Tanks

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

engines of war first employed by the British in their attack on the Somme (France) in September 15, 1916. The application of the invention to war purposes is credited partly to Major- General E. D. Swinton of the Royal Engineers Cabinet, and who later was the of well the - known British " War Eye- Cabinet,, to Sir William Tritton, who had it propelling principle was the caterpillar tractor, invented about 1900 by Benjamin Holt of Stockton, Cal., which was used by the British army for towhuge guns over difficult fields. The self-propelled fort development to a heavy enough to withstand all but the heaviest calibred enemy fire and yet mounder unfavorable conditions was a simple one. As a motor - driven armored vehicle, carrying machine guns and similar pieces, it served principally both purposes of defense and attack. The muddy ground, shell craters, trenches, trees, and barbed wire were traversed where an advance would have been impossible to infantry not so provided for. In În essentials it acted as a sort of land battleship for the protection of attacking troops. The success of the tank was in the first place to its internal combustion engine, and in the second place the traction device developed by Holt. mechanism had tracks on the sides, composed of a series of steel shoes linked Π together, with joints shielded from dirt and mud, with idler pulleys for laying the shoes down in front and driving sprockets for picking them up in the The uprights on the inner surface rear. of the shoes formed continuous rail-like bands upon which the truck wheels rolled carrying the weight of the machine. The mode of locomotion in the tractor and the tank is the same, each lays down its own rails and rolls over them. The track belts run lengthwise clear around the body, the shape bringing the additional track surface into contact with the ground, and so distributing it that the twelve-ton tractor per pressure of a square inch is actually less than that of BRITISH TANK-HEAVY TYPE an ordinary man's shoe. The first experimental tank weighed about 40 tons. Its noise and cumbersomeness greatly hindered its effectiveness, but the idea proved to be sound and mechanical experts worked hard to improve it. As time went on and the improvements were effected the personnel so engaged began to be very numerous and a separate tank corps was formed under a general officer. Later on in the war it was seen that the tank was to prove a decisive weapon. In the last phase of the war there was no other instrument that played a greater part in bringing victory to the side of the Allies. In 1916 a total of only 50 were shipped to France from the British FRENCH TANK-HEAVY TYPE shops. Before the end of the war the total number reached immense proportions, and the improvements effected in them enabled General Foch to attack without preliminary bombardment in the summer of 1918, in the great counteroffensive which proved the final turningpoint of the war. The Germans on their side began to build tanks as a measure of defense, but the Allies in this one particular had got greatly ahead of them and the German tank never played any great part in the war. The secret had been well kept from the beginning and it was indeed from the fact that it was presumed to have no other purpose but to serve as a drinking water container for Mesopotamia that the machine received the name that stuck to it. As the weight and mobility of the tanks were improved they began to give real service to the Allied ranks. The light tanks, which appeared in great numbers in 1918, proved the most effective of any. The French Renault tank was known as the "Baby Tank." The light British tank was 00000000000000000のついての AMERICAN TANK-HEAVY TYPE known as the "Whippet." Each of these carried two men and a machine gun, one man directing the tank and the other operating the gun. These tanks were easy to operate. They could go at a rate of 12 miles an hour, could climb a hill well, cut barbed wire, and turn with ease in muddy and swampy ground. In weight they did not exceed 7 tons. Some of the other types of tanks went up to nearly 50 tons. Of this heavy type was the American tank, which aimed at uniting all the best characteristics that had had proved pr effective in the war and ended by being exceedingly cumbersome. These big tanks carried two sixpounder rapid-fire Hotchkiss guns and 4 Lewis machine guns. Some of them were armored with quarter-inch chrome steel and the engines were 105 horse-power of the Knight salient type. Some of the tanks were armed with a short-barrelled 75 mm. gun. The armor of most of the tanks was made strong enough to turn anything less powerful than a shell from a big gun, and when the Germans placed field guns in the first line this armor had FRENCH TANK-SMALL TYPE to be increased in strength. What came to be called the "male" tank was distinguished from the "female" tank by its offensive weapons. The "male" tank was equipped with quick-firing guns capable of firing shells effective in putting machine guns out of action. The "female" tank carried machine guns only