Gotta love the old Mark Is...although I'm pretty sure most of their crews didn't.
Slow, unreliable, prone to getting stuck in the most unfortunate places. IIRC at the Battle of the Somme, out of the tanks that were sent out, only two I think actually attacked their targets, the others either got lost, got stuck, or attacked their own trenches.
The Mark V was the pinnacle of the design, although the International Tank, the Mark VIII 'Liberty' had some nice features, such as the compartmentalization of the engine from the rest of the crew, thus taking away some of the noise and fumes.
The Matilda was another lovely tank, often underrated because she was overtaken by technology, firepower and tactics, however during the Battle of France she was one of the most powerful tanks in the field. None of the German anti-tank guns could stop her, the shells just
bounched off. Then they hit upon using the 88mm flak guns and that stopped the Matildas cold...but for a moment it looked possible that the British tanks could have cut through the German rear flank lines at Arras and make a gap in the German lines to allow the British forces to retreat and make another stand...although one could argue how effective such a stance would be when the British and French forces were being continuously out-fought in terms of armoured tactics.
I do, of course, refer to the Mark II Matilda...the Mark I was...well...useless and should never really have gone into battle. This Matilda veteran puts it best:
EDIT: Oh wow Dowly...those are getting the right click save as treatment
