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Re: Origin of the word "tank" (military)



Recently on the History Channel was a program about military tanks. I had
always wondered, too, how this term came to be. I believe the narrator said
that the British wished to deceive (they are especially great at deception)
by leading others to believe that this was a mechanized (mechanised, for the
British out here) means of water transport. Calling it a 'tank' helped it
the deception. Those early military tanks really did resemble the side cars
on motorcycles.

Sharon Lee Butcher
Reference Librarian
AEDC Technical Library
100 Kindel Drive, Ste C212
Arnold AFB, TN  37389-3212
931-454-4430
Fax:  931-454-5421
sharon.butcher@arnold.af.mil

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jackson, Bill [SMTP:Bill.Jackson@HARLEY-DAVIDSON.COM]
> Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2001 1:07 PM
> To:   ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> Subject:      Origin of the word "tank" (military)
>
> This is trivial, but if it's true, we are rather fascinated by it.....
>
> We have a copy of an illustration and a caption from Motorcycling and
> Bicycling (periodical, 1/15/17 issue), which claims that the World War I
> era
> British tanks were so named because they were shaped almost exactly like
> the
> gas tanks found on many motorcycle brands of the period.
>
> It is entirely true that the two shapes are incredibly simliar, but does
> anyone know if there is truth to this?  If it were not in a 1917 magazine,
> I'd be tempted to think it an urban legend......
>
>
> Bill Jackson
> Senior Archivist
> Harley-Davidson Motor Company
> Milwaukee, WI
>
>
>
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