The Topeka state journal., 1918-07-13
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
Blu RE AU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director.
Washington, d. c.
THE NEWEST AMERICAN ARM.
Washington. d. c.

ing husky young Americans to man
the land shi Of the United States |
army. The tank corps is the newest |
branch of our rapidly expanding land |
force, but it is not going to be the |
smallest no. Yet the least important
The tan, corps came into existence |
in February as a small part OF the en-
gineer corps. Within a month 1t was
advanced to the status of an indie |
pendent corps of the army, its i'm |
portance manifested by the heavy at
mosphere of secrecy which surrounded |
its development.
The tank unit is popularity known as
the 'Tret EN- Rough corps" 1t is
with this character in mind that re-
cruits are selected.
Limited service men, immature
boys. and youths of flabby muscle are
barred from this exclusive branch, |
where mental and physical standards
are the highest in the service. The
tank corr s is proud of this. and also
of the fact that it includes men from
almost every trade, business and pro-
fession. Soldiers of fortune, bank
presidents, and mechanical engineers
inha bit the same tank and the same
bunk at the training camp. College
and mechanical engineers have been
enlisted in large numbers because
tank corps officers believe that men
highly trained along technical lines
and men of good education are need
ed If the tank corps is to be a success.
In the crew assigned to each tank
there is no room for even one inef-
fici>--. man, and skill and initiative
are required of the entire crew.
The tank corps is always on the
lookout for competent men, especially
mechanics, cooks, drivers and college
graduates. Applicants for enlistment
| mus apply to the army recruiting
station in Boston, New York, Pitts
burgh, st. Louis. Denver or Salt Lake
City.
Men have come from Europe and all
parts of the United States to join the
| corps. An American engineer from
| sia dropped into the recruiting office
| at Washington the other day. Both
| had come to America to enlist as
''tankers' and had crossed on the
same ship. neither knowing the
| others destination
The tank corps recruit who survives
| the strict physical test. which is quite
| different from that of the regular
army, is sent to Camp Colt at Gettys-
| burg, Pa. Here he is taught to do
| several things and do them all we'll.
| For instance, he may be trained as
| driver and engine mechanic. or as
machine gun mechanic and gunner.
! He must be able to substitute for
another member of the crew in case
of emer~ ency, and help out in another
l
| ters by awkwardness due to ignorance.
American officers familiar with meth
| DDS of tank fighting now in use have
| been sent from France to train the
| mel at Camp Colt.
| In tank fighting, as in trench war
| fare, methods are constantly changing.
| Tanks are now being used in making
| trench raids and are proving just as
efficient in this work as in tearing
open barbed wire and locating the
| oiv bull
shells.
When first introduced to the pub
| lie, the tank aroused much laughter
| and was regarded as freak inven-
ton that would die an early death
! Now, its practicability is no longer
questioned. The moving fort made its
dramatic entrance into the war in
September, 1916. Armored automo-
biles had been used as gun mounts
from the beginning of the war, but
with decided limitations. These cars
| were most satisfactory on level roads,
but when 1t came to steering them
thru the humpy. shell-torn ground be-
tween the trenches, they were ac-
knowledged a failure. Early in 1915
the British. using the American trac-
tor as Isis, evolved in secret a
cumbersome, fantastic monster Of steel
and iron known to the workmen as
Big Willie. Little Willie and Mother
were also constructed. Men sworn to
secrecy were trained to run them in a
camp carefully guarded from espion-
age. Finally! a fleet of His Majesty s
land ship as they were officially des-
isnated, was stealthily carried to
France by trains and ships and de-
posted on the Somme front to the
amusement of the British soldiers and
te- and disgust of the Germans.
Like battleships. the tanks are given
names A list of French tank reads
| like a menu card-Creme de Menthe
; Champagne, Cognac and Cafe au Lait
incline toward such names as Dead
wood Dick and Daredevil. This prac-
tice of naming the tanks has beer
/ adopted in this country. Our first
made in America tank, a forty-five
ton affair, is christened America.
3 The Germans have alternately
r jeered, denounced and feared the
moving fortresses of the allies. Ger
man newspapers at first protested in
r eloquent editorials against the bar.
= barous tank, terming it Illegal. Fail.
g ing to Danish the tanks by their pro.
testations the army set out to capture
one or the monsters with a view tt
r studying its construction. But the
n tank proved elusive game. One ma
chine caught near German lines wa
Il blown to atoms by British artillery t.
= prevent capture. Eventually, the
Germans did capture a rather dam
= aged specimen and paraded it thr,
the streets of Berlin as a trophy
German efficiency promptly repro
: duced a German version of the cap
G tured tank. Thereafter when Cyclop
or Creme de Menthe went across t,
cut up barbed wires, the German
e would trot out a Kaiser or orDeutchlan,
I, and tank combat would be staged
The Germans have not, however givel
II the tank so important a place in tn
l. fiFhtinr organization as the allie
IS have. The German tank is larger thai
\, that of the British OF French, and il
spite of sarcasm 1eveled at the spec
l. of the early allied tanks, seems t
d cover the md little faster than it
- model
The British tank travels at a rat
II o. about fifteen va. Is a minute. Lik
!" all the tanks 1t is mounted on rollin
n tracts which lay an endless road as
advances HEAVY armOr Mating en-