30th May 1938
"Do you have a moment, Sir?"
Major Jackman looked up from the report on his desk at his subordinate, and nodded.
"What's the problem?"
Lieutenant Spears had a sheaf of papers in one hand, which had made the major assume something needed sorting out.
"Well Sir - it's not exactly a problem. Or at least, not our problem. "The Major raised an interrogative eyebrow as the young officer continued. "Well Sir, I've been following up on the changes we'll be making to the bridging units - the new pins, steel, that sort of thing - to make them stronger. While I was going through the metallurgy reports, I came across one sent to us a while ago from Teddington. Apparently they'd been asked to do some tests on a unit of tank track that someone at the MEE had sent over to them. They were rather busy, so the report took a while, and it only came in a little while ago. No-one seemed to be waiting on it, so it was just sitting around."
Major Jackman took the proffered report with interest. "That's odd, why would someone want them to examine a tank track?"
"Well, Sir, it seems it wasn't one of ours. They were testing a Czech tank over at MEE, and were a bit puzzled as to why its tracks seemed to last a lot better than ours. They wondered of it was something in the metallurgy, so they, ah, liberated a spare tread and sent it down to Teddington for analysis. "
"I see. And did they find it was something special?"
Spears smiled slightly. "Well, Sir, yes and no. It's definitely better than what our chaps have been making the tracks out of. But it's not exactly new. The somewhat embarrassing bit is that the track used a manganese steel, which stood up a lot better. What's embarrassing is they started using it in Britain in the 1870's, for railway track!
"Really?" Jackman looked down at the report in his hand. "I suppose that makes sense, a railway line gets a lot of heavy use. I'll take a look through it, then we'll pass it on to the manufactures. They can probably use it to improve our own tracks, and a longer-lasting track is something the RTC will probably like. Good work, Spears."
1st June 1938, Bovington
The first three of the new Infantry tank, the Vickers A11, had just arrived, the Scammel carriers complaining rather more than usual under the heavy load. The crews, as well as anyone else who could contrive a reason for being there, had been crawling all over their shiny new monster tanks.
The biggest topic for discussion was the weight - they were wondering what such a heavy tank would do to some of the road surfaces - and the fact the huge gun was controlled mechanically in elevation. This was a new idea to British tanks, but having seen the size of it, the gunners agreed it couldn't have been controlled in the old way, unless they replaced themselves with gorillas!
The tanks had been accompanied by a small team from Vickers, who were there to explain the details that might not be so obvious, and to help sort out any immediate teething problems. This was appreciated by the crews - despite the type acceptance testing, when they actually started to use them there were always small issues. Having the Vickers engineers there helped smooth these out so much more easily, and the few that were recaltreant were noted down, with the promise that they'd see what they could do back at the factory.
It was an interesting experience for the engineers as well. As one of them had pointed out, while they designed and built the beasts, they never actually got a chance to drive around in one, and the tank crews were happy to give them that experience. The most common comment was on the lack of room, especially when fully loaded with kit. While they'd checked the available space when designing them, they hadn't realised all the bits and pieces, from greatcoats down to mess tins, that a tank crew actually took along with them on operations. When asked why they didn't just leave the stuff behind, the tankers pointed out that this was all stuff they needed in the field - they often ended up staying out overnight, or in poor weather, and having your greatcoat or kettle back at the base wasn't terribly helpful.
Still, a tank full of gear rather offended the sensibilities of one of the engineers, who wondered if something could be done to square the circle, as it were. He thought about it, then asked the crew if they could put all their kit in a box, so he could measure how much space it took up. The crew were puzzled, but did as asked, curious to see what the man had in mind. He took some measurements, then, under the curious eyes of the crew, climbed up on the tank and too some of the turret. Finally he clambered down, looking thoughtful, as the crew demanded to know just what he'd been up to.
He looked at the tank and started to gesture, explaining that if they could fit a box to the back of the turret, it wouldn't be in the way of anything, and they could store all their kit in it until they needed it. It needn't be fancy, a light steel box was all that was needed. The crew considered this. It seemed so simple, really. And if they could have it fitted with a padlock, then their kit and tools would be safe from the endemic pilfering. The engineer promised to try something out when he got back to Vickers - it would be a simple addition, the base workshop could handle it easily.
3rd June 1938, War Office.
The initial reports on the testing of the new A12 infantry tank had been received with eager anticipation. While work on the A11 was progressing satisfactorily, the Army had been worried that only having one infantry tank in production would leave them in a very unfortunate position if anything went wrong with it. The report was very favourable, and now they had to decide what to do about ordering it. In order to save time, it was decided not to wait for the full tests to be completed, small faults found could be fixed in the production models. The intention was to order an initial 70 tanks, enough to form a battalion. This was seen as fewer than would have been preferred, but they decided to wait until delivery times could be decided on before expanding the order.
Another problem was the time that would be taken before the tanks would arrive. Vulcan didn't have the large tank factory Vickers had been building, and the method of making the tanks didn't seem well suited to the sort of mass-production method used in it. The A12 looked like using more traditional method. Which wasn't felt to be so bad a thing, as it would allow them to place some of the orders with other companies more familiar with these methods. It was decided to see if Fowlers of Leeds, Ruston Hornsby and the LMS would be interested in taking some of the tank order.
As it was obvious that even with an immediate order the tanks wouldn't be turning up for a year, it was also felt that an additional order for the A11, of 50 tanks, would be placed through Vickers and Harland and Wolff. This would allow a full regiment, plus the allowance for training and spares.