There were plans for a tank tactical school in France by GHQ for all forms of higher tactical instruction. The plan was that a higher level British officer would be in charge of this. It was understood that a considerable number of British officers would attend this school.

The Times published a report on the American tanks and the part they played in the Allied advance on 8 October after a reporter visited an American tank base. It consisted of a wooden hut furnished with just a few camp beds and chairs. He was told about the events of the tanks that had fought around Exermont and Fléville a few days before. The tanks had moved forward with the infantry and came under fire from field guns and anti-tank rifles at point blank range. They had still pressed on and taken their objectives as ordered. One of the tank captains had led his tanks through the fog on foot. He had then fallen into a trench and was captured by a dozen Germans. A few moments later the first tank appeared over the trench and the Germans had fled leaving him to free himself. After continuing to lead the tanks he was knocked out by a shell. He recovered and once again set off with his tanks. A little later he was gassed but still carried on leading them.

In another action one of the tanks broke down. It was turned over to a mechanic who began to repair it but then came under machine-gun fire. He then got in the tank, started the engine and wiped out the machine-gun crew himself.

There were a number of discussions as to how to involve the Americans in tanks to a greater extent at this time. A letter from the HQ Tank Corps at 1 Regent Street written by J.C. Capper discussed the idea of sending tanks to America so that the American Tank Corps could gain some training before they arrived in Europe. It seems that Capper had discussed the idea with Colonel Rockenbach. The number of machines suggested was thirty Mark IV tanks. Capper also suggested that more instructors for the Americans could be trained at Wool. Those then with experience of the methods at Wool could be sent back to America to help with training there. The letter mentioned that they already had a number of Renault tanks in America which would allow them to train their light battalions.

Capper went on to say that the Americans were planning to build the Mark VIII tank over there and that this would be what they eventually hoped to use in the war. The Mark IV tanks were still fitted with Lewis guns so any sent to America would have to be adapted for Hotchkiss machine-guns.

By October however the Allies were through the Hindenburg Line. More than 30,000 German prisoners had been taken. There was some resistance from German tanks and as late as the 1 November some German tanks were still in action. These were mainly captured British tanks that were soon destroyed. The Germans’ own tanks had long been almost totally out of service.

All the plans for tanks for the following year of 1919 were to be forgotten as the war came to an end. The arguments as to how effective the tanks had been were to continue and resulted in cut backs in the numbers produced. Many of the old tanks were presented to towns across Britain and used as war memorials.

After all the hard work and arguments to get the tanks accepted it was fitting that the first Allied troops to reach and to cross the Rhine were from the 17th Battalion of the Tank Corps in their armoured cars. They crossed the Rhine on 1 December and entered Cologne on 6 December.

As well as armoured cars there were also to be tanks included amongst the British forces. Just as they did in Britain, they attracted large crowds of civilians who were eager to see the new weapons that had only been seen on the battlefields in Europe. There were still some German tanks in operation. There were two captured Mark IV British tanks and one AV7 still in German hands. These were in Berlin and were used by the German Freikorps in the suppression of what was to become known as the Spartacist Revolution in January 1919. The fighting was after a strike and an armed battle between civilians and the Freikorps in which around 100 civilians and seventeen members of the Freikorps were killed. The tanks were handed over to the Allies in the summer of 1919.

The British Army of the Rhine was to be based in Germany for some time as they did not leave until 1929. In August 1920 Winston Churchill told Parliament that the British forces in Germany consisted of cavalry, artillery, Royal Engineers, infantry, Machine Gun Corps and tanks. They were still mainly based in Cologne.