Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-02-02

UeVelQpment Oh the 60, -
Tank in War. sumo .he po-
sition bf chief of the bureau of ord
nance iin an effort to hasten the de-
livery sof American ordnance to the
Unit Estates troops fighting in Inc
line. told a short time ago the story
of the American tank and incidentally
along with it that OF the British and
French tanks. The English tank
numbered along knocking everything
else aside to the point where it could
overcome the machine gunners hold
ing the German rear guard: and the
French whippet. with characteristic
dash. drove in until il was put out OF
action
Gen. Williams said that the armored
car of pre-war days was OF no value
when put TO the test: for II lost itself
as soon as there were no good roads
for it It's weight cut through the sur
face of the fields and heavy under
brush and small trees stopped its
progress. Out of this weakness grew
the British idea to adopt the Ameri-
can caterpillar tractor as the under
body to carry the weight that would l
break down all opposition. and the
outgrowth of that idea was the Brit
lsh tank.
The machine gun" said Gen. VIII
Iiams, was the great rnan-klller of
the war. and the one thing that could
rout them out of position without
appalling loss to the attacking coll
umn, was the tank The enemy would
withdraw their artillery from the
rear. where it would be safe from
capture and from our fire, leaving
their machine gunners in holes and
nests where they could not be reach
ed by fire of our field artillery. Upon
the advance of our infantry the ma
chine gunners would come to the sur
face and pour out a fire that would
inf1ict frightful losses and check the
infantry. One heavy tank would break
up the whole machine gun defense
and. IL there had been enough tanks.
the German retreat would have been
much swifter."
The French tanks were much lighter
IA weight, were swifter. but much
more vulnerable. They were built by
the Renault Company and could be
than the heavier British landships-
Gen. Williams said that the Germans
mad not made any tanks and had used
hut few. having only the British tanks
captured at Cambria and in later at
lacks in their spring advances. None
of the allies could get all the tanks
they wanted for use in the final drives.
All were making frantic attempts 10
procure them in great numbers. The
United States had placed contracts tic
the amount of s17o.00o, 600 for them
and was asking for appropriations for
an additional s6o0,oo 900 for this
year. 1t was building the heavy tanks
in conjunction with the British and
Henry Ford, who, for a. pacifist, was
turning out lots of fighting material
for both Army and Navy for the land.
water and air. was building $4,000 |
coo worth of light ones-fiivver tanks. |
-
Some time ago Congress passed an
act providing medals for members of
the Nation
Medal Awards Affected al Guard
by Error in Bill. :. se
ninety or more days on the Mexican
border in 1851 Primarily the pur-
pose of the legislation was to give
the medal to the national guardsmen,
but in an effort to give some recog-
milton to veterans of the Spanish
American war Congress added an
amendment intended to provide that
such veterans should have the medal,
too. AS sometimes happens to amend
ments. this one slipped into the wrong
place, so that under the exact Ian
guage of the act the medal could only
be awarded to men who had served In
both the Spanish war and the Mexican
W. D.. 1918. was SO framed that fewer
than a hundred of the guardsmen
were entitled under it to get the
medal. Whether the War Department
has at last concluded that as a re-
ward for good conduct in France the
national guardsmen are entitled to
some consideration or because some
other influence has been at work, the
Objectionable order has been resctnd-
cd, and now any militiaman entitled
border, to the medal, with suitable
device and ribbon. can obtain it byl
applying through the proper military
channels to the adjutant general OF
the Army.
The signing of the armistice found
the War Department in possession of
a wonderful and curiousiy assorted lot
OF property, from potato Washers to
tanks, and its proper disposition is
question of the utmost perplexify.
Among its possessions the United States
now finds that it has on its hands a
lot of perfectly good camp sites These
camps, unless the government is to
create an army of some sort, have
about as much value to the owner as
n healthy chimpanzee would have to a
retired Snowman. The beast would
:sot be worth his keep. The worst of
il is that these camps-to be careful
IL distinguished from the cantonments
represent an outlay of money rum
ming way up in the millions. and the
Secretary of War has been advised IN
event of their discontinuance, little. IL
anything. will come back to his de-
partment In the way of salvage. It is
plain even to the ordinary layman
that little can be saved from a first
rate sewer system or from the buried
pipes of the best sort of a water sup
ply plant II the Snowman should STAY
his chinpanzee, the salvage from the
hide, the bones and chimpanzee meat
would not be very valuable. The only
way the Snowman can hope to get
anything from his anthropoid Is to
keep him and work him off on some
other Snowman who can use him in
nis business.
Secretary of War Baker did not use
the big monkey for IL comparison. but
he might have used il to illustrate
Isis position on the camp sites He told
the House committee on military af-
fairs that he wanted to discuss with
them the advisability of buying the
camp sites for the most part only
under lease to the government. The
use of some of these camps for de-
mobiiizing purposes. and the neces-
sity Of storing, at least temporarily
the vast military stores accumulated
there during the war. entail the need
of continuing all or most of these
leases Reports from the real estate
division of the War Department in
dictate that most of the sites can be
purchased at very favorable prices,
nd Secretary II 10