Tank Boys

by Stephen Dando-Collins

  ‘This was the closest I ever wanted to come to those times,’ said Richard, turning and looking up at Mephisto. ‘What madness it was, locking human beings inside that monster and sending them out to kill and maim other human beings.’

  ‘Why did we let our governments do it to us?’ Taz pondered aloud.

  ‘Because we were young and gullible,’ Frankie responded.

  ‘And powerless,’ Richard suggested.

  ‘Yes, but Taz and me volunteered for it!’ said Frankie. ‘Stupid buggers that we were. We thought it’d be one big adventure. Some adventure! Killing and being killed for no good reason. That’s no adventure. That’s insanity.’ His voice quavered with emotion.

  Taz gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. ‘Well said, Frankie.’

  ‘You know,’ Frankie continued, ‘I sometimes wake in the middle of the night hearing Nashie’s voice. You remember Nash, Taz? Talking about pikelets running with butter, or some such thing. I didn’t know him well, but I’ll never get over the fact that one minute he was there beside us, blathering away, and the next, he wasn’t. His life had been snuffed out in an instant. And he was so keen to get into the fight.’

  ‘I know,’ said Taz, his mind returning to the night he’d gone back to find Nash’s body and relieve him of German stick grenades.

  ‘Let’s drink to our reunion after all these years,’ Richard suggested, trying to lift the mood away from thoughts of death. ‘I owe you two more than I can ever say.’

  ‘Good idea,’ said Taz, waving to a waiter.

  The three of them, getting freshly charged glasses, clinked them together in a toast.

  ‘Friends forever,’ said Frankie.

  ‘Peace, not war,’ said Richard.

  ‘Amen to that!’ said Taz.

  GLOSSARY

  A7V

  German heavy tank made by Daimler-Benz. It was named after Section 7, the traffic section of the German War Department, which originated its construction

  abteilung

  a German detachment, but can also refer to a battalion

  AIF

  Australian Imperial Force. The official name of the Australian army during WWI

  battalion

  main organisational unit of the AIF. At full strength it contained 800–1000 men

  brigade

  four battalions made up a brigade in the AIF

  CO

  Commanding Officer

  company

  four companies – A, B, C and D – comprised an AIF battalion. Each company was led by a captain or major

  daks

  trousers

  enlisted men

  soldiers other than officers

  Feldwebel

  German for ‘sergeant’

  Fritz

  an Allied nickname for German soldiers

  hauptmann

  German captain

  Herr

  a courtesy title for German gentlemen, literally means ‘mister’

  Hotchkiss

  British .303 inch machine gun

  HQ

  headquarters

  Hun, the

  an Allied nickname for German soldiers and the German Army as a whole

  Jerry/Jerries

  an Allied nickname for German soldiers

  Kaiser, the

  Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany

  Lee-Enfield

  British .303 inch rifle

  leutnant

  German second lieutenant

  Lewis gun

  British .303 inch machine gun

  Mark IV

  British heavy tank, the fourth version

  Mauser

  German manufacturer of pistols and rifles

  Maxim

  German 7.92 mm machine gun

  non-com

  non-commissioned officer (NCO). Ranks from lance-corporal to warrant officer, which includes corporal and sergeant

  oberleutnant

  German first lieutenant

  oberst

  German colonel

  panzer

  German name for a tank

  platoon

  sub-unit of a company. With up to twenty men, usually led by a lieutenant

  POW

  prisoner of war

  RAP

  regimental aid post

  section

  sub-unit of a platoon. With up to ten men, led by a sergeant or corporal

  Tommy/

  a nickname for British soldiers

  Tommies

  Vickers

  British machine gun

  Whippet

  British medium tank

  THE FACTUAL ELEMENTS OF THE TANK BOYS STORY

  Although Tank Boys is a work of fiction, it is based on fact and many episodes in this book actually took place. In particular, history’s first tank-versus-tank battle, with Lieutenant Mitchell’s Mark IV tank and the Whippets going up against the German A7Vs. So, too, the Australian seizure of Mephisto, the execution of German prisoners, and even the tearful British corporal who told the advancing Australians he couldn’t get his men to keep moving forward during the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux.

  MEPHISTO

  The story of Mephisto – its movements, operations, battles and initial capture by the advancing Australian 52nd Battalion, and its recovery by the 26th Battalion – is factual. The German commanders of Mephisto in March–April 1918 were the two officers described, Lieutenants Skopnik and Theunissen. Skopnik returned to service and was killed by Allied shelling in June 1918 while trying to take a message from one German tank to another. The other members of the crew of Mephisto are fictitious characters. The ages of the men of Mephisto’s crew are unknown, but a photograph of the real crew taken just days before the Villers-Bretonneux battle shows a fresh-faced youth, looking to be around sixteen years of age, on the roof – the only clean-shaven member of the crew.

  ELFRIEDE

  Elfriede remained on its side in the quarry near Villers-Bretonneux until it was recovered by French troops in May 1918, becoming the first German tank of the war to fall permanently into Allied hands. Displayed in Paris for a time, it was later scrapped by the French Government.

  SIR LANCELOT AND LIEUTENANT FRANK MITCHELL

  The British Mark IV tank number 4066, commanded by Lieutenant Frank Mitchell, operated just as described in this book. The name Sir Lancelot is fictitious, as the actual name given to Mitchell’s tank by its crew was not recorded. Mitchell was awarded the Military Cross for his part in the first tank battle in history. The description of Sir Lancelot’s battle is based on Mitchell’s written account, British war records and the German Army’s record of the battle. Mitchell’s superior was indeed Captain Brown, and Brown and Brigadier-General Grogan acted as described in this book.

  LEUTNANT WILHELM BILTZ

  Biltz the chemistry professor and commander of the German tank Siegfried was a real person and lived out his life as Richard Rix describes in this book.

  COLONEL KESSEL AND CAPTAIN GREIFF

  Kessel is a fictitious character, but Greiff was a real person who acted much as described in this book.

  DR ERICH VON HIPPEL

  The character of Dr von Hippel, Aunt Bess’ husband, is based on Dr Erich von See. He lived in northeastern Tasmania and, during World War I, was treated by his patients just as described in this book.

  RICHARD RIX

  Richard is a fictional character. Like Richard’s family, many Germans migrated to America in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and did congregate in Manhattan’s Yorkville – an area which today is home to Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the Mayor of New York City. Many German immigrants drowned in a ferry accident on New York’s harbour in 1904.

  While the smuggling of Richard Rix back to Australia is fictional, two Australian brothers, Tim and Ed Tovell, who served with the Australian Flying Corps, did succeed in smuggling a foreign boy back to Australia at the end of World War I. He was a French orphan named Henri Hermene and, like R
ichard Rix, he subsequently settled down in Australia. Sadly, eight years after arriving on Australian shores, Henri was killed in a motorcycle accident in Melbourne.

  LIEUTENANT–COLONEL JOHN WHITLAM AND MAJOR ‘ROCKS’ ROBINSON

  Both were real people and acted as described. Major Robinson’s nicknames were indeed ‘Rocks’ and ‘Old Uniformity’, and the capture of Mephisto on 22 July was his idea.

  LIEUTENANT RAY ‘JOCKEY’ BLAIR

  Blair is based on Lieutenant John Alfred Rena of the 57th Battalion. Like Blair, Rena was an American electrical engineer from New York, who joined the Australian Imperial Force in Egypt in 1915 while working for the Marconi Company.

  Rait the Rat, Eager, Nash, Blizzard, Battey, Flynn, Glass, Hughes and other members of Blair’s platoon are all fictitious characters, as is the intelligence officer Lieutenant Tom Byford.

  SERGEANT FRANK HANSON

  Sergeant Hanson was a real person who did indeed lead the thirteen-man party that secured Mephisto on 22 July 1918.

  FRANKIE PICKLES AND TASMAN ‘TAZ’ DUTTON

  While both are fictitious characters, Frankie and Taz are an amalgam of a variety of young Australians who lied about their ages to voluntarily enlist. Some as young as fourteen are known to have fought in the war. Australia was one of only a few countries that did not conscript its troops during World War I. Pickles and Dutton are among names scratched on the sides of Mephisto by Australian troops in 1918, which can still be seen there to this day.

  THE FATE OF MEPHISTO

  The struggle between the British, Australian and Queensland governments over which of them would get Mephisto is entirely factual. Mephisto’s 1986 re-unveiling at the new Queensland Museum also took place, but Professor Rait and his speech are fictitious. Mephisto is the world’s only surviving genuine German A7V tank from World War I, and it can be seen at the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, Australia.

  THE WARRING NATIONS OF

  WORLD WAR I

  THE ALLIES

  THE CENTRAL POWERS

  Australia

  Austria–Hungary

  Belgium

  Bulgaria

  Britain and Ireland

  Germany

  Canada

  Turkey (Ottoman Empire)

  France

  Greece

  India

  Italy

  Japan

  Montenegro

  New Zealand

  Portugal

  Rhodesia

  Romania

  Russia

  Serbia

  South Africa

  United States of America

  Also by Stephen Dando-Collins

  Caesar the War Dog

  Caesar the War Dog: Operation Blue Dragon

  CAESAR THE WAR DOG

  By Stephen Dando-Collins

  At the kennels, Caesar the chocolate labrador doesn’t look special. But Corporal Ben Fulton sees something different – an intelligent dog whose curiosity will make him an excellent sniffer dog in the Australian Army.

  On operations in Afghanistan with Ben, Caesar proves his worth, finding hidden explosives and saving the lives of the soldiers. Then, during a Taliban ambush, Caesar is separated from his master. Ben and his best mate Charlie are seriously wounded and evacuated to hospital.

  But where is Caesar? From their home in Australia, Ben and his family search for clues that might reveal whether their beloved dog is still alive and surviving Afghanistan’s bitter winter cold – and capture by the Taliban.

  It will be a long road home, and Caesar will face many hardships along the way, but for this brave and loyal dog, anything is possible.

  Based on the true stories of heroic military and service dogs who save countless lives.

  ‘You’ll venture on a journey of admiration, despair, sadness, hope and joy . . . It’s impossible not to love this dog!’ – Smart Books for Smart Kids

  Available now

  CAESAR THE WAR DOG:

  OPERATION BLUE DRAGON

  By Stephen Dando-Collins

  When injured war hero Charlie finally returns to SAS service, he no longer needs Caesar’s help as a care dog. Caesar can go back to being a super-sniffing explosive detection dog in the Australian Army.

  On their first mission back together, Caesar and his handler, Ben, discover a bomb at the Sydney Opera House, targeting the visiting secretary-general of the United Nations.

  A fortnight later, while on a peace mission in Afghanistan, the secretary-general’s helicopter goes down and he is captured by the Taliban. Caesar, Ben and Charlie join an international team to rescue him. Will they succeed? An experimental mini-submarine might help – and Caesar’s famous nose is sure to sniff out trouble along the way.

  ‘Meticulously researched and plotted . . . soars into thrilling Boys’ Own territory.’ – Australian Book Review

  Available now

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Version 1.0

  Tank Boys

  Published by Random House Australia 2014

  Copyright © Fame and Fortune Pty Ltd 2014

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  A Random House Australia book

  Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd

  Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW, 2060

  www.randomhouse.com.au

  Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at http://www.randomhouse.com.au/about/contacts.aspx

  First published by Random House Australia in 2014

  National Library of Australia

  Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry

  Author: Dando-Collins, Stephen, 1950–

  Title: Tank Boys/Stephen Dando-Collins

  ISBN: 9780857981448 (ebook)

  Target Audience: For primary school age.

  Subjects: Child soldiers – Juvenile fiction.

  World War, 1914–1918 – Tank warfare – Juvenile fiction.

  World War, 1914–1918 – Campaigns – France – Juvenile fiction.

  Dewey number: A823.3

  Cover illustration and design by Astred Hicks, designcherry.com

  Typesetting and eBook production by Midland Typesetters, Australia

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