DRAMATIC tales of early tank warfare are revealed by the war diary of the 16th Battalion Tank Corps in September 1918.

But the descriptions of attacks and counter-attacks do not reveal the human cost of manning these mechanised coffins on the muddy battlefields of Europe.

Haworth man Walter Robinson was one of those to die in the first 90 minutes of the Battle of the St Quentin Canal as German forces knocked out his company’s entire tank force.

The distinctively-shaped Mark V tanks encountered heavy artillery fire, anti-tank rifles and mines as they tried to take the ridge near Quennemont Farm.

Walter’s death came just a month after he returned to the frontline after volunteering for the Tank Corps.

He had been promoted to second lieutenant the previous year after returning home from three years fighting in France with the Green Howards.

Walter was born in 1889 in Denholme, and by the age of 12 was living in Haworth and working as a woollen doffer at a spinning mill.

Ten years later, in 1911, he was a railway clerk in Haworth, and in October 1914 he joined the Army.

Walter is remembered on the main Haworth War Memorial as well as in the memorial board in St Michael and All Angels Church in Haworth.