The tank first appeared on the battlefields of the First World War as an experimental weapon designed to break the deadlock of trench warfare. Within a generation, it had become the defining weapon of modern land warfare, playing a central role in campaigns across Europe, North Africa and beyond.

In this episode, I’m joined by Hamish de Bretton Gordon, former tank commander and author of Tank Command: How the Tank Changed the Face of Battle. We explore how the tank evolved from the lumbering machines of 1916 into the formidable armoured vehicles that dominated the Second World War, and how the lessons of those early decades shaped the development of the Chieftain and the tanks that followed.