The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-11-29
TERRIBLE BRITISH TANKS
BRIGHTEN THE BOOBIES
VIVID DESCRIPTION OF THESE
DESTRUCTIVE MONSTERS
HOW THEY OPERATE.

which II goes along before he can
realize what tremendously effective
war machine it is, says the New York
Sun. And as the sightseer stoops
within those steel walls he perhaps
has queer feeling Of Renaissance.
for some ancestor of his hundreds of
years ago may have gone to attack
walled cities or to bridge the intrench-
ments of the foe In just such an en-
CINE of destruction as this.
The tank, as we call 1t today, re-
tains some of the principles of the
battering ram of ancient days. 1t Is
not unlike those armored and pro-
tected platforms used by armed men
of old in. overcoming fortress and cas-
tie.
There is a wheeled war machine H.
Illustrated In an ancient tome DE Re
Militari," published in 1884, obtained
from the library of Whitney Warren
Of New York city. The picture or
that device, which is herewith repro
duced, shows that this old-time tank
was Of about the same size as tho
modern device.
1t was a closed van heavily armor-
ed for those days, and propelled by a
treadmil device within, which kept its
the Latin text of the book, it was able
to cross bitches II had holes shaped
not unlike eyes, from which darts and
arrows and even heavy shafts could
be discharged A formidable aid to
warfare it was in its day, although it
was not until recently that its i'm
portance was realized.
Fort and Cruiser.
Mobile land forts have been used
from time immemorial. The tank is
fort and cruiser a combination made
possible by the tremendous develop
ment of tractors in the last few years.
The English had for years before
the world war been using caterpillar
trucks in their farming These ma
chimes are of American origin, and
were first built at Peoria, Ill. They
were intended primarily for hauling
over rough fields and came to be util-
lied in harvesting and similar opera :
tons.
The caterpillar wheels and belts
used in driving these machines We're
so simple in construction and with
stood the impact of shock so well that
even before they were used as war
machines they We're put through
stunts of various kinds. Occasionally
one would get out of control and
crush over fences, thus demonstrating
what they could accomplish if such
proceedings were necessary.
When the British war Office was
casting about for effective weapons
for use against the Germans, the in
genuity of experts first struggled with
devices for silencing machine guns in
short order. Colonel e, d. Swinton,
who is credited with being father of
the tank, has had the help of both
ancient and modern inventors in de-
signing this most efficient type of or
mored automobile,
Boches Are Frightened.
The chief value of the tanks at first
was the fact that they dawned upon
the Germans as surprise. They were
so terrible in aspect and so near to
being invincible when they got well
started, that the boches fled before
them like SO many frightened sheep.
The veil of secrecy was kept down so
tightly that even when the machines
were being shipped across the channel
no inkling of their existence reached
the enemy, as far as is known,
In order to withhold as much infor-
nation as possible concerning them,
they very name of the new machines
was kept back and the present desig
nation is relic Of that secrecy. As
many curved sheets of armor steel are
used in their construction, the impress
sion was allowed to go abroad that
the British government was shipping
out heavy tanks to be used for the
storage of petroleum. These tanks
were said to be bullet proof. So it
happened that finally the heavily arm
ed and armored land cruisers went in :
to action and came out of it as "the
tanks of Ancre."
The tank which is now in this coun-
try was brought over originally for
the Liberty loan parade, and II is now
being used for experiment and in
struction at the government proving
grounds at Sandy Hook. She looks
like grim business from stem to stern,
does ISL.
Provides Own Camouflage.
She is built of half-ineh armor
steel, heavily bolted together, In color
she is a dull olive drab, and when she
moves along the dusty road she sup
plies her own camouflage, for it is diff
ficult indeed to distinguish her from
the mud.
ISL Is 26 feet long, feet wide and
feet inches in height, She weighs
20 tons. In form she is not unlike a
rounded diamond shaped lozenge
standing on its side. The steel plates
or treads by which she is carried over
the ground are bound together in belts
which encompass the body at both
sides. When the tank moves her pro-