During the week the Press has been full of controversial
paragraphs as to who was the real begetter of the " tank " idea. Mr. Lloyd George may be said to have begun the controversy by the declare,- tion in an interview that Mr. Winston Churchill originated the "tanks." The Morning Poet of Thursday makes the following comment in regard to Mr. Lloyd George's assertion :- " This is hardly correct, and no doubt the Secretary of State for War has fallen into the error of confusing the original suggestion of Mr. Churchill of the use of heavy armoured cars with which to break down the enemy's trenches. This idea, for which Mr. Churchill deserves fullest credit, was tried and proved to be a failure. The idea of the Tanks' in the form in which they now are is entirely the work of Lieutenant-Colonel E. D. Swinton, D.S.O. Ono of those days it may be interesting to tell the story of the many discouragements under which Colonel Swinton suffered, and the story of how, in spite of all, he persisted until he succeeded in convincing everybody concerned that his idea was s good and workable one. Other people have no doubt rendered ;scat assistance, but to Colonel Swinton, and to Colonel Sw:oton a!one, is the credit due as the originator and persistent elaborator of the idea of the ` Tanks.' "
