Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1920-02-19
ENEMY Ratified
BY five TANKS
Ruse That Kept Germans Guess
ina on Eve of Argonne
Disclosed.
STAGE ONE-N|GHT STANDS
Their Bluff Attacks Divert Two Ger
man Divisions-U. S. Army Gets
First Two Of Improved Type
of Battle Tank.

Washington.-The story of five little
American tanks and the part they
played in the great Argonne offensive
is told as follows in a statement is
sued by the war department.:
"Gen. Pershing with the first Ameri-
can army had just finished awakening
the German high command to healthy
fear Of the American soldier by re-
ducing the st. Mihiel salient, and the
plans for the Meuse-ArgOnne offensive
were about to be carried into eXecu-
ton. In these days of the airplane
and wireless telegraphy, it seems i'm.
possible to deliver a surprise assault.
Nevertheless no pains are spared to
deceive the enemy as to the exact
point of attack. AS means of cover
ing the true point of attack, the chief
of tank corps presented scheme
which received the approval of the
high command
Cut Up Like an Army Of Tanks.
Accordingly, after the withdrawal
Of the tanks from the st. Mihiel sec
the Three Hundred and Thirty-fOurth
battalion tank corps, was directed to
proceed from this point in a north
westerly direction along the lines via
narrow gauge railway. He was to stop
each night and make a reconnaissance
In front of our positions with his
tanks and Immediately load up and
repeat the operation the following
night further down the line.
"On Sept. 10, the five tanks and
their crews were loaded and the ex-
petition started. That evening they
stopped in the rear of a little wood,
MANY kilometers west of ST. Mihiel.
or the little narrow guage flat cars
tumbled the the tanks and nOsed into
the woods for concealment. About II
O'Clock all was ready and the minia-
ture army started forward on it's mis-
sion. Everything went off as sched-
uled. The tanks rolled through our
positions and into No Mans Land.
'"They were operated back and forth
for half an hour. After this they
were quietly withdrawn, crawled back
on their little narrow gauges and
started merrily on their way. They
timed their work perfectly, and as
they pulled out terrific barrage hit
the wood they had left.
1.-THE following evening the proceed
ure was repeated. Again the bar
rage descended too late to hurt the
jaunty band. For six successive
nights the troupe staged their ore
night stands, and the reports all along
the sector showed that the Hun was
up in the air. All day long the sky
was full Of planes searching for the
army of tanks which the enemy was
sure was cOncentra ting on this front.
All suspicious looking places were
bombarded with the usual Hun thor.
oughness and intensity. All night
long the darkness was dispelled by
hundreds of flares and rockets, and
all indications showed that Heinie was
not going to be caught mapping.
Diverted Two Divisions.
"Best Of all, just as the little band
was preparing to entrain to get into
the big show In the Argonne there
came a message from the intelligence
section stating two German divisions
withdrawn from Argonne front. En-
training for your sector"
The tank corps has just received
at Camp Meade, Md, from the Rock
Island arsenal two Mark VIII. tanks
This type, the largest yet placed In
quantity production, was especially de-
signed for use against the linden
burg line and similar defenses Not
so fast nor so easily handled as the
lighter types, it possesses the ability
to cross much larger bitches, crush
more formidable obstacles, and car
ries a much heavier armament.
The great difficulty with the large
British tanks was that they were un-
derpowered and, on account of the ar
rangement of the machinery within,
did not afford the proper room for the
crews. A commission of British and
American experts has corrected faults
largely through the adoption Of the
American Liberty motor