Ripley County democrat. (Doniphan, Mo.) 1905-1920, 1917-01-12
GERMAN TANKS
0CTRUN CAVALRY
Are Faster and Harder 10 o.
stroy Than tho British
Monster.
WITH INFANTRY
Machine Guns Can Be Operated In
Almost Any Direction Through
Marrow eIIts--ons Machine !,
Kills 800 Men.

~
At General Won Falkenhayn's Head
quarters In Roumania. .--One Of the
most interesting features OF the Rou.
manian campaign, from a. German
standpoint, has been the spectacular
work Of the new armored automobiles
evolved soon after the advent Of the
British "tanks" on the Somme 'front.'.
but which the Developments In Rou--
ma. a have shown to be vast Inn,
provement In efficiency over the Brit
ish machines.
Even In the brief tests It has had
since the Germans crossed the noun
tains into the Roumanian plains the
new German armored car has shown
itself an efficient auxiliary to the cav,
airy in patrol work., as 1t frequently
can infict infinitely more damage thar
a whole squadron, and is far more dlf-
6cult to destroy than the English mar
chine. Its achievements 90 far In
clude an attack ON Roumanian infantry
In which 900 Roumanians were killed.
Like Motor Truck.
The cars are % feet In length, with
wheels q foot wide and incased inE
solid rubber. They carry o crew cfE
ten men. including the machine-gun
operators the chauffeur and one sub
stitute and one officer.
The machine guns can be operated
In almost any direction through nar-
row slits. At one end. under the GUS
tomary hood, Ia a 100-horse-power mo-
tor, and at the other end, under q SIM
ilar hood, is the gasoline tank. Each
man In the crew Is an expert mel
ehanlc and chauffeur, SO II bullet
bursts through the slit through which,
the operator looks In driving thereh
are others ready and competent to
take the injured mans place.
The automobile engine Ia both air
and water-cooled. The car shell is
fmpervious to machine gun and rifle
FIRE. When no opponent 10 in sight
the top Of the turret can be opened
so that man can get his shoulders
out and make observations. :
When the turret is closed periscopes
are placed In position, which permit
a view of the surrounding landscape
from all angles. rss ss.ses o.
There have been many odd expert
ences with these automobiles In Rou-
mania. On one of the first trips
car entered village not yet captured.
where the officer and his crew were
taken for Russians. because the Ger
mans were not supposed to have arm
ored cars.
Just as the crew was being enthust-.
asticaily greeted three Roumanian io-
eomotive drivers tried to get their en-
gines away. but the automobile was
too swift for them. The machine
raced ahead, the crew destroyed a por-
tion Of the track and the automobile
received the engines with 0 withering
fire, which forced their surrender after
they had been disabled.
On the return to the village the crew
was again greeted by the populatlos.
but this time with white fiags Of sur
render.
Routs Roumanlan Infantry. 4
On another occasion an automobile
encountered force Of Roumanian In
fantry and opened fire before the
troops could seek shelter. The Rou-
manians fed after 90 seconds OF firing
from the car. leaving 300 dead and 30
! wounded.
| The great usefulness Of the auto
mobiles has been most apparent In.
, Roumania,. where the character of the
1 warfare mikes II possible to slip be-
hind the opponents lines. On re-
cent exploit Of this kind the com-
mander worked his way to the rear Of
I a body Of RoumanInn infantry which.
was intrenching. and almost before the
Roumaninns were aware Of the cars
presence II had swept the trenchea
with machine gun fire and driven the.
defenders out In disorder,
None Of the German automobiles of
this type Nsed IN RoumanIa has as yet
been disabled or destroyed By oppoy
nents. The bullets thus far encounr
tered have hardly dented the shelfs of
the machine.
The chief advantage Of the new autos
mobile, In contrast with the British
machipc. Is TINT II can run AZ an nver-
age speed Of "a mlles an hour, as cons
trusted with the snaiklike pace Of the
entente cars Its speed frequently en-
ables It 10 scout even ahead Of the
cavalry. and It caa make Its way over
any road Or even Geld. Il