New-York tribune. [volume], August 18, 1918, Page 8, Image 26

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THE TANK llOAD TO VICTORY OPENED
How a New
Weapon Has
Helped Make It
Possible to Turn
Back the Ger?
man Tide
America Hides
Her Gigantic
Plans for New
Steel Cavalry
To Be Ready for
Big Offensive
By Theodore M. Knappen.
Washington, August 17.
TANKS are now the thing in
military circles.
Awhile ago it was air?
planes that were going to
win the war so far as it is te be
won in actual conflict, but now it is
tanks.
Men from every other arm of the
military service are turning now to
the tanks. Majors, captains and
lieutenants are giving up their com?
missions in other services in,order
to enlist as privates in the "tanks."
Word has come back through the
army channels of what one officer
says and writes to another, that
tanks will win this war as artillery
won Napoleon's wars and as the
British long-bows won in the Hun?
dred Years' War.
The word runs that neither gas,
airplanes nor massed artillery will
l>e counted the epochal innovation of
this war,x but that the honor will
be reserved for tanks. Even the
haughty airmen are beginning to
think that the tortoiselike machine
that keeps close to Mother Earth is
the coming conquering instrument of
warfare.
See Hosts of Tanks
Advance on Berlin
These may be but dreams of the
enthusiasts who do and get things
done, but they are very interesting
and stimulating. Officers of the tank
service are already imagining count?
less squadrons of the new armored
cavalry, or "charging artillery," as
the French are beginning to desig?
nate them, as sweeping steadily and
relentlessly on toward Berlin, fol?
lowed by hosts of well protected in?
fantry, pausing now and then for
the great guns to come up and blast
the Germans out of some particu?
larly well defended stronghold and
then resuming the irresistible march.
They believe that if there were a
hundred thousand tanks on the front
now, the advance of the Allies to
the heart of Germany would be al?
most a continuous procession.
Save Our Men
And Destroy Enemy's
The tank meets two great require?
ments of successful warfare. It de?
stroys the enemy and conserves its
own side's man power. The smaller
tanks, or "whippets," as the British
call them, are practically armored
cavalry, only the steed is mechani?
cal and the driver sits inside instead
of atop. The larger tanks are prac?
tically moving fortresses?land bat?
tleships. Between the two the eager
visionists foresee a return in prin?
ciple to the warfare of the Middle
Ages and the days of feudalism and
knight errantry, when the effective
lighting men of armies were prac?
tically confined to the mounted
knights in armor.
They believe that if Germany does
not collapse in the near future the
time will come when practically all
the essential fighting in the naturt
of close contact with the enemy wil
be done by a number of tanks large
absolutely but relatively small com
pared with the numbers of th<
armies that will come behind then
to consolidate and organize what th<
tanks have won and make way fo
their further advance.
More Room for Tanks
Than for Aeroplanes
It is conceded that the limitations
on the number of airplanes that can
actually be used in fighting are much
greater than on those of tanks. So far
as the manufacturing capacity and
transportation will permit it is pos?
sible to mass tanks at the front as
fast as men can be trained to operate
them, and in time this number may
come practically to represent all the
infantry?so that it will be the only
kind of actual fighting, and men will
Z.1 longer expose their unprotected
bodies to the chance of certain death
or injury from a bullet or a piece
of shrapnel coming their v/ay.
The knights of old expected to b?
hit by sword and arrow, but thej
expected their armor to save then
in most cases. The tank men expec'
their tanks to be hit, but, excent fo:
the chance of a heavy projectile hit
ting them, they do not expect a hi
to mean death or wounds. Th<
modem infantryman trusts for lifi
to chance and casual protection o
fixed harriers, such as trenches
earthworks and the like. If he i
hit he is a casualty.
American Plan?
< artfully Hidden
Just what the United States i
?ioing to take advantage of this n?\
phase o? modern warfare is shroud??
in mystery. No oth?>r arm of th
ervict la no secretive an that of th
THE MACHINES THAT BROKE THE GERMAN FRONT
"Our tanks destroyed the enemy's
wire entanglements," also said the
reports. This shows one of them
doing it.
(British Official Photo)
The British "Whippet," good for 12 to 15 mile? an hour, and a terror
to the Hun.
The French "mosquito," another fast recruit for the "steel cavalry."
(British Official Photo)
'The cavalry and tanks are far in
advance of the infantry," said the
official report. Here is a tank with
the cavalry showing in the back?
ground.
(British Official Photo)
I
tanks. The reason for this is that i
the Allies are away ahead of the J
Germans in the development and use
of tanks and that the new ideas that
are constantly being introduced into
them are a large part of their effec?
tiveness.
The German lives in daily dread
of a new tank surprise, and it is
important to satisfy this dread. The
Germans have testified that if the
British had had t. thousand tanks
on hand when they first sprung them
the war would have ended then and
there in a chaotic German defeat.
So now the Germans are kept in the
dark both as to the numbers and
varieties of the tanks that the Allies
are bringing up against them.
Nothing of a definite nature is, ,
therefore, officially permitted to get I
out, and it would be most unwise and i
unpatriotic to publish what is known,
outside of what becomes public
property through the revelations of
the battlefields. Even the recent
phenomenal success of the French
| and British tanks, which in respect
to the performance of the former
brought out special acknowledgment
from General P?tain and Premier
Clemenceau of the pivotal character j
of their achievements, has not ex- j
hausted Allied power and inventive?
ness.
Talk of Vast Numbers
Of Smaller Tanks
It is impossible to say anything
aboui on how large a scale the
United States is building tanks and
training the personnel to go with
them. Some of the enthusiasts rec?
ommend the enlargement of the tank
service to the dimensions of the Sig?
nal Corps, which, when it still in?
cluded the army air service, num?
bered more than 125,000 men. They
also insist on the immediate build?
ing of not less th,an 100,000 of the
small tanks for two men and pos?
sibly one-man tanks.
No announcement has ever been
made of what is actually being done
in respect to the number of tanks
being built or planned or the num?
bers of the men that are to use
them. But there is no doubt that
i the High Command is fully aware
I of the immense potentialities of
i tanks and firmly committed to theii
use on a large scale. It is held that
the utilization of tanks in immense
numbers at an early date is much
more feasible than that of a large
number of airplanes, because their
manufacture is not so novel a thing
to American automobile and truck
manufacturers.
Ordnance Department
In Charge of Work
The production of the tanks is a
j function of the Ordnance Depart
; ment, in which a spt-cial division is
charged with the task. The service
i corps in the United States is directed
; by Colonel I. C. Welborn, who is a
j medal of honor man of the Regular
' Army, with service in the Spanish
| American War, in the Philippines
| and in the Boxer expedition. He is
I reputed to be a man of great force
I and executive ability. His assistant
? is Captain Phil I). Poston. Briga
! dier General S. U. Rockenbach i;
, commander of the tank service ir
j France. It has been officially ad
? mitted that there is one battalion o:
the American tank service at th<
?front, but whether these machine:
I are American or foreign made i
| not known.
Thus far two tank camps hav
i been established. The camp at Get
tysburg, Penn., is a concentratio
?and preliminary training campandi
in charge of Major I). D. Eiser
| hower. The advanced training cam
| i?< at Tobyhanna, Penn. Colonel W. I
Clopton is In command there. Tl
j has recently returned from Franc
with twenty-five assistant officers, ?
who, after a thorough practical ex- j
perience with tanks in England and j
France, will act as instructors for
the men and officers of the rapidly
growing Tank Corps. No informa?
tion is available as to the numbers
of men and the amount of equip?
ment now at these camps.
Great Rush of Men
To the Tank Service
The tank idea has taken the coun?
try by storm, and such is the eager?
ness of strong men, natural fighters
and mechanics and engineers, to
enter the service that it has become
easy to make it a corps d'?lite, rank?
ing in the excellence of the person?
nel with the marines and the air
service. Every map, whether for
the fighting section or the mechani?
cal side, is hand picked. Every of?
ficer is promoted from the ranks of
the enlisted men. No man can se?
cure a commission without first be?
coming a buck private.
Privates who have the natural
equipment of officers are put through
an officers' training school and on
| graduation are commissioned a?
j second lieutenants. When commis
| sioned they are assigned to duty ac
cording to their special qualifica?
tions, which depend largely on what
they did in civil life and their fight?
ing or mechanical qualities. The
fighters?the machine gun men, ar?
tillerists and drivers?will be drawn,
whether officers or privates, chiefly
from the ranks of those who are*, not
mechanically skilled. Mechanics and
mechanical engineers will naturally
drift to the maintenance work.
! Give Up Big Salaries
To Ride the Tanks
A well known business man about
forty years of age has just given up
a salary of $100,000 a year to enlist
| as a private, with the hope of being
! an officer of the iron cavalry that
I is to charge on to Berlin. A film
?service manager on the Pacific coast
has given up $25,000 to do likewise.
Hundreds of prosperous and success?
ful leaders in civil life are swarm?
ing to the fighting colors of the
tanks and are striving to emulate
in their pugnacious aggressiveness
the snarling wildcat that has been
chosen as the emblem of the tank
service. Take them all in all, physi?
cally, mentally and culturally, the
tank men are declared to be" the
flower of the army.
Tanks, Chief Weapon Against
Barbed Wire and Machine Guns
By Austin C. Lescarboura
Associa-t? Editor of "The Scient fie American"
THE answer to German barbed-1
wire and machine guns is the
tank.
Until the tank was introduced by
the British during the Battle of the
Somme in 1910, it was wtll nigh im- j
possible to advance against in?
trenched positions except after long
artillery preparation so as to cut up
the barbed wire and exterminate the
German machine guns and their
crews.
And the very fact that long ar?
tillery preparation was required,
running into days and even weeks,
gave the enemy ample warning that
an attack was impending, with the
result that he brought up his re?
serves and stopped the offensive in
short order. To attack an intrenched
enemy without first reducing his
barbed wire and accounting for most
! of his machine guns was suicide,
nothing more or less.
No military secret of this war has
been more successfully kept than the
tank.
The Germans, soon recovered fron
their fright, at once began to ridicuh
the tank. They pointed out how vul
nerable the tank was to the smalles
cannon and how easy it was to brim
field guns into the front line trend
to combat them. But all the whil
tho Germans saw the possibilities o
this new form" of attack, and afte
capturing one or more of the Britis!
model they set to work devising thei
own.
i ,The formula for a tank appear
to be little more than a cntcrpilla
tractor of the typo often seen o
American farms, currying a ste<
i box which houses a number of gun;
the engines and a crew. Guns are
of the Lewis type, in the British
modek and of the Hotchkiss model
in the French. Some of the tanks
known as the "male" type, as dis?
tinguished from the "female" type,
carry small cannon in addition to
machine guns.
The larger tanks first employed
by the British made a speed of
somewhere between three and five
miles an hour. The diamond-like
shape of the caterpillar belts per?
mits these monsters to climb in and
| out of shell holes and to negotiate
? the most wretched terrain. Mud has
| little terror for the tanks because
i of the large bearing surface afforded
: by the belt in contact with the
j ground.
The French did not introduce their
tanks until the great offensive of
April, 1917, along the Aisne. The
story goes that the French, with
characteristic conservatism, awaited
the outcome of the British experi?
ment before sending their own tanks
into battle. But despite the hilly
and unfavorable terrain of the Aisne
i battlefield the French tanks at once
|'proved their worth.
In general principle the French
I tank follows its British counterpart.
However, instead of bringing the
caterpillar belts over the top' of the
body the French bring theirs low
dowu so as to prevent a minimum
mark to enemy projectiles. This de
| sign, it would seem, does not give
! as good climbing qualities as the
British, although from a military
point of view it is better because it
is less vulnerable to damage.
German Tank Far
Behind the Allies'
Then there is the German tank,
or "Panzerkraftwagen," which made ?
its d?but during the offensives of
this year, in general design the
German tank presents nothing new.
It appears rather to follow the lines
of the French tank, with a low cater?
pillar belt covered over by the front
and sides?ail improvement over Al?
lied tanks.
Due to the scarcity of steel-hard?
ening materials the Germans have
been forced to employ poor quality
steel for their armor, and thickness
and heavy plates have had to make
up for poor bullet-resisting qualities.
Thus the German tank ???extremely
heavy and cumbersome. It weighs
45 tons, which is considerably in ex?
cess of the Allied tanks. The arma?
ment comprises one 47-mm. (1.85
in.) cannon for direct fire ahead and
six machine guns mounted in pairs
| on each side and astern. The crew
I consists of one officer and 18 men,
! who pack the interior ; in fact, when
! the tank is in motion over rough
1 terrain the men manage to stand up
I by mqans of straps, which seem?
: quite'to home for the New Yorkei
| used to traveling in the subway dur
?ing the rush hour! There are ais(
| folding seats. But as a whole th(
i German tank is a poor piece of en
gineering; and its record on tin
j battlefield does not contradict tha
[ statement.
THE BIGGEST AMERICAN TA?K
The only American tank of which pictures are permitted. A 46-ton
stenm driven monster.
(Copyright InternaUottal Film ,t??rtio?>.
Anticipating the warfare of tanks
the Germans soon developed ways
and means of dealing with these
moving forts. In the front line
trenc'hes they installed their so
called anti-tank guns wherever the
ground out front was favorable for
tank man?uvres. It appears that
they employed discarded artillery for
their anti-tank defences; cannon
which were worn out through con?
stant firing and which were there?
fore no longer accurate for long dis?
tance work, but were still available
for firing point blank at advancing
tanks. So the Germans must have
cleaned their military household, and
the collection of ordnance odds and
ends was dispatched to the front.
That helped some. Numbers of
Allied tanks were put out of action
! in various attacks. And with typi
| cal Teuton self-pride they did not
fail to announce the fact to the world.
i Forthwith the Germans placed the
i tank in the same category as the
extinct dodo.
Then came General Byng's sur?
prise attack in front of Cambrai.
Heretofore tanks had been employed
to accompany infantry waves during
an assault, helping them to get
! across bad ground and to attack ma
| chine gun posts and centres of re
| sistance. The usual artillery t>om~
! bardment of ? several days or even
? weeks had always been employed
j until that time on the Western front
I since the advent of trench warfare.
But General Byng dispensed with
artillery preparation. His prepara?
tions and concentrations were car
i vied out with the greatest secrecy.
! On a front of over twenty-five miles
i he sent his fleets of tanks into battle,
followed by dashing British infan
; try. The tanks went through t he
, stout German belts of barbed wire
? and the infantry followed. Caught
i completely by surprise, the German
? troops were simply rushed off their
feet before they could get their anti
| tank guns into action and call for
I the support of their artillery in the
! rear.
Cambrai Gave
Tank Its Reputation
That battle established the reputa?
tion of the tank. It also showed
how artillery preparation could be
dispensed with, and a real surprise
effected by tank neets. The lesson
did not go unheeded.
Yet the Allies must have found
their large tanks unsuited to the
conditions of warfare, for they set
to work on smaller, two-man models
which made their appearance the
earlier part of this year. The British
small tank, known as the "whippet,"
came into action during the first
German offensive of the year. II
follows the lines of a conventional
flat car provided with a low cater
pillar belt and mounting a turrel
that houses the crew and the' ma
chine guns. It makes a speed it
excess of twelve miles an hour, am
has no difficulty in keeping up witl
leeing Huns. The French tank fol
wed soon after, proving to be i
?i aller edition of the already fa
miliar square-box model. But. th
"haby" tank,-like the British "whip
I pet," is'fast and readily man?uvrec
| There is still another French tanl
probably the so-called "mosquito,"
details of which are not available
as yet.
How Tanks Worked
In Last Offensives
When the Germans, on July 15
last, launched their ambitious offen?
sive between Ch?teau Thierry and
the Argonne foothills they had every
hope and sxpectation of splitting up
the French army, seizing Rheims,
Chalons and Epernay and rolling on
toward Paris with a Teuton peace
as a reward. But they did not figure
on the growing strength of the
American army in France; nor did
they know what was going on in the
forest to their right.
Several days before the Germans
opened up their so-called "peace
storm" the French, anticipating the
move, prepared a counter offensive
under the natural camouflage of the
forest of Villers-Gotteret. It is said
j that numerous tanks were brought
i up during a thunderstorm, so that
the Germans failed to hear the
clanking belts of the chugging mon?
sters. The French tank crews had al?
ready had ample experience in co?p
I crating with infantry during the nu
! merous local attacks of the French
during the past month, which were
largely of the nature of dress re?
hearsals, so to speak, and a system
of liaison had been perfected pre?
cluding the erstwhile blunder of let
' ting the infantry get ahead of the
j tanks, or the tanks ahead of the in
! fantry. For the success of a tank
attack depends absolutely on the
operation of tanks and infantry as ?
a unit.
The story of the Marne counter '
offensive is old now. Suffice it to
say that General Mangin, without
the usual artillery preparation, was :
able, to send his troops and tanks :
against the German flank behind a ;
thundering rolling barrage. The \
Germans were taken by surprise, j
and before they recovered it was too
late. As a result they had to retire !
to the Vesle, with heavy sacrifices
in prisoners and booty.
Right on the heels of the Marne
disaster has come the present offen?
sive of the British and French, with
some American aid, in front of
Amiens and astride the Somme.
Again the tank has been employed
in large numbers to take the place
of the preliminary artillery bom?
bardment. Behind fleets of tanks
the British have gone into battle,
taking the Germans by surprise.
Marne and Somme
Are Tank Victories
Both the Marne and Somme of?
fensives, with their results in the
form of 70,000 prisoners, 1,200 guns
and 10,000 machine guns, have been
tank victories. It is safe to say that
they could not have been won with?
out tanks, for the Germans would
then not have been caught off their
guard.
The new tank tactics are interest
i ing from many angles. First of all,
! the tanks take the place of the usual
i artillery preparation intended to
I clear the way through the barbed
j wire entanglements and to account
| for the enemy machine gun nests
j while the attack is under way. The
! enemy front line is rushed befort
| many of the tanks can be hit bj
I anti-tank cannon or other artillery
i Then, as the infantry continues t<
i advance the tanks, particularly thi
I larger "male" model equipped witl
: cannon, act as mobile artillery am
. solve that great problem of support
| ing advancing lines with guns. Voi
Hutier, the German general who de
j vised the method of attack whirl
; enabled the Huns to overrun groa
jareas of Allied territory during Uli
; year's drives, makes use of specie
; highly-mobile trench mortars. 0
[minemverjer, for supporting his ac
vancing infantry. But even thiW
man? can at once appreciate W
much more efficient is the tank ti?, '
its added possibilities of attackin
enemy German gunners, no rnatW
where they may be, while immune
against machine gun and rifle %
Lighter Tanks,
The New Cavalry
The lighter tanks with their gre??
speed can be U3ed as special cavaln
Retreating Germans can be chased
? caught up with, machine gunned an?i
crushed, and thrown into completo
confusion. The "whippets" and the
"babies" and the "mosquitoes'1 can
worm their way far into enemy tir
ritory, when the German line is once
breached, and interfere with trans
ports and retreating troops in wjys
too numerous to describe. They can
accompany cavalry just as they do
infantry, taking care of troublesome
machine guns whenever the regular
cavalry is held up.
So all in all the tank has great
possibilities in the battles to coot,
Certain it is that the Germans, who
have never failed to capitalize those
methods used against them, are go?
ing to develop tank fleets of their
own. But they are so far behind
the Allies in numbers and experience
that they will have a hard time
catching up. In fact, aside from their
"panzerkraf fevvagen" being poorly de?
signed, their main difficulty appears
to be the lack of good material for
crews.
And allowing that the Germans
develop good tanks, in sufficient
numbers and manned by skilled
crews?and that is admitting some?
thing that does not seem humanly
possible at this late stage of the
game?they will have to face the
Allied tanks in battle and the Allied
anti-tank defences. Already our al?
lies and ourselves have perfected
mines for dealing with tanks; we
have mines that can be placed in
the probable path of a tank and that
explode as the tank passes, raising
the huge steel hulk a few feet in the
air and letting it fall with a crash,
i or turning it on its side.
The most important anti-tank de
fence, however, is the 37-rrrm. (1%
I in.) cannon originally introduced by
i the French for destroying machine
gun nests. This little piece is a
counterpart of the famous French
75-mm. or three-inch field gun, al?
though it is not mounted on wheel?,
being intended for the use of skir?
mishers and therefore setting close to
the ground on its tripod support. Its
diminutive shell of the armor-pierc?
ing, high explosive variety can be
depended upon to penetrate any tank
the Germans may employ, causing
death and destruction within. Be?
cause of its portability and small
size it can be brought into the front
line trenches, or even out in the
open, with the same facility as the
ordinary machine gun. And with a
trained crew of four men, two act?
ing as observers and two manning
the gun, it can fire twenty-five aimed
shots a minute, any one of which
can inflict serious damage on a Hur.
tank long before it gets within dar
gerous range.
Both the British and the Ameri?
cans have adopted the 37-mm. can?
non, which has come to be known
as the "tank wrecker" although orig?
inally intended for service against
machine guns.
America Making
Great Fleet of Tanks
General Pershing is a great be?
liever in tanks, undoubtedly he has
asked the authorities in this country
for tanks of all'kinds and in large
numbers. And our vast industria!
facilities should permit us to turn
out vast tank fleets with the same
efficiency as other materials of w?r
thus making up for such wastage as
improved German counter meaaW*?
may bring aiKsu*.
| Little has been made puoiic con
1 cerning our tanks now in process o.
f construction. It is understood that
; we are making small tanks sui
able for our quantity production
methods. We are also making larP
tanks; in fact, as an example of our
large tanks the authorities pe""1
| the publication of a photograph?
, a huge, forty-ton tank built K
a concern near Boston, which
| steam driven. The efficiency of sWP
over oil power plants is too **
known to require explanation.?1*
the large American tank so equip!*'
? is bound to prove a great surpn
'on the battlefield.
In the meantime, the tank ??
weapon of surprise. The 1?? _
enemy hears about, our tank pW> ?
the bettor our chances of a dec???,,
.success when our "Treat "Em Rouf
crews pilot their land ship? ?n *
I way to Berlin.