The tanks that did clear no man’s land, however, laid claim to a revolution in modern warfare. Seventeen of the 49 vehicles shipped to France were not even fit to enter the battle of those that did, some broke down, others were incapacitated by direct hits of artillery and mortar shells. Only around a third of the 32 British tanks deployed at the Somme on 15 September succeeded in breaking through to German lines. Due to unavailability of the six pounder guns, half were equipped with only machine guns. Enough tanks were ordered by Fosters and Metropolitan to raise six tank companies of 25 vehicles each. This vehicle entered service in August 1916 in two variants: ‘male’, armed with two six pounder guns and three 8mm Hotchkiss machine guns and weighing in at 28 tons and ‘female’, with four 0.303 Vickers machine guns and a single Hotchkiss, weighing in a 27 tons. Mother formed the design for the first tank to engage in battle with the British armed forces, known as the British Mark I.
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