The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-05-05


 questions about tanks. "What about their armor? Are the 37- mlIllmeter guns ready? What Is the production rate?"
 One by one Baruch checked down the list, appeared satisfied except for one thing. The Army was behind in the production of armor-piercing shells for the guns carried by the new tanks.
 "Tn other words" exclaimed Baruch, "after your tanks are finished they won't have armor- piercing shells to fire at tho en- emy's tankS!"
 BETTER THAN EXPECTED
 Berny Baruch, lunching with the President every Tuesday, dropping in to give suggestions to young Ed stettinius OPM Priori. ties chief, and needing War and Navy chiefs has been a whole. some influence around Washing ton. Through hls tips on how 1t was done in the last war, he has provided many shortcuts.
 Regarding tanks however, the United States Is in e much bet- ter situation than was expected last year.
 With the fall of France, in which armored divisions also played . major role, the United States found itself wish exactly 46O obsolete tanks, worthless ex- cept for training purposes. shortly thereafter, the Army ordered 9,200 new tanks of two types-13-ton light tanks, cap- able of doing 50 miles an hour; and aston medium tanks, ca- pablo of doing 2b miles an hour over rough terrain.
 Orders for the light tanks were given to the American Car and Foundry Company at Berwick, Pa, which was already equipped for the job, and these light tanks are now nearing mass production. But to build the medium tanks 1t was necessary to erect new face tories and tool them. It was the tooling that was by far the tough- est job.
 Contracts for the medium tanks were let last August to Chrysler in Detroit, the Baldwin Locomo- tive Works at Eddystone, Pa, and the American Locomotive Com pany ut Schenectady, N. r.: and the War Departments own ar- senal at Rock Island, H., also participated. It was not expect cd to complete the new plants and get production under way un- til July of this year.
 MONTHS AHEAD OF
 SCHEDULE
 However, the first tanks made their appearance three months ahead of schedule. No. 1 was dee livered by the Rock Island arsenal in early April; American Loco- motive followed a week later with It's pilot model; and Baldwin and Chrysler turned out their first on April 24.
 These four pilot models will be tested out by the army as Q final check; and quantity production will get under way by June at the rate of 150 a month and stepping up steadily thereafter.
 Berny Baruch was correct that the Army does not yet have armor- piercing shells for the new tanks as of today. But by the time the tanks are in mass production, the production of shells will have just about caught up. The medium tanks carry, in addition to machine guns and anti-aircraft guns, three 37-mm. guns and . S5- nm. cannon.
 NOTE-Last summer tanks were placed seventh on the priorities list. Ahead of them came air- planes, small arms, small arms ammunition, anti-aircraft guns, plus various urgent needs of the Navy. AS a result, the tank in- dustry still is handicapped for machine tools and it's accomplish ment Is all the more notable. De- fense ofiicials give especial credit to Chrysler because 1t had never before built anything remotely re- sembling Q tank.
 Editors Nete-Another ar- tlcle in this series on defense production will fellow seon.)
 washington was in ftirore the other day over what Admiral