CHAPTER VIII.TANKS.

The tank, more than any other weapon born of the great war, may be called the joint enterprise of the three principal powers arrayed against Germany—America, France, and Great Britain. An American produced the fundamental invention, the caterpillar traction device, which enables the fortress to move. A Frenchman took the idea from this and evolved the tank as an engine of war. The British first used the terrifying monster in actual fighting.

There is a common impression throughout America that the British Army invented the tank. The impression is wrong in two ways. The French government has recently awarded the ribbon of the Legion of Honor to the French ordnance officer who is officially hailed as the tank's inventor. His right to the honor, however, is disputed by a French civilian who possesses an impressive exhibition of drawings to prove that he and not the officer is the inventor. As this is written a lively controversy over the point is in progress in France. Wherever the credit for the invention belongs, the French were first to build tanks, building them only experimentally, however, and not using them until after the British had demonstrated their effectiveness.

In the second place, it was not the British Army which adopted them first in England, but the British Navy. The tank as an idea shared the experience of many another war invention in being skeptically received by the conservative experts. The British Navy, indeed, produced the first ones in England; but to the British Army goes the glory of having first used them in actual fighting and of establishing them in the forefront of modern offensive weapons.

Brought forth as a surprise, the tanks made an effective début in the great British drive for Cambrai. Later the enemy affected to scoff at their usefulness. The closing months of the tanks' brief history, however, found them in greater favor than ever, and they were used by both sides in increasing numbers.

Up to the beginning of the summer of 1917 there was little accurate information in this country regarding the tanks. Somewhat hazy specifications then began to come from Europe about the designs of the different tanks at that particular time in use on the battle front, but these specifications were exceedingly rough and sketchy, consisting in the main of merely the fact that the machines should be able to cross trenches about 6 feet wide, that each should carry one heavy gun and two or three machine guns, and that their protection should consist of armor plate about five-eighths of an inch thick.

THREE-TON TANK.Weight, 5,800 pounds; crew, two men (one gunner, one driver); power plant, two Ford motors, geared together, each motor driving one track; speed, nine miles per hour; climbing ability, 45°.

THREE-TON TANK.

Weight, 5,800 pounds; crew, two men (one gunner, one driver); power plant, two Ford motors, geared together, each motor driving one track; speed, nine miles per hour; climbing ability, 45°.

SIX-TON TANK.This machine is practically a copy of the French Renault tank and carries two men (one driver, one gunner). About half of these tanks were equipped with 37-millimeter cannon and about half with machine guns. Certain of these tanks also made with wireless apparatus substituted for the turret of the fighting tanks. Power plant, one Buda 4-cylinder motor; speed, five to six miles per hour; grade capacity, 45°; weight, 15,000 pounds.

SIX-TON TANK.

This machine is practically a copy of the French Renault tank and carries two men (one driver, one gunner). About half of these tanks were equipped with 37-millimeter cannon and about half with machine guns. Certain of these tanks also made with wireless apparatus substituted for the turret of the fighting tanks. Power plant, one Buda 4-cylinder motor; speed, five to six miles per hour; grade capacity, 45°; weight, 15,000 pounds.

With these facts as a guide, two experimental machines were decided upon, and work on them was begun immediately. With these machines it was determined to test the relative advantages of a specially articulated form of caterpillar tractor with wheeled traction, making use of very large wheels, and to develop the possibilities between the gas-electric and steam systems of propulsion.

In September, 1917, decision had been made to supply the American Army with two types of tanks—one the large size, typical of that used by the British and capable of containing a dozen men, and the other a smaller one patterned after the French two-man model and known as the Renault. In September one of our officers charged with tank production was dispatched to Europe for a more intimate study of the machines used abroad and for the purpose of getting more detailed information respecting the merits of the various types of tanks, as well as to make arrangements for sending specimens here.

The decision to equip the American forces in Europe with tanks of two sizes was made only after thorough and somewhat protracted conferences with British, French, and American officers in Europe. Complete drawings and samples of the small tank were obtained from the French and shipped to this country. As all of the drawings were made in accordance with the metric system of measurements, it was necessary before anything could be done toward actual production to remake the drawings, as the machine shops here were not equipped to use the metric system.

The large British tank had been successful in its operations on the battle front, but its very decided limitations, recognized by British authorities, caused our officers to think it best to redesign the large tank in preference to copying the existing big British tank with its limitations.

General "fighting" specifications for the big tank were laid down by the British general staff at the conference at British headquarters at which American officers were present. It was agreed that this big tank, known as the Mark VIII, should be of Anglo-American design and construction. Arrangements were made for producing 1,500 of this type. To do this, Great Britain and the United States entered into a working agreement that provided for England to furnish the hulls, guns, and ammunition, while the United States was to furnish the power plant and driving details of the monster. Roughly speaking, each tank would cost about $35,000, of which $15,000 represented the American part of the job, on which some 72 contractors were at once engaged. About 50 per cent of the workon these tanks had been completed when the armistice was signed, and the first units were undergoing trials.

It was confidently expected that all of the 1,500 contracted for would have been completed by March, 1919. While these Anglo-American tanks were in the process of construction there were also being built here 1,450 all-American tanks of the large English type, and for this all-American tank 50 per cent of the work had also been done at the signing of the armistice.

In December, 1917, a sample French tank of the Renault type reached this country along with detailed drawings and a French engineer. Much difficulty then ensued in getting American concerns to take on production of this machine, because of the difficult nature of its manufacture. Considerable time, too, was taken up in changing the drawings from the French metric dimensions to the American dimensions, and this involved redesigning many parts.

In the manufacture of the armor built for the Renault type of tank the French made no attempt to adhere to simple shapes, and for this reason practically a new source of supply for this kind of armor had to be developed. Contracts for 4,440 of the Renault type of tanks were finally made. The approximate cost of each one of these machines was $11,500. Manufacturing activities for the various parts had to be divided up among more than a score of plants, so that many plants were turning out parts for these machines, while the assembling was done at only three plants, which also made a portion of the parts.

The three assembly plants were the Van Dorn Iron Works, of Cleveland, Ohio; the Maxwell Motors Co., of Dayton, Ohio; and the C. L. Best Co., also of Dayton.

Finished machines of this type started to come through in October. When the armistice was signed 64 of these 6-ton Renault tanks, each designed to carry two men and a machine gun, were completed, while up to the end of December the number of those finished amounted to 209, with 289 in the process of assembly. There is every reason to believe that had the armistice not been signed, the entire original program would have been completed by April.

During the summer and fall of 1918 our tank program had been augmented by the development of two entirely new types of tanks. One was a two-man tank weighing 3 tons, built by the Ford Motor Co. and costing in the neighborhood of $4,000. This tank, mounting one machine gun, has a speed of about 8 miles an hour. Of this type 15 had been built; and, up to the 1st of January, 1919, 500 were to have been finished, after which they were to have been turned out by the Ford Co. at the rate of 100 a day.

SIX-TON TANK BEING MOUNTED ON A 10-TON TRAILER.

VIEW OF 35-TON TANK. SHOWING THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF WAR, PRESIDENT OF THE BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS, AND ARMY OFFICERS INSTRUMENTAL IN DESIGNING THIS MACHINE.The tank has 400 horsepower, a speed of 6 miles an hour, and can climb a 45° grade. It carries a crew of 11 men and is equipped with two 6-pounders and seven machine guns.

VIEW OF 35-TON TANK. SHOWING THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF WAR, PRESIDENT OF THE BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS, AND ARMY OFFICERS INSTRUMENTAL IN DESIGNING THIS MACHINE.

The tank has 400 horsepower, a speed of 6 miles an hour, and can climb a 45° grade. It carries a crew of 11 men and is equipped with two 6-pounders and seven machine guns.

The other new tank developed was a successor to the French Renault, designed for production in great volume. This tank was to carry three men, instead of two, as the original Renault machine, and mount two guns, one a machine gun and the other a 37-millimeter gun. Some Renault tanks were equipped with 37-millimeter cannon instead of machine guns. Cost of production of this machine would have been very much less than that of the original Renault, while the weight of the machine would have been substantially the same and its fighting power much greater.

An outlay of about $175,000,000 was projected in the tank program, but this, of course, was greatly reduced upon the signing of the armistice. This outlay would have included, besides the cost of the machines, expenses at various plants for increased facilities for operation.

[23]Immediately upon signing of the armistice, production was slowed down as rapidly and as much as possible.

[24]Approximately 50 per cent of the production work on components for these 1,500 tanks had been completed by Nov. 11.

Back to Index Next