ARMORED VEHICLE SYSTEMS
INTRODUCTION 1 I BULLETS BLOOD AND GASOLINE 5 II THE HUNT FOR PANCHO VILLA 48 III CLEVER MINDS AND MOTORS 74 IV SLOGGING THROUGH MUD AND SMOKE 113 V ACCELERATED PROGRESS IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 161 VI NEW ALLIED VEHICLES DOMINATE 229 CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR 1914 1919 281 CONTENTS CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER INTRODUCTION IN 1900 THE NATIONS OF EUROPE WERE AT PEACE FOLLOWING ALMOST A CENTURY OF RELATIVE QUIET IN THE POST NAPOLEONIC ERA LOCAL UPRISINGS AND UPHEAVALS DEMANDED AUTONOMY IN THE NEW SPIRIT OF LIBERALISM AND REPUBLICANISM THE FORMER FAVORING FREEDOM OF THE INDI VIDUAL FROM OVERREACHING GOVERNMENT CONTROL AND THE GUARANTEE OF BASIC CIVIL RIGHTS THE LATTER DISMANTLING THE POWER OF MONARCHY IN ORDER TO BASE GOVERNMENTS ON WRITTEN CON STITUTIONS SEVERAL OF THE ECONOMIES OF THE EUROPEAN GREAT POWERS HAD BEEN VASTLY BOLSTERED BY COLONIAL EMPIRES AROUND THE GLOBE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION HAD RAPIDLY ACCELERATED TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS ATTRIBUTED LARGELY TO THE MECHANIZATION OF INDUSTRY THROUGH STEAM SOLDIERS MUSTERING OUT AT CAMP DIX NEW JERSEY ON A 1918 DODGE MILITARY STAFF CAR NOTE SEVEN BOLT CLINCHER WHEELS 1 ENGINE POWER IN THE LATE 1700S ESPECIALLY IN ENGLAND HERE AND IN THE CONTINENT CITIES WERE CHURNING OUT PRODUCTS AND WEALTH FOR THE NEW MIDDLE AND UPPER ECHELONS OF SOCIETY MASS PRODUCTION WAS GIVING MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ACCESS TO WHAT WAS ONCE ONLY AVAILABLE TO THE WEALTHIEST CLASSES BUT AS MARVELS IN CHEMISTRY METALLURGY ELECTRICITY MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND MED ICINE CONTINUED TO IMPROVE EVERYDAY LIFE FOR SO MANY PEOPLE MILITARIZATION INCREASED AT A TREMENDOUS PACE THE LARGE SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION OF ARMAMENT AND WEAPONRY OF ALL TYPES WAS INTENSE AND WIDESPREAD AT THIS JUNCTURE ANY MAJOR CON ICT WOULD HAVE TO INVOLVE THIS NEW INDUSTRIALIZATION WHICH INCLUDED INVENTIONS SUCH AS AIRCRAFT DIESEL POWERED SUBMARINES HIGH EXPLOSIVES AND POISON GAS IN ADDITION TO THE CARS TRUCKS AND MOTORCYCLES BEING MASS PRODUCED BY HUNDREDS OF INDEPENDENT COMPANIES IN EUROPE AS WELL AS IN THE UNITED STATES THE ASSEMBLY LINE SYSTEM BECAME COMMON PRACTICE IN THE MANUFACTURING OF REARMS BEFORE HENRY FORD ADOPTED THOSE METHODS FOR PRODUCING AUTOMOBILES AND THE NOTABLE IMPROVEMENT IN STEEL PRODUCTION ALLOWED FACTORIES AND SHIPYARDS TO BUILD RAILROADS REARMS ARTILLERY AND GARGANTUAN SHIPS OF WAR WHILE SOME CORPORATIONS CONSTRUCTED UTILITARIAN BRIDGES AND BUSY SKYSCRAPERS BY 1906 NOT ONLY DID THE WRIGHT BROTHERS MAKE HEAVIER THAN AIR IGHT A REALITY BUT INTRODUCTION AN ILLUSTRATION BY GAYLE PORTER HOSKINS PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 1918 SHOWS AN ARTIST S CONCEPTION OF AN ALLIED MOTORCYCLE DISPATCH RIDER D R RUNNING INTO GERMAN CAVALRY ALONG A DIRT ROAD NEAR LANDRECIES FRANCE 2 MEDIUM ARMORED CAR T17E1 IT WAS ALSO THE YEAR BRITAIN BUILT ITS RST DREADNOUGHT BATTLESHIP A EET OF THESE ENORMOUS BATTLESHIPS WERE TO BE POWERED NOTABLY BY OIL INSTEAD OF COAL DUE TO THE DIRECT INVOLVE MENT OF THEN FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY WINSTON CHURCHILL WHO STRATEGICALLY INSISTED THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT WOULD BECOME A MAJOR STOCKHOLDER IN THE ANGLO PERSIAN OIL CO BRITISH PETROLEUM IN WHAT IS NOW IRAN AT THE SAME TIME BOTH GERMANY AND FRANCE WERE DEVELOPING ENORMOUS MILITARY MIGHT INCLUDING HUGE ARTILLERY CONSTRUCTION OF A EET OF SUBMARINES WAS BEGUN IN GER MANY ALSO IN 1906 DIRECTLY FOLLOWING SUCH DEVELOPMENTS IN RUSSIA AND FRANCE ONLY TWO DECADES EARLIER AFTER SOME DEVELOPMENT IN FRANCE THE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE WAS INVENTED IN GERMANY ALONG WITH THE RST MOTORCARS THAT WERE POWERED BY THIS TYPE OF PROPULSION THE VULCANIZATION OF RUBBER DISCOVERED BY CHARLES GOODYEAR WAS COMMON PRACTICE IN THE RST DECADE OF THE 20TH CENTURY THROUGH THEIR INVENTIONS MEN SUCH AS THOMAS EDISON LIGHT BULB AND LIGHT POWER STATION OF 1882 ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL INVENTOR OF THE TELEPHONE INAUGURATED 1892 AND GUGLIELMO MARCONI WIRELESS TELEGRAPH PATENTED IN 1900 CHANGED THE NATURE OF ILLUMINATION AND COMMUNICATION HELPING TO CRE ATE A PLETHORA OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC DEVICES ON WHICH WE DEPEND TO THIS VERY DAY WITH THE DISCOVERY OF OIL AND DEVELOPMENT OF FUELS DERIVED FROM PETROLEUM MOTOR IZATION WOULD RAPIDLY CHANGE THE LANDSCAPE OF THE MODERN WORLD BUT ALL THESE GREAT INVEN TIONS HAD ALSO BECOME A PART OF THE EXPANSION OF THE MILITARY AS TENSIONS CONTINUED TO GROW BETWEEN POLITICAL REGIMES ACROSS EUROPE AND IN THE U S THOSE TENSIONS WERE BASED ON AGE OLD CON ICTS OVER TERRITORY AND DIFFERENCES IN CULTURE LANGUAGE TRADITION AND POLITI CAL AND SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY BOTH THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR OF 1898 AND THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT WILLIAM MCKINLEY IN 1901 WERE MANIFESTATIONS AND A SPILL OVER EFFECT OF THIS CON ICT IN AMERICA WHICH HAD ALSO ENJOYED PEACE AND PROSPERITY IN THE DECADES AFTER THE CIVIL WAR INTRODUCTION A DESTROYED TANK FROM THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES IN AUGUST 1917 3 AMONG THE PEOPLE WHO WERE FAMOUS DURING THIS ERA SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE BEGAN PUBLICIZING THE IMMINENT POSSIBILITY OF WAR AFTER AN EVENT INVOLVING THE AUTOMOBILE IN 1911 THAT YEAR HE WAS PART OF THE INTERNATIONAL ROAD COMPETITION ORGANIZED BY PRINCE HENRY OF PRUSSIA THIS WAS KNOWN AS THE PRINCE HENRY TOUR IN WHICH THE OWNERS OF MOTOR VEHICLES FROM ENGLAND AND GERMANY COMPETED IN ORDER TO IMPROVE QUALITY AND SHOW OFF SUPERIORITY PARTICIPANTS TRAVELED FROM HAMBURG GERMANY TO LONDON ENGLAND BY WAY OF ROADS AND FERRYBOAT CHANNEL CROSSING CONAN DOYLE AND HIS WIFE WERE ON ONE OF THE BRITISH DRIVING TEAMS EACH OF THE NINE CARS IN THE COMPETITION CARRIED A MILITARY OBSERVER FROM THE OPPOSITE TEAM DOYLE NOTED THE HOSTILITY OF THE GERMAN OBSERVERS AND THE FACT THAT THEY OPENLY DISCUSSED THE INEVITABIL ITY OF WAR THAT PREDICTION OR PERHAPS SELF FUL LLING PROPHECY CAME TRUE FEWER THAN THREE YEARS LATER BUT THE WAR TO END ALL WARS HAD ITS INCEPTION IN A PLACE MEN SUCH AS CONAN DOYLE AND HIS PRINCE HENRY TOUR MILITARY OBSERVERS HAD NOT ANTICIPATED INTRODUCTION 4 MEDIUM ARMORED CAR T17E1