Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-03-27
General Coming Rock Island Tells Development Tanks

Like Mr.. Wells. he was ahead of his
time.
independently. without knowl-
edge on their part of the previous
abortive effort. similar idea took
shape in the minds of some other
soldiers at the very beginning OF
the war; and it will specially in
terest the American reader to learn
that il was on this occasion inspir-
ed by an invention from the coun-
try in which new ideas are sup
posed always to be welcome. In
July. 1914, it became known that
there was in existence an automo-
bile for agricultural purposes, pro-
PEELED on the caterpillar principle,
which was possessed of quite I'M
usual powers of crossing rough and
traversed obstacles. This was the
Holt tractor, made in Peoria, Ill,
L. s. A The accounts of the per
formances of this machine. con-
structed for hauling and not spe-
cialiy for climbing. suggested that
one similarly designed especially 10
travel across country would. except
in speed, have all the value of the
out thei limitations.
The immediate incentive to action
on the part of those responsible
for the tank movement" therefore.
was the fact that the construction
of such a machine at last seemed
to be a practical proposition Even
its most ardent hackers, however.
did not then fully realize how
great the need for it was. The war
had not lasted long, however, be-
fore this was made abundantly
clear
With their proverbial thorough
ness. the Germans had not only
studied the Russo-Japanese war,
but had turned their studies to
good account. One of the outstand-
ing lessons of that struggle was the
great value of machine-guns on the
defensive. especially exemplified in
the battle of San-de-Pu and at
Port Arthur And, in preparation
for the conflict they had good Tea-
son to know was coming, the Ger
mans had, either in accordance
with the deductions made. or is a
result of their own experiments,
secretly provided themselves with
thousands of these weapons, and
trained large bodies of picked
troops to man them. 1t is stated
that the total number in their Eos
session in August, 1914. amounted
to upwards of 10000. The worth
Of these guns was very soon prov
ed, firstly. in the attack and then
in the defensive, both in delaying
reargard actions conducted by de-
tachments, and in protracted re-
sistance carried out by large forces.
Every offensive undertaken by the
allies on the Aisne and afterward
bore witness, in the toll of baked
assaults and infantry losses, to the
stopping power of these weapons,
and justified the astuteness of the
enemy general staff. Each attack
also>shoWed their comparative in
vulnerability, even in hastily-cOn-
structed defenses. to the artillery
which was available against them.
Indeed. it may be said that the muir
derous power of the machine gun
when used lavishly and with skill
and the Germans are artists in
handling it-came as a revelation
to their enemies.
AS time went on, as the opera
tons assumed the character of
siege warfare. and as the Germans
had time to erect miles of barbed
wire and other obstacles the eff
fectiyeness of their machine-guns
was greatly increased. In proper
tons, also, as the defenses, includ-
ing the dug-outs and shelters for
these guns. were elaborated. did
the immunity OF the latter from ar
tillery fire keep pace more or lesa
with the gradually increasing
weight and number of the allied
guns This progressive improve
ment of the defenses continued un-
til the machine-guns were en-
sconced in caverns and galleries
so feet below ground-level during
and brought up only
at the last moment for point
blank battle of the attacking in
fantry.
But long before the latter stage
was reached it had been brought
home to the protagonists of the
tank that they were right. 1t be-
came increasingly obvious that TO
launch assaults against the defense
as organized by the enemy, unless
the positions were first blown 10
dust, was merely to throw the in
fantry into a maze of barbed wire
in which they would be caught
helpless as flies on "tanglefOot"
and mown down by rife or ma
chine-gun fire at short range pour
ed in from different directions; or
if they were successful in getting
over the wire into trench, TO sub
iect them to enfilade fire from the
same weapons placed for that OBJ
ject. 1t was established that, at all
events until the British artillery
increased in strength to a degree
that would enable it effectively to
cut the entanglements on the front
of assault and blast the defenses
into shapeless mounds, il was es-
sential to employ some moving
bulIet-proof device which could not
only climb forward and forge its
way through uncut wire. but could
UYsT n n