A 'lost' poem by Winnie the Pooh author AA Milne heralding the invention of the tank in World War One has been discovered.

The work was penned by the former soldier six years before he created the Pooh stories. It was for a fundraising performance to support the Tank Corps Prisoners of War Fund in November 1918.

The poem eulogises the new British weapon which Milne repeatedly describes as 'those wonderful tanks'.

He writes how the tanks 'will flatten a wood if the covers too good' and how its guns 'rat-tat-tat, as it opens on Fritz, and he runs like a rat'.