Mary Lee Stubbs and Stanley Russell Connor

“ By late July 1918 the combat tank units overseas were: 2 heavy battalion headquarters, 3 heavy companies, 2 light battalion headquarters, and 6 light companies. In the United States there were: a heavy battalion headquarters, 12 heavy companies, a light battalion headquarters, and 24 light companies. As late as mid-August 1918 no combat tanks, either American- or foreign-made, had been assigned to any unit of either Tank Corps. By the fall of 1918, nevertheless, American tank units, using British and French tanks, were in combat. ”

“ Even if their already hard-pressed industry could have produced tanks in quantity, fuel was in very short supply. Of the total of ninety tanks fielded by the Germans during 1918, seventy-five had been captured from the Allies. At the war's end, the main role of the tank was considered to be that of close support for the infantry. The U.S. tank units fought so briefly and were so fragmentized during the war, and the number of tanks available to them was so limited, that there was practically no opportunity to develop tactics for the large-scale employment of tanks. ”

“ In the organization of the Tank Corps, AEF, all tank units were assigned to the General Headquarters, Tank Corps. For specific combat missions, they were attached to armies or to subordinate elements and reverted to general headquarters control as directed. An army tank headquarters, designed to function with an army headquarters, consisted of a headquarters and a heavy artillery mobile ordnance repair shop. ”

“ The resulting American-produced heavy tank was the 43.5-ton Mark VIII, patterned after a British model. Armed with two 6-pounder and five .30-caliber machine guns, it was operated by an 11-man crew, had a maximum speed of 6.5 miles per hour, and a range of 50 miles. The American-built 6 1⁄2-ton M1917 light tank was a copy of the French Renault. It had a maximum speed of 5.5 miles per hour and could travel 30 miles on its 30-gallon fuel capacity. The U.S. program was augmented in the summer of 1918 by the development of a 3-ton, 2-man tank, originated by the Ford Motor Company. ”