Newspaper Page Text
Dec. 12, 1917.
AMERICAN TRACTOR FURNISHED IDEA FOR IRRESISTIBLE BRITISH TANK
Inventor of Juggernaut
Which Germans Call
“Most Wonderful Weapon
Which Modern Tactics
Have Revealed in War
fare,” Tells of Their
Origin
Britain has produced two sensa
tions in this war. They are the tanks
and the hush-hush ships.
Os the tanks little was known until
they began breaking down barbed
wire entanglements, crushing in
trenches and their occupants and
proving that trench warfare was not
necessarily a stalemate. Os the hush
hush ships there were many rumors
long before they appeared. They have
been seen to be leviathans among
warships, capable of developing tre
mendous speed and working great
havoc. How great that havoc is will
probably remain a mystery until in
days of peace there is a recapitulation
of the achievements of the war.
But the tanks, which came upon an
unexpecting enemy, are becoming
more and better known as the war
progresses. In the Liberty Loan pa
rades America saw one of these
monsters at close range.
It was under Lieutenant General
Sir Julian Byng that the tanks came
into their own. Sir Julian was a
great believer in their efficiency from
the time he first saw them in opera
tion. In his plans for battle they en
tered well into his reckoning. He
pleaded for the mobilization' of a
large force of them and protested
that, if a sufficiently large force were
available, he would establish some
new precedents in warfare and would
shatter some old beliefs.
One day last month, -without any
preliminary barrage, a battalion of
tanks emerged from the rear of Sir
Julian’s lines. They had been quietly
assembled in the night. They had
come quietly, so quietly that even the
argus-eyed espionage system of the
German military was taken un
awares. The rest of the story is well
knpwn.
Idea Came from U. S. A.
But what are the tanks? Why are
they so wonderfully efficient?
Their story was told recently by
Colonel E. D. Swinton, C. 8., D.SO.,
R.E., Assistant Secretary of the Brit
ish War Cabinet. Colonel Swinton
told a correspondent for the New
York Herald that the germ of the
tank idea came from America, in the
Holt tractor. He said: “We had
been looking for a new war machine,
capable of going over rough ground
and being able to fight. We had
made no headway until July, 1914, a
month before the war begafi. Then
an officer reported to me that he had
seen a tractor near Antwerp, which
was able to climb over rough ground
and which might supply the principle
of the machine for which we were
searching.
“I went to see the machine and
found a farmer at work with it in his
field. Without letting him know my
Identity or the purpose of my ques
tioning, I succeeded in making him
demonstrate its working to me. I
pretended to be enthusiastic about it
and the farmer caught something of
my enthusiasm and tried to show it
off to the best possible advantage. He
climbed over some of the roughest
ground he could find. Immediately
I saw the possibilities in the tractor.
“When the war started, events
moved with such rapid succession
that it was October before we were
able to give our attention to the de
velopment of the tank. lam not an
inventor, but I obtained the services
of two officers who are inventors and
we set about making a war machine
along entirely new lines. The devel
opment of the machine was slow and
it was almost two years before the
first tank appeared on the field to
terrify the Germans.”
In the September number of the
Strand Magazine, Colonel Swinton
told of the difficulty in finding a name
for the new Juggernaut. It was nec
essary that the name should reveal
nothing to the Germans. Finally the
word “Tank” was chosen because it
was so non-committal. Says Colonel
Swinton in the Strand: “Aside from
being called ’Panzerkraftwagen’ and
‘Schutzengrabenvernlchtung - auto
mobil’ by the Germans, the machines
were otherwise miscalled."
Big Ones and Little Ones
Colonel Swinton told of the fear
of the Garman Intelligence service
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and the innocuous messages that
were sent over the wires regarding
the tanks, so that any who tapped the
telegraph would gain nothing for the
trouble. Some of the messages were
like this: “Twelve Willies reach you
today,” or, “Send us tails for six fe
males.” The name “Willie” was sug
gested, Colonel Swinton says, because
of two types of tank that were being
experimented with. When these two
types were side by side there was
such a marked difference in their
sizes that they suggested parent and
child. Therefore the term Willie
came to be applied to the smaller
type. The larger type was of two
classifications, a male and a female.
Os these two types Colonel Swinton
says in the Strand: “The male is par
excellence the machine gun hunter
and destroyer. He carries light,
quick-firing guns, capable of firing
shell, and is intended to be to the
machine gun what the torpedo boat
destroyer was intended to be to the
torpedo boat. The female, which, in
accordance with the law of nature is
the man-killer, carries nothing but
machine guns for employment against
enemy personnel. Her special role
is to keep down hostile rifle fire, to
beat back counter attacks and rushes
of infantry, and to act generally as
consort to her lord and master.”
After the tank had been perfected
its secrets were guarded with the
utmost care. They were painted with
large Russian characters on their
sides. These, translated, meant,
“With Care to Petrograd.” It was
intended they should be thought to
be snow ploughs. It was necessary to
transport them long distances by rail
and they were always loaded on the
trains at night. Even then they
were covered with tarpaulins.
Colonel Swinton gives a vivid pic
ture of a scene as some of the tanks
were being loaded for their ultimate
destination. The siding where the
tanks were to be loaded was bril
liantly lighted, and says Colonel
Swinton: “From out the gloom . . .
continually crawled a procession of
slug-shaped monsters, purring, pant
ing and emitting flames as they slid
over the ground.”
Once when tanks were being load
ed word was given of the approach
of a Zeppelin. Colonel Swinton’s
narrative says: "At once every light
in the loading yard was extinguished
and every tank froze to stillness
where it stood, darkness and uncanny
silence taking the place of glare and
the throbbing bustle of work. After
a few minutes of tense expectancy
. a faint humming noise made
itself heard afar off on high. The
sound approached, grew louder and
gradually changed to a high-pitch.ed
purring, which seemed to fill the
whole sky as a Zeppelin droned up
overhead and circled above the sta
tionary machines in tl.*j tankodrome,
like a night owl quartering a field of
corn above a colony of paralyzed field
mice.
“Scorpions in Pickle”
“No hint was given, however, to
betray to the Hun skipper that di
rectly underneath him lay a collec
tion of new and secret weapons for
the slaying of his Gebruderei—a nest
of scorpions in pickle for his kamera
den on terra flrma, which even to his
mind might have seemed a target
worthier of high explosive than sleep
ing women and children; and after a
few minutes the airship sailed away
to unload its murderous cargo of
bombs at a point some miles distant.
Thrice was this visit repeated during
the night—whether by the same Zep
pelin or by others it is not easy to
say. Finally after a respectful inter
val, up went the lights, the tanks
came back to life, and the circus per
formance proceeded.”
The achievements of the tanks in
the war, up to General Byng’s great
victory, had been many. Recently
they were summarized by Frederick
Palmer, now a Major on General Per
shing’s staff, but then the American
war correspondent with the British
forces. Mr. Palmer wrote:
-“In the latter stages of the battle
of the Somme the intervention of the
tanks saved some 20,000 British
lives. Where tanks have accom
panied the advance and have been
able to eat up the enemy machine
guns left ovej by our bombardment,
the bodies of our infantry strew No
Man’s Land irregularly, here and
there. Where tanks have not been
used, in some places the bodies can
be seen to be lying in front of the
enemy machine gun nests and strong
points in swaths like cut corn.”
Finally comes the German tribute,
following torrents of abuse and rid
icule. It is from the Berliner Tage
blatt and follows:
“These powerful armored cars,
which were first used by the British,
are undoubtedly the most wonderful
weapons which modern tactics have
revealed in warfare."
LAWYERS VOLUNTEER TO
SAFEGUARD CIVIL RIGHTS
OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS
Some time ago the leading medical
men of the country decided that those
among them who could not go to the
front would render a patriotic serv
ice. They decided to care for each
other’s practice and to serve free of
charge, in so far as was possible, the
families of soldiers.
Now the lawyers have come to the
front. Many of the leading members
of the bar have proffered their serv
ices in behalf of the civil rights of
soldiers, and their action has led
Provost Marshal General Crowder to
issue an appeal to all the members of
the legal profession to look upon the
civil rights of the soldier as the
“highest cause of every lawyer.”
General Crowder has pointed out
to the lawyers the legal restrictions
under which his department operates
and has stated that every effort
should be made to protect the inter
ests of the men called to the colors.
Several thousand lawyers have vol
unteered their services to General
Crowder’s department, that of the
Judge Advocate General of the Army.
It has been possible to accept only
150 into the service of the govern
ment. These men will be charged
with administering justice within the
military. Meantime there is no legal
sanction for accepting into the gov
ernment service those who would pro
tect the families of the soldier. The
work of safeguarding the interests of
the families must be unofficial so far
as the War Department is concerned.
Says General Crowder in his ap
peal to the lawyers:
“We eannot follow up a soldier’s
rights at local law; we cannot help
him assert or maintain them there.
In many cases this must be done by
the bar itself, as a part of its profes
sional obligations. To all such cases
lawyers should, and doubtless will,
assume that lofty, sympathetic and
patriotic attitude which heretofore
they have frequently shown that they
are able and willing to. assume on
proper occasions.” ■
They Will Keep It
If you find Trench and Camp In
teresting, amusing or Informative,
mall it home and let the members
of your family share your pleasure..
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