The first appearance of English tanks on the battlefield at the French river Somme in 1916 scared German soldiers. The Germans had to catch up and designed their own tanks. The first tank battle in the world took place on April 24, 1918 at the town of Villers-Bretonneux in France. Now that the Battle of Prokhorovka has entered the war history with a head-on encounter of a thousand tanks, the largest battle of World War I is surprising by the modesty of its scale: three tanks on each side. The Germans stood by as the British maneuvered. Two British tanks armed with machine guns were immediately shelled on their sides and retreated. The third one, armed with a cannon, continued to fight. Despite having one of its tracks disabled, it managed to hit a German tank three times. The crew of the damaged vehicle fled and the other two tanks retreated. The English considered themselves to have won. Just to remind, the Germans also suffered a defeat at Prokhorovka.