Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-08-08

With the American Army in Eng alnd, Aug. 7.-Another consignment of American man power that might be labeled Made in England" is ready for shipment to the western front. It is the personnel of the first American tank batallion.
 Trained by veterans of the British tank service, and equipped with the most modern of the land warships, the new force is expected to give an eX- coached of the American crews have expressed their approval of the man. ner in which their pupils have adapt ed themselves to the operation of the machines and, unless they are mis- taken, the men whose training in Eng land is just being completed will be given envialble roles. Their machines have the best points of both the Brit ish and French tanks and the train ing of the men has been in the light of experiences already gained by the fighters of France and England.
 To every man in the American out fit there have been imparted the stories of mistakes made in the early history of tank warfare. Enlisted 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 inti- nation 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 conps-two salamanders, crawling creature sthat worm their way rnharmed 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 effi- cient; for, even as the American en- gineers haave been careful to com- bine in the American tank the best features of those now used by the British and the French, so have the instructors of the personnel been scruplously careful 10 inculcate the most advantageous methods of of- fense and defense.
 Further cause for believing the American tank comps will live up to the estimate of the British instruc- tors is the character of it's person mel, both men and officers. They are carefully selected men, picked from the thousands who volunteered when the call for tank men was made. TWO l base requisites were insisted upon first. every man must be physically fit. and, second, tempermantally adaptable. The training every mar has received has meant either that he is delivered to the commanders at the 1 front as a wonderfully efficient unit or is mercilessly thrown out of the service. He is turned over to the fighting force as an expert mechanic a man drilled in the operation of botf machine guns and heavier ordnance a tactician and strategist, and, final 1 ly. as a man with no evidence O nerves"
 British trainers at the little coun try town where the Americans havf been coached haave been careful tt explain to the men. as they Weedet out the unfit and those not temper mantally suitable, that only the bes can be used. There is perhaps n' branch of the army service that makes a. greater demand on the physical ca durance of the man than the tanl service, and certainly none calculated to test the nerves more, for within the very small fighting space there is combined the roar of the heav, ordnance, the rattle of the machine guns, the acid smell of burning pow der and the suffocating fumes O burning oil and gasoline. Into thi' little space, not more than eight fee