. This is not a diary of an officer serving inside the tanks so you will not get stories of what it was like inside one as the author was a senior officer generally in an organisational position. Still a well written account but if you are after a book discussing what it was like to serve in a tank in WW1 then this is not the one.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Lord Raglan
- 26-09-23
Disappointing
I'm sorry to say that this is a boring book to listen to..for two main reasons.
Firstly , even though it is a true account from a real person, the way all of it is arranged and told is in a very disjointed way and ,I found, difficult to listen to. It started off in a strangely vague way and never really improved. Place names and actions are hard to picture in your mind.
I'm disappointed because I love all things to do with tanks and history but there was almost no real nitty gritty details about the actual tanks or the crews.
Being based on memoirs of an officer of the time maybe class and social divide meant physical distance from both excluded any real understanding of them or empathy for them.
Secondly, the narrator reads in a rushed and uninterested way..like a school boy reading for a test...no feeling at all just read the words....is he in a hurry to get somewhere?.
Reading a bit slower and with a trace of feeling would greatly improve this.
Sorry..it's a no from me!..will probably delete.
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1 person found this helpful