First Tanks at Flers-Courcelette: 110 Years On

On 15 September 1916, British forces used tanks in battle for the first time. The action took place at Flers-Courcelette, during the Battle of the Somme in northern France. Forty-nine tanks were sent into the attack, and many of them broke down or were knocked out early on. The Imperial War Museums describe those early tanks as slow and unreliable, but they still surprised the enemy and helped the attack. The exact numbers vary between sources, and we explain those differences below. As of October 2026, the anniversary is being marked with a seminar at The Tank Museum in Dorset on 21 November.

What happened at Flers-Courcelette

The tanks were part of a wider attack on German lines on the Somme, and they were all Mark I machines. The most useful thing to know is that the three main sources give different figures for how many tanks actually made it to the start line.

Source	Tanks that reached the start line	Other figures given
Imperial War Museums	25 moved forward at the start of the attack	49 deployed in total
The Tank Museum	32 reached their starting positions	18 went into combat
Long Long Trail	36 reached the start line	14 broke down before the attack, 10 were knocked out and 7 were slightly damaged

The sources agree that 49 tanks were deployed, and that many were lost to mechanical failure or enemy fire before they could do much. They differ on how they count the tanks at each stage, so it is safest to say that somewhere between 25 and 36 reached the start line.

The result was mixed. The tanks could break into enemy positions, but they could not get through them. The Long Long Trail calls the battle hardly a great success, although the surprise they caused was real and they did help the attack.

What a Mark I tank looked like

Several features from the Imperial War Museums’ account are worth knowing if you are modelling one:

No turret. The weapons were carried in side mounts called sponsons.
Two versions. Half the tanks carried a six-pounder naval gun in one sponson and a machine gun in the other. The rest carried only machine guns. The two types were meant to work in pairs.
A steering tail. A tail at the rear helped the tank change direction. Many later models did without it.
A hot interior. The crew sat in the same compartment as the engine, which made the inside very hot.
Named tanks. Crews chose their own names, usually matching their battalion’s letter.

Where the name came from

The Admiralty set up the Landships Committee in early 1915, with Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty. The Royal Navy led the work. The name “tank” came from the secrecy around the project, as the vehicles were described as water tanks to hide what they really were.

By summer 1918, around 2,600 British tanks had been built, according to the Imperial War Museums.

Why this matters if you collect figures

If you are building a Somme-era diorama, the best sources are museum collections, published reference books and period photographs. A single picture online rarely tells you enough about uniforms or equipment for a whole scene.

Scale matters too. A 1/32 figure is commonly described as 54mm tall, but manufacturers do not all measure height the same way. The Wikipedia entry on figure scale notes that scale can vary by as much as 30 per cent between makers. Put a figure next to a model of the tank or a kit’s scale drawing before you commit to a group.

RDG Miniatures lists a 1/32 WWI British Lewis Gun Team among its figures, which is a good example of how a single infantry piece can anchor a Great War scene.

The 2026 seminar at The Tank Museum

The Tank Museum at Bovington is holding a seminar called “The tanks have done marvels”, marking 110 years since the first tank action. The museum’s own seminar page gives these details:

Date: Saturday 21 November 2026
Venue: The Tank Museum Workshop, Bovington, Dorset BH20 6JG
Times: Arrival from 08:00, talks from about 09:00 to 16:10, then networking and a chance to see inside the museum’s Mark IV tank from 16:15 to 18:00
Tickets: £95 regular, £75 for Friends of The Tank Museum, or £119 for a seminar ticket bundled with Friends membership
Speakers: Ten, with talks covering the Mark I’s debut on the Somme battlefield

Tickets are booked online through the seminar page. Check the booking page before you travel, because at least one listing we found gave a different date, and the museum’s own page is the one to trust.

Key points

Tanks were first used in battle on 15 September 1916 at Flers-Courcelette, part of the Somme.
Forty-nine Mark I tanks were deployed, and sources differ on how many reached the start line, from 25 to 36.
The Mark I had no turret, and half the tanks carried a six-pounder gun.
The name “tank” came from the secrecy around the project.
The Tank Museum seminar is on 21 November 2026, and tickets start at £75 for Friends and £95 for the general public.

Frequently asked questions

When were tanks first used in battle? The first combat use of tanks was on 15 September 1916, at Flers-Courcelette during the Battle of the Somme.

How many tanks took part at Flers-Courcelette? Forty-nine tanks were deployed. Sources disagree on how many reached the start line, with figures from 25 to 36.

Why were they called tanks? The project was kept secret, and the vehicles were described as water tanks to hide their real purpose. That name stuck.

Did the tanks win the battle? Not decisively. They helped the infantry and surprised the enemy, but they could not break through and hold the ground, and many broke down or were knocked out.

Where can I learn more about the first tanks? The Tank Museum at Bovington and the Imperial War Museums both cover the early tanks in depth, and the museum’s seminar on 21 November is a good place to hear from specialists.