New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1918-09-21

the tanks, for a while, did moi
seem to measure up to the expec'
tations either Of their friends OF
enemies. They stuck in muddy
places, offered good targets for
field-artillery, and generally
started things that they couldn ::
finish.
The Germans tried to improve
on the original British design,
with unfortunate results-for the
Germans. In the meantime, both
the French and English were busy,
with results that bulk large in the
daily reports Of Foch's advance.
Now newspaper poets write odes,
lullabies, and ballads to the VIC
torious tank, and hard-headed
military men predict dazzling
future for 1T.
A while ago it was alrplanes
that were going to win the war,
saws a writer in the New York
Tribune. but now it is tanks. He
continues:
Men from every other arm OF
the military service are turning
now to the tanks. Majors, cap
tains. and lieutenants are giving
I'M their commissions in other
services in order to enlist as
privates in the "tanks.
Word has come back through
the army channels Of what one
officer says and writes to another
that tanks will win this war rs
artillery won Napoleon's wars
and as the British longbows won
in the Hundred Years War.
The word runs that neither gas,
airplanes, nor massed artillery
will be counted the epochal imo-.
walton of this war, but that the
honor will be reserved for tanks.
Even the naughty airmen are
beginning to think that the tor
toiselike machine that keeps close
to mother earth is the coming con-
quering instrument Of warfare.
These may be but dreams of the
enthusiasts who do and get things
done. but they are very interest
ing and stimulating. Officers OF
the tank service are already mag
ming countless. squadrons of the
new armored cavalry. or " charg-
ing artillery as the French are
beginning to designate them, as
sweeping steadily and relentlessly
on toward Berlin, followed by
hosts of well-protected infantry,
pausing now and then for the
great guns to come up and blast
the Germans out Of some parti:-
ularly well-defended strongho d
and then resuming the irresistible
march.
They believe that if there were
q hundred thousand tanks on the
front now, the advance Of the Al
lies to the heart Of Germany would
be almost continuous procession.
The tank meets two great re-
quirements Of successful warfare.
It destroys the enemy and con-
serves its own sides man-power.
The smaller tanks, or "whippets"
as the British call them, are prac-
tically armored cavalry, only the
sfeed is mechanical and the driver
sits inside instead of atop. The
larger tanks are practically NOV
ing fortresses- LAND battle-ships.
Between the two the eager vision
lists foresee return in principle
to the warfare of the Middle Ages !
and the days of feudalism and
night-errantry, whe n the effective
fighting men of armies were pra:-
tically confined to the mounted
knights in armor.
They believe that if Germany
does not collapse in the near fu-
ture the time will come when
practically all the essential fight
ing in the nature of close contact
with the enemy will be done by
! number Of tanks. large abso-
lutely, but relatively small COM
pared with the numbers Of the
armies that will come behind them
10 consolidate and organize what
Inc talks have won and make
way for their further advance.
It is conceded that the limita-
lions on the number of airplanes
hat can actually be used in fight
NO are much greater than on those .