ÿþ<HTML> <HEAD> <LINK REL=stylesheet HREF="origstylesheet.css" TYPE="text/css"> <TITLE>The TATTERSFIELD Family Tree</TITLE> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="Tattersfield, Tattersfield Family Tree, Tattersfield Ancestry, Tattersfield History, Heckmondwike Upper Chapel"> <META NAME="description" CONTENT="The Tattersfield Family Tree. An account of 45 years of Tattersfield Family History Research by John Tattersfield."> <META NAME="generator" CONTENT="Written directly as HTML/XML"> <META NAME="author" CONTENT="George Tattersfield"> <META NAME="copyright" CONTENT="&copy; 2001 John Tattersfield"> </HEAD> <BODY LEFTMARGIN=70 MARGINWIDTH=70> <TABLE BORDER=2 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=1 WIDTH=100% BORDERCOLOR="#333355"> <TABLE BORDER=2 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=1 WIDTH=100% BORDERCOLOR="#003355"> <TR> <TD class="boxh" NOWRAP><A HREF="index.html"><CENTER>Back To Home</CENTER></A></TD> <TD class="box2" NOWRAP><A HREF="cgi-local/apps/TFWLinks.php"><CENTER>Links to Family</CENTER></A></TD> <TD class="box3" NOWRAP><A HREF="TFWReply.html"><CENTER>Contact Reply</CENTER></A></TD> <TD class="box4" NOWRAP><A HREF="TFWLogin.html"><CENTER>Login to E-mail</CENTER></A></TD> <TD class="box6" NOWRAP><A HREF="TFWFData.html"><CENTER>Tattersfield Trees</CENTER></A></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <BR> <CENTER> <IMG SRC="xyz.gif" ALT="TFW banner" WIDTH=300> </CENTER> <BR> <TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=1 WIDTH=100% BORDERCOLOR="#003355"> <TR> <TD width=250></TD> <TD width=300> <P align=RIGHT><U>N. Tattersfield</U></P> <P><CENTER><B>The Truth about the Tanks.</B></CENTER> <P align=RIGHT><U>A Tragedy</U></P> <P><U>Scene</U> - A public house in the <BR> year 1956. Kindly stranger enters <BR> into conversation with a broken <BR> down individual who has lost an <BR> arm & most of his wits --- <BR> No wonder, - he is a "Tanker"<BR> ==================== <P>A story of the tanks, kind sir,<BR> A story of the tanks,<BR> Well, yes my mouth is rather dry,<BR> Here's Cheer-O and thanks~,<BR> <P>No doubt you've learnt in school, sir,<BR> How they were built to beat,<BR> Them blooming Germans hollow,<BR> And they did it too - a treat.<BR> <P>But them that I would talk of,<BR> Them first ones as came out,<BR> Them as our gallant Major said,<BR> Would put the foe to rout.<BR> <P>They were all simply rotten,<BR> Excuse my language, please, <BR> But the mention of the beggars,<BR> Makes me tremble at the knees.<BR> <P>They created quite a sensation,<BR> And everybody thought them fine,<BR> Thats excepting as what was in them,<BR> <U>We</U> didn't rate them sublime.<BR> <P>Indeed had you heard our language,<BR> And the horrid oaths we swore,<BR> You'd have said that we deserved to rot,<BR> In hell for evermore.<BR> <P>Of course you'll ask the reason,<BR> Why did we hate them so,<BR> Well, the chief of many reasons,<BR> They were too blooming slow.<BR> <P>They may have looked well on the picture,<BR> A' scrambling in an' out,<BR> Of shell holes and German trenches,<BR> But with the big black beggars about.<BR> <P>They were enough to give you the pip, sir,<BR> They seemed to crawl along,<BR> And, sure as you were in a fix, sir,<BR> The beggars would go wrong.<BR> <P>T'would be either a broken track, sir,<BR> Or the bally gear would seize,<BR> And then, if you wanted excitement,<BR> You were pretty hard to please.<BR> <P>Of course we delighted in action,<BR> We were 'eager' to enter the fray,<BR> But how we missed a D.C.M., <BR> I will tell another day.<BR> <P>And then there was the greasing, <BR> And a' filling up with oil,<BR> Take it from me the livelong day,<BR> Was simply toil, toil, toil.<BR> <P>Our pay! Yes we were paid, sir,<BR> But not, six bob a day,<BR> You see they bagged us cheap, sir,<BR> At 1/ 2½<sup>d</sup> per day<BR> <P>I could tell you many a story,<BR> Of how we beat the Hun,<BR> But excuse me pointing out, sir,<BR> My glass of bitter's done,<BR> <P>And as it is growing late, sir,<BR> I will now conclude with thanks,<BR> For your most attentive listening,<BR> To my story of the "Tanks".<BR> </TD> <TD width=250></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <BR><BR> <P> Last updated: 26 July, 2009 <HR> <BR><BR> <A HREF="1.html">Return to the Tattersfield Family Website Homepage</A> </BODY> </HTML>