Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-09-06
No Wonder Germany Quit
By MAJOR FRANK O. sMAHIN
OF the Army Recruiting Station

=. THE tank, more than any other
weapon born of the great war" said
Major Frank c. Mahin. of the
Army Recruiting Station, 325 Mar
ket street, Harrisburg, may be
called the joint enterprise of the
three principal powers arrayed
against Germany America,
France, and Great Britain. An
American produced the fundamen-.
tai invention, the caterpillar trac-
tion device, which enables the fort
ress to move. A Frenchman took
the idea from this and evolved the
tank as an engine of war. The
British first used the terrifying
monster in actual fighting. There
is a common impression through
out America that the British Army
invented the tank. The impression
is wrong in two ways. The French
government has recently awarded
the ribbon on the Legion of Honor
to the French ordnance officer who
is officially hailed as the tanks in
ventor. His right to the honor, how
ever, is disputed by a French civil
ian who possesses an impressive
exhibition of drawings to prove that
he and not the officer is the invent
or. AS this is written a lively
controversy over the point is in
progress in France. Wherever the
credit for the invention belongs, the
French were first to build tanks,
building them only experimentally,
however, and not using them until
after the British had demonstrated
their effectiveness. In the second
place, it was not the British Army
fnh Rrcf in
land, but the British Navy. The
tank as an idea shared the expert
ence of many other war inventions
in being skeptically received by the
conservative experts. The British
Navy, indeed, produced the first ones
in England; but to the British Army
goes the glory of having first used
them in actual fighting and of es-
tablishing them in the forefront of
modern offensive weapons. Brought
forth as a surprise, the tanks made
an effective debut in the great Brit
ish drive for Cambria. Later the
enemy affected to scoff at their use
fulness. The closing months of the
tanks brief history, however. found
them in greater favor than ever
Up to the beginning of the summer
of 1917 there was little accurate in
formation in this country regard
ing the tanks. Somewhat hazy des-
cription had come from Europe,
but about all that was known here
was that the machines should be
able to cross trenches about 6 feet
wide, that each should carry one
heavy gun and two or three ma
chine guns, and that their protec-
ton should consist of armor plate
about five-eighths of an inch thick.
In September, 1917, decision had
been made to supply the American
Army with two types of tanks
one the large size, typical of that
used by the British and capable of
containing a dozen men, and the
other a smaller one patterned after
the French two-man model and
known as the Renault The deci-
sion to equip the American forces in
Europe with tanks of two sizes was
made only after thorough confer
ences. The large British tank had
been successful, but it's limitations,
recognized by British authorities,
caused our officers to think it best
to redesign in preference to copy
ing. In the manufacture of the
armor built for the Renault type
of tank, the French made no at
lSilpI " W oihiPiO ohehpSoi
and n new source of supply for this
| armor had to be developed. Dur
ing the summer and fall of 1918
our tank program had been aug
mented by the development of two
| entirely new types of tanks. One
was a two-man tank weighing 3
tons, built by the Ford Motor Co.,
costing about $4,000 This tank,
| mounting one machine gun, has a
speed of about miles an hour. and
was to have been turned out at the
rate of 100 a day. The other tank
developed was a successor to the
Renault designed for production in
great volume. This tank was to
carry three men, instead of two;
and mount two guns. one machine
gun, and the other a 81 nm. gun.
! Cost of production of this machine
would have been much less than the
| Renault; it's weight would be about
the same; and its fighting power
greater. Altogether an outlay OF
about $175,000,000 was proposed in
the tank program. We had ordered
| 23,405 tanks of several different
! types; and large majority of these
would have been ready for use by
! March of 1920. The Boche had
had unpleasant acquaintance with
Allied tanks; and these were rela-
| lively few IN number as compared
with the number expected. The