Do its damndest!

Do its damndest!: The phrase widely attributed to General Elles, the Commander of the Tank Corps, before the Battle of Cambrai. The Tank Corps Commander on that occasion is said to have issued this order: "England expects that every tank today will do its damndest." Nothing of the kind, however, was uttered by the General, and the text of his address to the Tank Corps (Special Order No.6) contains nothing to suggest the idea. Apparently the phrase was a newspaper correspondent's invention, taken up by the Press in England and made the most of.