The Washington times., 1923-09-20
FLEET Of TANKS
To PROTECT
Panama
Army Officials Here Move to
Meet Any Landing of Enemy
Troops in JungIes.
By GEORGE e. DURNO.
International News Service.

INONV8
The Panama Canal is most vul-
nerable to attack by land.
Officers Of the general staff of
the army today let 1t be known
that a general revision Of the de-
tense plans of the Canal Zone. is
being undertaken to meet this new
situation.
The heavy jungles bordering the
great waterway do not afford the
protection against a troop invasion
which heretofore has been ac-
credited them, it was admitted,
and recent army maneuvers have
demonstrated that infantry can
penetrate the 1ungles successfully
and take" the canal
A careful study Of the situation
has convinced army. officials that
the tank is the best weapon for
strengthening the land defenses,
and experiments are now under
way which probably will result in
the detail Of two tank battalions
on the Isthmus.
Officers OFF for Zone.
A detail of officers and men has
just sailed for Panama with cater
pillar tractors and one light and one
heavy tank to conduct experiments
in the jungles OF the Canal Zone.
II the outcome Of these tests bears
out preliminary experiments made
at Camp Meade-the tank head
quarters-the War Department is
prepared to throw approximately
125 OF the mechanical elephants"
into the zone.
Such "land fleet" it was point.
ed out, could maneuver in the jun.
giles. with eaSe, forming a mobile
line OF forts behind the defending
troops, determining the strong
points" in the enemy line and NOV
ing up to remove them.
Results Of Tests.
In tests at the tank school at
Camp Meade, two of the heavy, So
called Mark VIII tanks were sent
through heavily wooded land on
either side of a roadway as flankers
for an assumed infantry force NOV
ing up the road,
The tanks plowed through soft
ground. across muddy creek beds,
uphill and down, regardless of the
trees and underground ahead of
them, tearing their way at a pace
of five and six miles an hour
through every obstruction. @
At times they pushed over trees
nearly a foot in diameter, some
times whole groups Of trees falling
before them and the machines
clamboring over the trunks as they
advanced.
This type of tank weighs forty
tons, carries a complement of
eleven or twelve men, half a dozen
machine guns and 3-inch piece.
The light, or 6-ton tanks likewise
are expected to prove of great value
In the defense OF the. canal. These
small machines, experience has
proven, can maneuvef with incred.
ible speed and facility in heavy
growth.
Fleet DiscIoses Weakness.
A battalion Of this type, COM
prising three companies or seventy.
five tanks, probably will be sent to
Panama, together with a battalion
of forty-eight of the heavier ma.
chimes.
The combined fleet maneuvers In
Panama bay last spring proved be.
yond doubt that an invading fleet
could land troops successfully on
the Isthmus.
knowledge Of this fact, together
with the success Of the infantry
maneuvers through the jungles, has
convinced the army ,of the need of
drastic changes in the defense plans
Of the Canal. Otherwise, they say,
an enemy fleet could land troops to
the north of the Canal Zone. out of
range of the protecting fortified
tons, and the capture Of the canal
would be comparatively easy.