Evening star., 1941-08-22
Gen. Adna R. Chaffee,
First Arlhored Force
Commander, Dead
Noted Army Leader
Had Been III Since
Lost Winter
By the Associated Press.

LOST WINTER
By the Associated Press.
BOSTON, Aug. 22.-Maj. Gen.
Adna r. Chaffee, 81, the first COM
mander of the Army's new armored
force, died today at the Massachu-
sets General Hospital after suffer-
ing a physical breakdown during an
intense drive to build up and or
ganize the special mechanical de-
fense units.
Death came at 4:20 am.
A statement by the War Depart
ment said that the officer, whose
fatal illness set in last winter after
he had returned to work following
a previous siege of pneumonia, had
sacrificed himself in the making
Of the armored force"
Once described as "one of the
great Army men," the slight, wiry
Gen. Chaffee received. even as he
lay in his final illness, citations from
the National Government for his
work in fathering the new branch
of the Army.
Shortly before his death, the Sem
ate confirmed his nomination by
President Roosevelt for permanent
appointment as major general, a
rank he previously held temporarily.
A short time before that he was
presented an oak-leaf cluster cita-
ton to go with the Distinguished
Service Medal he won in the World
War.
Gen. Chaffee, one of the thinnest
officers in the Army, underwent an
operation at Walter Reed Hospital
in Washington last winter.
His associates said it was will
power and grim enthusiasm which
enabled him-a cavairyman for the
first quarter century of his Army
service-to adjust himself to the
task of gaining maximum efficiency
in field of combustion engines and
the steel steeds of the armored units.
Funeral services will be held st
2:30 pm. tomorrow at the Fort Myer,
Va, Chapel, with burial in Arlington
Cemetery.
Adna Romanza Chaffee won his
major generals stars principally be-
cause ne hitched his wagon to a
tank.
In 1880 he predicted that tank
powered armies could do virtually
what the Nazis accomplished 10
years later in their blitzkrieg of the
Low Countries and France.
Gen. Chaffee, son of famous
soldier, was the first commander of
the United States Army's armored
force-Uncle Sans answer to Ger
many's powerful panzer juggernauts.
"A Superior Leader"
One close associate described Gen.
Chaffee as extremely energetic and
unassuming and said his reputation
in the Army was that of sound
and brilliant thinker. a superior
leader and with it all, man of
kind feeling and gentle instincts"
Gen. Chaffee was an air-minded
officer, not only in theory. but in
reality, friends said. He suffered
two cracked ribs when plane in
which he was passenger made a
forced landing in Indiana in 1888
because of bad weather, but the
mishap didn't change the generals
opinion of flying.
He long fought to take the Army
out of the horse-and-buggy stage
and mechanic it.
AS a general staff officer in 1880
he made q speech at the Army War
College in which he predicted the
next war would see employment of
highly mobile. heavily armored
units with terrific fire power.
Some officers considered the ad-
dress too visionary and impractical.
1t wasn't long, however, before
the War Department began putting
the ideas Of Gen. Chaffee and other
mechanization-m minded officers into
something more tangible than paper
plans.
Held Staff Post Here.
In 1881, Col. Daniel Van Voorhis
Qater advanced to be a lieutenant
generaD also a strong advocate OF
undermining the Army. was assigned
to organize the first mechanical
cavalry force at Fort Knox. KY.
Chaffee served under Col. Van
Voorhis as executive officer of the
mechanized cavalry organization
until he was ordered back to Wash
ington for duty with the General
Staff's Budget and Legislative Plan
ming Bureau. He was chief of the
bureau from l934-38.
This assignment gave him a better
opportunity to seek increased appro-
priation to carry on experiments in
mechaniZation. He also helped fight
for increased funds for the Air
Corps.
In 1898, Gen. Chaffee was returned
to Fort Knox to command the 1st
Cavalry of the 7th Cavalry Brigade,
mechanical, the only such organi-
zation in the Army at that time
He succeeded Col. Van Voorhis as
brigade commander when the latter
was made commander of the 5th
Corp Area. Chaffee was promoted
to a brigadier general.
With the advent of war in Europe,
U. S. Army mechanization was ex-
panded and expedited. In 1910 the
1st Armored Corps of two divisions
was established and Chaffee was
named commander with the rank
of major general Later two more
divisions were added and Fort Knox