Evening star., 1926-09-26
ARMY TANK FAME
BADLY B! SHATTERED
Dragonish Offspring of War,
When Tested, Develops Un-
expected Weaknesses.

s-4vts
The tank, dragonish offspring of
the: World War. showed unexpected
weaknesses in tests conducted by the
Army Tank Board at Camp Meade
Friday and yesterday.
These tests proved that a single
doughboy, operating a Stokes mortar,
could put one of these mobile forts
out of commission if he had the nerve
to stand his ground while the fear
some-looking machine came within
his range.
The experiments yesterday were
conducted on British Mark 5 tanks
which had seen actual service in the
World War. and which had been
towed into a terrain at Camp Meade
which was reminiscent Of the actual
battle front. 1t was the artillery i'm
pact area, full Of shell holes and with
occasional duds lying around.
Havoc Surprises Officers.
The result Of the tests, it was
stated, is bound to have considerable
effect on the future construction OF
American tanks. Some of the havoc
of the explosives surprised the officers
in charge of the tests.
The experiments were conducted by
the Tank Board in cooperation with
the Army Engineers and Ordnance
Department to determine the, min
imum charge which would put O tank
out of commission-sO that it could
no longer be operated on the battle
field, could not be repaired by it's own
crew or by a mobile repair unit, and
could be salvaged only by being
towed to ordnance shops back Of the
lines
The tests were in charge of Maj.
Douglas Green and Lieut.. Y. G.. Allen
of the Tank Board. Ordnance De-
partment observers were Maj. B. D.
Lewis, Maj. J. B. Rose, Maj. c. H.
Campbell and Capt. 3. r. Olmstead
Engineer observers were Capts. Ball
and Luplc~ Maj. Gen. Robert Allen,
chief of Infantry, also observed some
of the tests.
Result of First Test Nil.
In the first test a French IS shell
was placed under one track and
Stokes mortar shel! under the other.
The conditions were as if the tank
had run over both of them. 1t was
found that practically no damage
would have resulted. The IS only
blew up the dirt a little. The Stokes
Mortar be ut the track very slightly
but not enough to put it out of COM
mission.
In the second test the Stokes NOR
tar shell was exploded on the roof of
the tank, which is of steel and quar-
ter-inch thick. Little effect was ex-
pected from this explosion but when
the smoke had cleared away the Off
GERS found that a hole had been made
in the roof about feet long and
feet wide. The interior had been spat.
tered with fragments some of them |
thrown with such force that they
We're buried in the walls. The fan
that cools the exhaust manifold was
broken, but otherwise the machinery
was not injured.
Death-Dealing Blast.
1t would have been possible to have
proceeded with the tank under its
own power If there had been anybody
left alive to operate it. But the test
showed that everybody in a space
about feet wide in the center
would certainly have perished includ-
ing both of the gunners. This showed
that artillery hits are not essential
with this type of tank but that in
fantryman could combat the monsters
If they could hold their ground until
they came within Stokes mortar
range.
In the third test a 6-inch shell, con-
tanning about six times the amount
of explosive in the IS or Stokes NOR
tar shell, was exploded under one
track. This blast tore off about 6
feet of the track, Sheered off num-
Der of bolts and pushed the floor up
very slightly. 1t would completely
have disabled the machine in battle
since it would have been impossible
for the crew to have repaired so
large an extent of the track, par
ticularly under fire.
Hole Blown i'm Floor.
In the fourth test a 6-inch shell
was exploded under the belly Of the
tank. This blew a big hole in the
floor and completely destroyed the
motor. Without much doubt any
body inside would have been killed,
either by the fragments or by the
poisonous fumes penetrating the in
terror.
For the fifth test 80 pounds of tri-
ton, a high explosive slightly less
handle, was exploded under one of
the tracks. The demolishment was
complete. 1t was shown that a tank
passing over such a mine on the
battlefield would have been beyond
repair. The entire floor was bulged
upward about 6 inches. About II
feet of the track was torn away. The
motor was not seriously injured, but
the transmission was completely de-
Stroyed.
After this test officers expressed
the opinion that any high-explosive
shell, more than 1-pounder,
properly placed, would put tank out
of commission for the time being,
making it necessary to haul the mon
ster back to ordance repair shops