The Musical Box

Here is another photograph of Simon’s BaneBlade, it is very BIG! He’s done a really nice job on it and it looks very impressive on the battlefield.

mperial Guard BaneBlade The Musical Box
Super Heavy Imperial Guard Baneblade from Simon’s collection.

One aspect which some have noticed is the name of the tank, “The Musical Box”.

Those of you who know about tanks from The Great War, may know that The Musical Box is the name of a tank from that war.

From Tanks for the Memory.

Whippets were first used in action near Herbetune in northern France on 26 March 1918 to help stem the German offensive when twelve “Whippets” near Colincamps surprised and put to flight two German infantry battalions.

But the Mk As really came to the fore in August 1918 when some 96 Whippets of the 3rd Tank Brigade were used during the Battle for Amiens. Although cavalry horses were still faster and better able to cope with rough, muddy terrain, Whippets proved more of a match for serious opposition.

One such Whippet, “Musical Box”, belonging to B Coy, 6th Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant C.B. Arnold, took part in the big attack on August 8, 1918, overtook the slow Mk V:s, routed a German Artillery Battery and on it’s own penetrated to the rear of the German lines. Essentially the lonely Whippet, with its bold crew of only three men, carried on a war of its own. It shot down retiring infantry, attacked horse and motor transport – even ramming a German lorry into a stream -and regularly terrorised the bewildered “Boche”. This went on for eleven hours, and then the tank was first immobilised, surrounded and then destroyed by fire from field artillery. Arnold and one of his crew survived, and were taken prisoners.

More photographs of Imperial Guard Baneblade super heavy tanks.

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