First World War.com - The Western Front Today

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The Western Front Today - Tank Corps Memorial
Updated - Sunday, 8 September, 2002

The Tank Corps memorial, at Pozieres on the Somme battlefront, marks the first occasion upon which tanks were used in battle.

This was at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15 September 1916 as part of the ongoing (primarily) British Somme Offensive. The obelisk memorial, surrounded by four mini tanks, is sited at a position where tanks were gathered in readiness for the attack on the night of 14 September 1916.

Directly across the busy main road (the Albert-Bapaume road) from the Tank Corps Memorial is the Australian Memorial at Pozieres Mill. Also nearby is the Courcelette Canadian Memorial.

References:
Before Endeavours Fade, Rose E.B. Coombs, After the Battle 1994
Major & Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide - Somme, Leo Cooper 2000

"Suicide Ditch" was a term used by British soldiers to refer to the front-line trench.