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“Our new heavily armoured cars, known as ‘Tanks,’ now brought into action for the first time, successfully co-operated with the infantry, and coming as a surprise to the enemy rank and file, gave valuable help in breaking down their resistance.”

The despatch goes on to mention the taking of Flers.

The delight of the British and French Press knew no bounds. The correspondents threw up their hats and set to ransack their dictionaries for octosyllables in which to describe the new “All British” destroyer of Germans.

It was “Diplodocus Galumphant,” it was a “Polychromatic Toad.” It was a “flat-footed monster” which “performed the most astonishing feats of agility as it advanced, spouting flames from every side.”

“It ‘leant’ against a wall until it fell and then crawled over the fallen débris.

“It went irresistibly through High Wood, the trees smashing like matchwood before it.

“It went up to machine-gun emplacements, ‘crushed the gun under its ribs,’ and passed on, spitting death at the demoralised Germans.