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In Memory of Gunner Cyril Coles, M.G.C – a local man who was killed in action 95 years ago during the first tank attack in history…

 

This photograph, which was recently discovered in the archives of Skinner Street United Reformed Church in nearby Poole, shows one of the 400 men who took a new weapon of war - the tank - into battle for the first time on 15th September 1916.

 

Cyril William Coles was born at Canford, Dorset in 1893. The son of a corn miller, he worked with his father before enlisting in the army in 1916. As part of the Heavy Section, Machine Gun Corps, Coles travelled to France in August 1916 where he became part of tank D15’s eight man crew.

 

On 15th September 1916, D15 along with almost 30 other tanks went into action for the first time near the French Village of Flers. As with a number of other tanks taking part in the attack, D15 was struck and disabled by enemy artillery. The crew baled out of the burning vehicle, but German machine guns were already directed at them. As Coles attempted to escape he was killed. He was just 23 years old.

 

He was buried alongside his wrecked tank, but later in the war he was exhumed for reburial in at Bull Road Cemetery near Flers.

 

The picture on the right shows another tank from D Battalion, D17, which was taken in September 1916. You can see the tank has been painted with a camouflage scheme. These schemes were later abandoned as the tanks were usually covered in mud anyway. The infantry surrounding the tank look tired. The fighting had been intense and the Battle of The Somme – of which this was a part – had already been in progress for over two months.

 

The Tank Museum would like to hear from anyone with any further information about Gunner Coles; whether local history researchers or surviving relatives.

 

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