The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1917-07-23
CAMP Of TANKS
LIKE DISTORTED
CULVER PACE
"LiIIiputian Men at Play With
Brobdignagian Toys"

BRITISH HEADQUARTERS IN
FRANCE. July 2J-Under the shelter
OF green ridge OF shell pocked farm
land about fifteen miles behind the
front line trenches, one may come upon
the encampment Of the tanks. The pa
rade ground is like a distorted page
from Gulliver-Lillipu,ian men at play
with Brobdignagian toys A dozen OF
the monsters are lying stretched out
IN the warm afternoon sun being
combed, oiled aud secured, by their
industrious attendants who are like
meddling pismies by the side of the
great steel steeds.
Put Through PAGES.
Over at the edge Of the parade
ground where the level ground breaks
up into ridges and hillocks two or
three OF the big iron horses are put
through their PAGES Grunting and
putting creakins and complaining they
move along. not with the easy stride
OF the story book giants but with like
cumbersome, huge muscle bound turtles
But nothing discomposes them in
their gtumblns advance. They mount
a terrain five feet high with the same
clumsy complaining nonehalance that
they negotiate mole hill and the
steady pace OF their cAterpillars is un-
changed whether climbing up a steep
slope or clambering along the level
Deck Sways and Bucks.
The job Of tankman Is not sinecure.
The interior is not built for comfort
II Is crowded with machinery and guns
and armor and in motion the deck
sways and bucks like that OF little
torpedo boat In a storm Nor is the
roof high enough to prevent danger OF
receiving sound thumping II one is
too tall Men for tanks are picked for
small stature and slender bulk They
must be tough as nails but occupy no
unnecessary space A fat man would
stick in the manhole which is alike
entrance and exit; tall man would
have TO spend his time in a hali.erect
position which would interfere not only
with his own efficiency but with that
OF everybody else on board.
II you would spend a few minutes on
board a tank you must have your steel
helmet with you and your gas mask
carefully encssed in its waterproof bag
ready for emergency. Climbing through
the msnhole requires a little knaek of
it, own. Legs first, is the approved
technique, although to the novice there
appears good grounds for believing that
the reverse process might be Just as sat
isiac,ory. Legs first, one is in danger
OF placing foot or a lcather-clad
ankle against the hot engine case with
disastrous resul,s. But with care thi,
can be avoided and landing made
just inside the starboard gun,
Everything Sptc and Span
Everything is spic and span, shining
with abundance OF oil, but no super
iuous llUures of brass or nickel 10
take away the businesslike barrenncss
and grimnew OF gray-black armor plate
which ob,rudes everywhere. As in
bat,leship, the preferential position,
from the point OF view OF safety, is
given to the engines They lie Just
above the floor, stretching in a longl-
tudnal position through the center OF
the craft, while shafts and crAnks run
under a special armor casing at the
back OF the cams which operate the
caterpillar and push the wheels at the
rear.
The painting of the tanks is great
pastimc in the tank encampment. Mod
ern protective coloring OF battlefield
weapons offers a wide ked for the de
veopment of the cubist art aud the
decorative appearance Of a tank going
into battle suggests that some painter
who all his life had specialized in bar
her poles had suddenly gone amuck
with paint brush and color pot