author
Richard Haigh
b. 1895
A British officer’s firsthand account turned the strange new world of tank warfare into vivid, readable memoir. Best known for Life in a Tank, he wrote from direct experience of the First World War’s early armored battles.
1 Audiobook
Life in a Tank
by Richard Haigh
About the author
Born in 1895, Richard Haigh is known for Life in a Tank, a World War I memoir first published in 1918. Library and catalog records identify the book as a personal narrative of the war, and contemporary editions present him as a captain in the Tank Corps.
Sources connected with public-domain and library editions describe his earlier service as an infantry lieutenant in the 2nd Royal Berkshire Regiment in the Somme area in 1916, before he volunteered for tank service after tanks first appeared on the battlefield. That background helps explain the book’s appeal: it reads not like distant history, but like a report from someone who was there as this new kind of warfare was being invented.
Very little biographical detail beyond his military service and authorship was easy to confirm from reliable public sources, so his reputation today rests mainly on this one compact, memorable memoir of early tank combat.