The Vickers Light Mark VI tank (IWM neg DXP 94/31/12)

In 1916 tanks were introduced to break the stalemate of the trench, machine gun and artillery dominated battlefield. It provided soldiers with armoured support when advancing against enemy defensive positions.

At the end of hostilities a war-weary Europe destroyed most of the equipment, including tanks, of its vast armies.

Weapon design and development was largely left to private companies reluctant to commit the vast sums of money previously spent by war ministries. A typical examples of the result is the British Vickers light Mark VI tank. It was with weapons like this that the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), fighting alongside France and Belgium, attempted to contain the German Blitzkrieg (lightning war) in May 1940.