A military base close to Shopton is training soldiers in the art of trench warfare, while pilots are learning aerial combat.

Ned Newton has quit his job to sell liberty bonds full-time.

Tom does not let his country down; the reason he appears to be idle is that he has secretly been developing a new tank for use in combat.

Tanks are a new wartime technology, and the British Army has deployed them for use on the western front.

Tom's tank is bigger, and able to travel at twice the speed of current models, with a max of 12 miles per hour (19 km/h).