Evening star., 1919-04-13
Nv CAPT. Il. r. CARLSON,
Ordnance Department., U. 8. A.

Orooance Oepartments - a. ~
Y CDENDORF laughed at tanks.
but he was looking at the Ger
man "Eifrieda" variety, and
not the scrappy, persistent.
man-eating English or French breed.
Since tanks were developed by the
allies. Ludendorf was acting In true
Germanic form in ridiculing this new
arm, the power of which was soon
TO make him bitterly regret his pre-
mature opinion.
Tanks were first used by the Brit
ish army at Deville wood. on Septem-
her Is. 1916. In the fighting around
Arras in April, 1917. they, rendered
the greatest possible assistance to
The Infantry cooperating in the cap
ture of Tilloy. Neuville. Vitasse. Rlen-
court. Hendecourt, Monchy ana he
niuel sur CoSeul
What the tanks did In the hght,nI9g
around Cambria In November. ~,
is already a matter of history Be
ginning at Haurincourt. Margolng'
Masineres, Anneux, Bourbon wood.
Containing and Bourbon village tney
were everywhere successful often
preceding the infantry and doing
Great execution among the enemy
troops In many cases tanks captureu
their detectives and held them until
the infantry, very much eXhaustuu,
could come up and consolidate the
positions.
The tank attack at Cambrat was
complete surprise. No preliminary
hombardment was necessary to cut
the wire. and the absence of counter
barrage saved at least 10000 lives
casualties were very high; at cam
brat they were nil. The absence OF
preliminary bombardment left the
eround in good condition so ina!
when the tanks went forWaro anu
cleared passages througn, agn, 'ne aystsms Ems
the supporting infantry followed
without difficulty and penetrated 10
a depth of nearly 10000 yards. INC Inc
saving in ammunition and guns. uue
10 the absence Of the preliminary: ar
ti,larv nreDarat ton, amounted to $25,-
0O0, ,O0O-and this added to the saving
of at least 10000 human lives. 1910
During the summer hghting OF 1912
tanks came into their own. Az ,ao. hame..
were entirely successful. inianaIs a,
and airplane cooperation were excel
lent An objectives were taken.
The erect Of tanks during the Az
gust fghting can scarcely De ea.aha; reamLeu;;
In his official dispatch Feld Mars""'
Sir Douglas Haig stated:
since the opening Of our offensive on 'ae
6tL of August, tanks have been employed IN
every battle, and the importance OF the psatt
played by them in breaking tine resis"es na eSso.
The German infantry can scarcely oe eAas
xersted. The whole scheme OF tine attnck VI
fhe 9Th Of August was dependent upon TANKS
and since that dass on nfsnrs has been
powerfully assisted or confirmed by their time
ly arrival So great has been the eheet .S p,U.
duced upon the German infantry by the ,har up,
pearance Of British tanks that In more than
zone instance, when for various reasons reai
tanks were mot available In sans,ent ~ h1h.o ,ha ,ss
Of dummy tanks painted on frames Oh "oou
and canvas.
Tanks have contributed more than
any other development toward over
coming the German machine gun. me
Germans had machine-gun superior
ity and their success was not SO
much a matter of men and military
discipline as 1t WAS weapons. HAD the
allies been foresighted. and developed
machine guns; the means ans o. t,emsands emaos
the story Of tanks might never nave
been told.
In his foreword to his 'Princples OF
War" Marshal Foch. commander-lh-
chief of the allied armies. says:
The machine gun and barbed wire entangle-
Nrnts have permitted ue1enseS W Oe RYAN
izcd with indsautable rapidity. THESE nave
endowed the trench or q natural obstacle win
II strength which has permitted offensive
points to be extended over area quite imprac-
ficatlc Until this time. The offensive for the
tine was powerless New weapons were Sought
for and after a formidable artillery had been
produced tanks were invented, l. e., machine
guns or guns protected by armor and rendered
mobile by petrol, capable over all types OF
ground to master the enemy's entanglements
and his machine guns. 1t Is thus that the III.
dustrial power Of nation has aone permitted
Armies to attack or that the want OF TINS
power has reduced them to the defensive.
French tanks were used with ex-
ccllent results around Montdidier. at
Cantigny and in the st. Mih'cl sector.
The success of the counter attack IN
the scissors salient made the Ger
mans realize Ine enormous possibiii-
ties of this new arm.
Il
Trench warfare came into being.
progress was at q standstill, offensive
moves were not possible, and then
game the tanks. They broke through
Ahe entanglements and trench systems
and changed the condition Of stagna-
tion into q war Of movement.
The attack was being held up by
enemy machine gun nests, our troops
were exhausted. failure was in the
process of being written about this
ottemnt when the tanks arrived. The