Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-03-27

Iurther sanction and was intro
duced to the whole world In Eng
land the tank became popular
gag in the revues, subject for
songs and the motif of dances. The
| word was. in fact, almost run to
death.
One good point common to both
the German homemade equivalent
terms is that they do not lend them
selves to the making of lyrics, for
neither "psnzerkraftwagen" nor
schutze n rabenvernichtungsa
mobil is likely to be used as the re-
fraln of a topical song in vaude-
vile.
The machines were yet otherwise
miscalled. During the summer of
1916 an enemy agent trying to tap
the wires in England might have
been mystified to pick up some such
message as: Twelve Willies
reach you today" or: Send tails
for six females Willie a pet
cognomen adopted as suitable for
the telephone and obviating the
use of code for kilograms. was
suggested by the fact that the first
experimental 'Iandship" completed,
though equally malevolent. was
smaller and less powerful for evil
than its immediate SUCCESSOR
eventually the type adopted. When
the two creatures were together
they gave the ludicrous impression
of being child and parent of a mon
strous and evil brood. Hence, nat
urally, Little Willie" and Big
Willie The Big Willies" were
also somewhat unbiologically Gas
sified as males and females, accord
ing to their armament Incident
ally, TO help to conceal the destina-
ton of the tanks at the stage when
any illusion as to their purpose
was precluded. they were painted
with the inscription: with care.
To Petrograd," in large Russian
characters. This. of course, was
merely following up the line sug-
gested by the snow-plough fiction.
During transportation secrecy
was maintained in various ways.
Whilst being conveyed by rail-a
process to which they lend them
selves admirably-the tanks were
concealed under tarpaulins. They
were also always loaded I'D after
dark: and on those nights when
Willies were being dispatched, the
scene on the manoeuvre ground.
somewhere" in England. was al
most Dartesque. The train OF fiat
trucks and special length of side
track were brilliantly lit up by
acetylene flares; and out from the
gloom, into the circle of light and
back again into the outer dark.
over glistening mud or through
shimmering clouds of dust, con-
tinually crawled a procession of
slug-shaped monsters, purring,
painting, and emitting flames as
they slid over the ground.
This operation, which happened
to be repeated several times dur
ing the Zeppelin raid season. was
on one occasion interrupted by
some of the aerial marauders,
whose visit added considerable eX-
element to the proceedings. En-
tralnment was in fl blast when
suddenly signal was given. At
once every light in the loading yard
was eXtinguished and every tank
froZe to stiffness where it stood,
darkness and uncanny silence TAX
ing the place of glare and the
throbbing hustle of work. After
few minutes of tense expectancy
by the time that the ear had been
able to attune itself to the change
from Glamour to peace. a faint
humming noise made itself heard
afaT off on high. The sound ap-
preached, grew louder, and gradu-
ally changed TO high-pitched
purring. which seemed to fill the
whole sky as a Zeppelin droned up
overhead and circled above the
stationary machines in the 'tanko-
dIome" like a night owl quarter
ing field of corn above a colony
of paralyZed fieldmice. No hint
was given, however, to betray TO
the Hun skipper that directly un-
derneath him lay a collection of
new and secret weapons for the
Staying of his 'gebruderei"-a nest
OF scorpions in score for his kane
raden' on terra firma. which. even
to his mind. might have seemed a
target worthier of high explosive
than sleeping women and children;
and after a few minutes the air
ship sailed away TO unload its muir
derous' cargo of bombs at a point
visit repeated during the might
whether by the same Zeppelin or
by others it is not easy to say. Fin
ally after a respectful interval. up
went the lights. the tanks came
back 10 life, and the circus per
Torrance proceeded
II was a curious phase of mod
ern war as waged in three dimens-
ions.
% That all the care and precautions
taken were successful in their OBJ
ject is now matter of history. !
Though the Germans apparently
had suspicion that some surprise
was in preparation they had no
knowledge of its nature until 3 day
or two before the tanks were let
out Of the bag" when their avia-
tors reported certain objects that
looked like armored motors at GER
tain places behind our lines. Be
yond this they were unprepared. ,
and had taken no special measures
TO meet the attack. which. after all. !
was the business end of the mat !
ter.
So much for nomenclature and
mystery making The reader will
have become impatient for the
writer TO: Cut the cackle and
come to the 'osses." or in other /
words, to "cut IL out" Unluckily :
however. most of what can be said (
to little more than cackle /.
1t is in the circumstances imposs'- /
Bile to present. even TO the public !