The Nenana daily news., 1918-09-06
FIRST TANKERS FROM J. 5. ARE
 READY FCR HUN

American nan power that might be labelled Made in Engiaud" is ready for shipment to the Western front. It is the personnel of the first American tank battalion.
 Trained by veterans of the Brit ish tank service, and equipped with the most modern of the land war ships, the new force Is expected to give an excellent account of itself. The British coachers of the Ameri- can crews have expressed their ap- proval of the manne.. in which theii pupils have adapted themselves to the operation of the machines and, unless they are mistaken, the men whose training in England IS just being completed w,ll De gwen en- viable roles. Their machines have the best points of both the British and French tanks and the training of the men has been in ,he iigh. of experiences already gained ty the fighters of France and England.
 To every man in the American outfit there have been imparted the stories of mistakes made in the early history of tank warfare. En- listed men and officers have been told what to do and what not to do: all their admonitions have been based not on theory but on actual experiences, gained in the face of German fire, loosed always upon the slightest intimation that the tanks are numbering to the front.
 But as. a reminder, perhaps, that the enemy's fire is seldom effective IS the insignia adopted for the Amer ican tank corps-two salamanders. crawling creatures that worm their way unharmed through the flame and smoke.
 It is expected that because of the excellence of the weapon with which It Will fight and the training it has undergone, the American contingent will prove itself exceptionally eff clent; for, even as the American en- gineers have been careful to com blne in the American tank tn best features of those now used by the British and French, so have the instructors of the personnel been scrupulously careful to inculcate the most advantageous methods of of fense and defense.
 Further cause for believing the American tank corps will live up to the estimate of the British in- structors is the character of it's per-
 
 sonnel, both men and officers. They are carefully selected men, picked from the thousanss who volunteered when the call for tank men was made. Two base requisites were Insisted upon; first, every man must be physically fit, and, second tenn permantally adaptable. The train Ing every man has received has meant either that he is delivered to the commanders at the front as wonderfully efficient unit or is mer- cllessly thrown out of the service ne IS turned over to the fighting force as an expert mechanic. man drilled In the operation of both ma chine guns and heavier ordnance a tacticlan and strategist, and, finally as man with no evidence of "nerves."
 British trainers at the little coun- try town where the Americans have been coached have been careful to explain to the men, as they weeded out the unfit and those not temn- ermantally suitable, that only the best can be used There is perhaps no branch of the army service that makes greater demand on the endurance of the man than the tank service, and certainly none calculated to test the nerves more. for within the very small fighting space there is combined ths .a..