The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-02-06
Speed and Mobility Made Them
Immune to Artillery
Attack.
T.-COL. ALDEN EXPLAINS
Crawling Forts Spread Terror
in Enemy's Ranks
Types Defined.

convention in the United Engineering
Society building.
col Alden stressed the fact that tho
main purpose OF the tank, Englands
answer to trench warfare and the HIN
denburg line. was to clean up machine
gun nests by killing men. not by de-
stroying forts Speed ssnd mobility, in
his opinion, were the chief desiderata
OF this class of war engine. The neces-
sty for these features. he said, MADE
impracticable the type Of heavily ar
morcd tank designed TO withstand artil-
lery fire
at is doubtful" Col Alden said. "if
any new means of warfare has had so
hard a time getting started and secur-
ing It's Just consideration as has the
tank. Thanks. however, to its inherent
worth. It is universally accepted as an
indispensable arm OF the service.
Machine Gun Menace.
The very urgent need which brought
tire tank into existence was the menace
of the machine gun. This is the frst
war in which the machine gun was
used in large numbers. This use IN
large numbers very nearly revolution
lied warfare. Enough machine guns,
properly placed. We're almost inpregna-
Bile. Behind barbed wire and IN con-
crete redoubts. they could be taken
only at a great sacrifice OF man power
usually too great TO be considered.
Something had to he done The first
method was that OF intensive prelimi-
| nary bomba rdment tina; il, firing a stu
pendous quantity of shells into a given
area. The prodgal use Of shells for
| this purpose was staggering, running
| literally into the millions. Even this
prodigai use of ammunition. however,
would have been warranted if consist
ent results had been secured. But they
| were not.
1T was quite plain that something new.
| had 20 come, and come It did in the
: form of the tank Fundamentally, the
tank Is simply device that can come
to close quarters with a machine gun
and destroy il or its crew.
at should be remembered that the
tank is Fundamentally a man killer and
not fort destroyer, also that its great
est defence against heavy artillery fire
lies not in the armor IL carries but In
its own speed and mobility"
| Long Misundcrstood.
| After giving credit TO the English for
| producing the first practical fightinG
machine OF this ype-particularlv Brig.
| Gen. Swinton. Sir T.. dEynCourt and
Lieut,Col. SIR y .. Stern-and de
, scribne how their earliest experiment.
| caused the pioneer machines t. get mired
In soft mud. Col. Alden said that in tAe
| beginning even the military authorities
did not understand how TO use these new
weapons.
| Usually. in the early days" he sal d..
! they were sent over the top after an
intense bombardment, which created a
condition of terrain almost Impa~sa bile
for man. beast or machine. Conse-
| VI tla off ~,
their full value could not he attained.
| Al Cambria in October, 1917, however.
| they had their first real chance. Here they
were used in large numbers and there
was no preliminary bumbardment This
fact meant surprise to the enemy and
good terrain to operate on. The results
were remarkable. and since then the
most sceptic critic has had little to say.
Two most interesting facts were the
result OF this attack First. the saving
In ammunition, which would have been
used according to the old system IN this
one engagement, equalled the entire ex-
pense OF the whole tank development up
TO that time. The tank squared ancial
| accounts III this one engagement SEQ
ond the finest and supposedly the most
impregnable section OF the famous Hin
denburg line was crossed and captured
with ease.
The French quickly arrived at the
oo,,;o, ,ha, 49,, ,ou,. -,
srccasst,r ,I,no,1ar e'La' lpt We
vents n,,h ,ho ur,,,,n,' ueNeIop
,b.t IN ~. rosna.. H. ''nN sno"eu
r,istaLa, nv -. Inucn
Nos ~ sa,.o,o,,,o,,t - u.'lS'o'i
40 n s,,,ii ,,,.,, 80, ,.,,i, . 'N'""'
ider,hla s,>,ad .r'i ,,as,o.,a e VI Vuh-
fair amount ~ ,,ousr ,,o, ,,,t, 80 ~
"In ran,, vats ,ra s,,,arI -. :. :,
ia a ver, rer,,rl,,hIo ,,,,o,,i',, "a ~
nose ,ren,h.s 49,, -, :, wa
II viii Sinh yr.,Ios ~, ,oo "a. '',. W'''T
,,,;,aa an ro,,r o"' "Ne
..
ne NOM
when tho American Army entered
the war they decided TO use both kinds
namely. a large and small tank For
our small tank we adopted the Rennult
type. For our larger unit wa accented
r. modified design OF the large British
tank.
Certain fairly well defined essen,,aIs
have gradually appeared in the mattsr
OF tank construction They are "a fol
lows:
"G) Not less than 10 horse mower n
ton Of weight should be provided
"(2) The pressure square inch
between the track and the ground should
not exceed five pounds a square inch
"(5) The tank should he entirely con.
trolled. 80 far as its mechanical opcro.
ton Is concerned. by one man.
"fD The tank should BE- canahl. ot
making speed Of not less than FIVE