Much of what follows stems from notes taken and personal recollections of what was heard and seen during many lectures, given sixty years ago, by officers who had crewed tanks during World War One.

Introduction

There are questions to be asked. Whence came the name Tank and how did it become part of the English language? Why were they not given a prosaic one such as "Char" by the French or "Carro Armata" by the Italians? Who deserves credit if, indeed, any should be due? Should it be Major-General Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton or Lt. Colonel Sir Albert Gerald Stern? The prestigious "Chambers Biographical Dictionary," writers such as Kenneth Chadwick and Patrick Wright among others opt for the former. Stern has a champion in David Fletcher, writer of many books and custodian of Britain's Tank Museum, Bovington, Hants. To search for the truth we must dispel the myths surrounding the answer to the the first question, then examine how an AFV came to be called a "Tank" which resulted in the formation of a Regiment incorporating the word in its name.

The Myths

The story that Lieutenant Albert Stern, Secretary of the Admiralty Landships Committee objected to the name "Water Cistern" (or in some stories "Water Carrier") deserves a place along with the fabled Sir Thomas who supposedly invented the Water Closet. David Fletcher does not help the search for the true facts by stating "the best story of the origins of the name was attributed to Sir Albert Stern." To support the theory, Fletcher opines that Stern was a civilian (not the lowly Lieutenant he was at the time) whose comments could strongly influence decisions made by the Committee formed to oversee the development of the new weapon.

Equally lacking in credibility is the story that the men building the vehicles were told that they were contructing water tanks. It is difficult to comprehend that any artisan could be brain-washed into believing it was necessary to rivet armour-plate, up to 12mm thick, to build a container for water.

Another myth stems from the publication of H.G.Wells' short story "The Land Ironclads," in a 1903 edition of Strand Magazine, which uncanningly foretold the role that armoured vehicles could play in any future conflict. Allegedly, as a member of the Committee suddenly "discovered" the story, it became immediately necessary to code-name the project "tank" just in case the enemy happened upon what Wells had written. This is nonsense, as will be seen, the potential of an armoured vehicle had been espoused over a period of many years - the German General Staffs, as recently as 1911, had examined and rejected designs for a tracked armoured vehicle! Trendlines March 2000 Bulletin is of interest.

Such is the scope of man's imagination that two other stories have been bandied around as to how AFVs are called tanks. They were designed to make supplies of water readily available to thirsty troops fighting the Turks in the Middle-East and that they were tank locomotives capable of readily switching from one railway gauge to another.

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