The Tanks That Broke the Ranks Out in Picardy

Overview

The song was composed as a promotional song for the-then new Tank, which had been first used during the First World War, and were regarded with interest and awe by both sides when they were first deployed.

It is written to the jaunty tune of a music hall hit of a few years earlier The man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.

The song itself tells the story of a brigade of tanks on the Western Front, passing obstacles with ease. It references many prominent German military leaders of the day, including Kaiser Wilhelm, Alfred von Tirpitz, Paul von Hindenburg and Prince Wilhelm.

Lyrics

In No Man's Land one early morn at sixty in the shade
From out the British lines there came the famous Tank Brigade
The Huns began to strafe 'em, couldn't make it out at all
Especially when the tanks began the Caterpillar crawl.
The Huns peeped through their trenches, for they couldn't understand.
They cried "Here comes the British Navy, sailing on the land!"
The Kaiser saw them also and, as through the trench he ran,
He shouted out to Tirpitz "Hush! Here comes the bogey man!"
When Hindenburg first saw a tank he chaffed and made a fuss.
He said to Little Willie "It's a motor omnibus!"
Then Little Willie saw it and he made a rude remark
Said he, "It's not a 'bus at all - it's Noah inside his Ark!"