US Army History and Role of Armor - Defense Technical Information

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rr~ US ARMY
IS 7-
HISTORY AND ROLE
OF ARMOR
IVI
US ARMY ARMOR SCHOOL
FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY
APRI M.17
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THE SYMBOL OF ARMOR
The familiar three-colored, triangular patch with the symbols superimposed has a spe-
clalizecl significance that appeals to a student of heraldry, it contains a variaty of meanings for
the historian; and it has special significance for the exponents of a doctrine of combined arms.
The colors of this shoulder sleeve insignia are blue for infantry, red for artillery, and
yellow for cavalry-the three basic components of .Armor. The superimposed figures, on the
El(cid:127)
insigne on the inside back cover, have symbolic meanings that convey the characteristics of
armor. The tank track represents mobility and armor protection; the gun represents firepower,
and the lightning bolt represents shock effect. Mobility, firepower, shock effect, these are the
triple characteristics emSbotadniekd' si n the striking power of armor.
It was in January 1918 that the Tank Corps o.f the American Expeditionary Forces was
with Colonel S. D. RoSc•kcenrbeaacthe da,s its chief. At his direction not long after, Lieutenant
dlosigned the originalS cWoaht aorf taornm s (above) which hangs now in Patton Museum at Fort*
Knox. Notice that the design of the original coat of arms of the Tank Corps followed an old
armorial method, a shield (silver) bearing a charge (the throe-colored triangle) and a crest (the
in silver)- Sdragon
There is evidence in thSis, Initial design that Lieutenant Wharton was setting forth symboli-
(cid:127) i cil~y the belief of a few farsighted men. The tMangle itself is an old heraldic element of armorial
l(cid:127) design known as a pil*-the hSeaid of a spear. Tanks were actually the spearhead element in the
i-(cid:127) i *(Continued inside rear cover)
FOREWORD
This pamphlet presents an objective report of the history of
Armor, relates it to the present, and considers the prospects for Armor
in the future. The pamphlet, well documented and without glorifi-
cation, although it is difficult not to show Armor's glory in its history,
cites the development of the tank from Judah's frustration with the
Philistines' iron chariots in the valley of the Jordan River to the
present.
We in Armor have exploited the important lessons learned from
the past and are searching for new ideas in molding the future. As
students of military art and science, you will see in these pages the
evolution of the tank and the emergence of our combined arms
philosophy which is built around the tank as our principal ground
combat weapon. Whatever your conclusions as to this philosophy,
you will see continuing changes in Armor in the future, changes
that may cause those in the past to pale into insignificance.
Sound organizational and tactical concepts, both employed and
championed by Armor in the past, now appear in all Army divisions.
If Armor's superiority on the battlefield is to remain unchallenged,
we must continue our efforts to improve our mobility, firepower, and
-shock effect.
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*ST 17-1-2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ARMOR'S EARLY BEGINNING --------------------------- 1
TANKS IN WORLD WAR I ------------------------ 3
BEGINNING OF THE MODERN ARMOR CONCEPT ----- 7
ARMOR IN WORLD WAR II ----------------------------- 13
ARMOR IN KOREA -------------------------------------- 19
THE SUCCESS OF ARMOR IN VIETNAM ---------------- 20
THE FUTURE f)F ARMOR ------------------------------ 22
OUR MOUNTED HERITAGE ---------------------------- 25
ARMORED VEHICLE DEVELOPMENTS
(WORLD WAR II TO PRESENT) ---------------------- 27
DEFINITION, ROLE, AND BASIC MISSIONS OF ARMOR -- S4
CHARACTERISTICS AND CAPABILITES OF ARMOR 56
ARMOR IN OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS ------------------- 58
ARMOR IN DEFENSIVE OPERATIONS ------------------ 61
ARMOR IN RETROGRADE OPERATIONS ------------- 62
ARMORED CAVALRY OPERATIONS ----------------- 63
TYPES OF ARMOR UNITS -------------------------------- 65
'This special text supersedes ST 17-1-2, December 1971.
HISTORY AND ROLE OF ARMOR
ARMOR'S EARLY BEGINNINGS
From earliest times man has constantly Catholic crusaders by employing his wagon-
been striving for decisive battlefield weap- lagers. These wagons mounted cannon and
ons-Weapons causing shock, terror, and were so successful that German commanders
destruction. Even in Biblical times, armor were forced to develop mobile artillery to be
filled this role on the battlefield. The tank employed against them.
itself, however, was not the earliest in the
use of the principles of mobility, firepower, The Scots, in 1456, invented a wooden cart
and shock effect. From the beginning of that encased its crew and protected them from
time, there has been a constant struggle in the weapons of the day. Motive power was
the fighting man to develop a body protection again provided by the horse (fig 1). But this
capable of withstanding the offensive thrusts cart had its shortcomings, since the enemy
of an adversary. At the same time, he has soon learned that the cart was rendered use-
been striving to develop a weapon that can less when the horse was destroyed. Scots,
defeat the defensive protection of an enemy. therefore, went a step further and encased
The story of these efforts goes back to the the horse in wood to make it more difficult
time when armored warriors mounted armored for the enemy to destroy him (fig 2).
horses and equthipatpheaddr erthaaneemers s etlavnes whioths weoafptohnes Most of us identify the amazing Leonardo
conventional hand weapons. The Holy Bible, da Vinci as a great Italian painter of them
Book of Judges, chapter 1, 19th verse says; Renaissance period. Few of us know that n
"And the Lord was with Judah, and he drove 1482 he invented an armored car (fig 3), which
out the inhabitants of the mountains, but resembled a Chinese coolie's hat on wheels,
could not drive out the inhabitants of the and was propelled by men turning by hand
valley because they had chariots of iron." an offset shaft similar to the crankshaft of
today. For this vehicle da Vinci outlined
In the twelfth century B. C. a Chinese tactics that were surprisingly modem and
emperor, in order to more easily conquer and similar to those employed by armor today.
subdue his enemies, invented and employed 3
in battle a chariot covered with heavy leather. It was in 1756 that Count Richelieu re-
ceived from Voltaire the plan for a horse-
The Assyrians, the dreaded conquerors of drawn, armored wagon to be used in the war
the period before Christ, also used large, pro- against the Prussians. Such creative efforts
tected chariots. The crew of these vehicles continued throughout the centuries as man
was composed of a driver, an expert archer, strived to perfect an instrument of war that
and two shield-bearers who protected the would give him the decisive edge on the bat-
other two members of the crew from the tlefield.
I
missiles of the enemy. In all these developments, however, man-
Then in the first century B. C., Ulstermen power or horsepower was the propelling force.
invaded Connaught with "Three strong, stout, It was not until just before the French Revo-
battleproof towers, on wheels." Each of these lution that steam was first tried as the motive
battleproof towers was propelled by So power of an armored war vehicle. This ve-
Danish stallions. hide had a big wheel in front and two in
back A boiler was built in the center, and
In the Bohemian Wars of 1410-1420, Zisl., a cannon was mounted on one side. The
a great warrior of his day, fought off the conveyance had a major limitation-it could
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Figure 2. Scotch war cart.
Figure1 . Scotch war cart.
"I am buidding secure and coivred chariot.,, which are ,
invulnerable, and when they advance with their guns
into the midst of the foe even the largest enemy
masnes must retreat, and behind them the infantry-
can follow in safety and without opposition." ,. ..
From the sketch book of Leonardo da Vinci, 1452.1519
Figure3 . Da Vinci's armored car. Figure4 . Cowan's armored vehicle,
with steam engine.
not be steered, it was capable, however, of the development of small arms and artillery,
lknocking down almost any wall that happened and the lingering appe4Q of cavalry combined
to be in the way. to reduce to a historical footnote this proto-
type of the tank.
Then in 1854 James Cowan developed a
sTene nine1 4 Jaese Coana oedvehloped a It was possible to develop iron-clad war-
i ~~st~ea~m4~) .~ en(Ifgliiegne e tnog binee uhsaedd isno mane acrrmitiiocraeld dveefheicctlse, shhipps b~eeofeotree tetnhiet twentieth ceetnwtu ry, buut thhe
(gibasic requirements of the power plant of the
it was necessary to stop the vehicle every tank could be satisfied only by the internal
few minutes to replenish the engine water combustion engine. In fact many of its
supply and to work up the engine pressure. potentials could not be realized until the
introduction of modem chemistry, metallurgy,
Limitations imposed by the level of tech- dynamics, and ballistics. Nor is it possible
nology were not the only factors that blocked to ignore the retarding Appeal of conventional
development of the tank during the nine- tactics, of blind devotion to antiquated
teenth century. Improvement of explosives, weapons.
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TANKS IN WORLD WAR 1
The opening of World War I found both little enthusiasm by all members of the
sides without an effective arr,.ored vehicle, committee except Mr. Churcaiil. Such a ve-
The Germans in 1913 and again in 1915 had hide, these leaders thought, was useless; it
turned down armored caterpillar vehicles would be quickly desroyed on the battlefield
7-,- nonstrated to them. by the concentrated artillery fire of the enemy.
The discouraged Colonel Swinton, his leave
World War I soon developed into a costly expired, returned to France.
stalemate. The machinegun drove the in-
dividual soldier into the trench. To mav.. it His trip had not been entirely in vain. On
seemed possible that the war would continue 24 February 1915, Colonel Swinton's idea
for many years. Frontal attacks were the was adopted, not by the War Office, for
order of the day-frontal attocks supported whose benefit the plan was intended, but by
by concentrated artillery fire. Before the the Royal Navy. Winston Churchill, the only
end of 1iU_4, except for a few small breaks, member of the Committee of Imperial De-
a man could walk by trench, from Nieuport fense in favor of the idea, continued Colonel
into Switzerland. Movement disappeared Swinton's fight. He bombarded the other
from tho war. Neither side was able to ac- ministries with notes advocating experimen-
complish much and the loss of life was terri- tation with track-laying armored vehicles, but
fie. "he power of the machinegun bullet was his efforts met with dubious success. The
dominanf in the battlefield. It was a war of War Office had experimented initially with
artillerymen and infantrymen, neither of two Holt tractors and had shelved the idea.
whom was able to supply the power necessary Then Mr. Churchill organized his own com-
for a decision. mittee to carry on the experiments within
An E h othe Royal Navy. Realizing that the track-
,An English officer, Lieutenant Colonel laying armored vehicle might never go to
(later Major General) Ernest D. Swinton, ob- sea, he called his committee the "Landship
served the futility of artillery and infantry Committee" and selected Sir Tennyson
attempts to break the stalemate. He was d'Eyncourt, a naval designer, as chairman.
attached to British General Headquarters in Because of this naval origin, today, tankers
France. Colonel Swinton had often watched, all over the world use a jargon peculiar to
as he walked in meditation over the French the Navy in referring to parts of the tank.
countryside, a little American-made IHolt We have such nautical terms as the hatch,
caterpillar tractor as it sloshed its way through the ports, the hull, the deck, the bow, and
mud and slush which stopped all other ve- the superstructure.
hicles. The little tractor seemed unstoppable.
An idea was born. Why couldn't these tractors At the beginning, the British War Office
be armored with enough plate to stop was not officially aware of these unusual
machinegun bullets and be sent across no experiments being conducted by the Royal
ma,''s. land to crush and destroy the weapons Nn, However, unofficially, a number of
t-L had stopped the infantrymen? Army officers did keep posted on what was
being developed. Finally, after several months,
In October of 1914, Colonel Swinton ob- the War Office did combine with the Royal
tained leave and returned to England. There Navy in the research work. Colonel Swinton
he explained his idea to the Committee of was invited to return and explain his idea
Imperial Defense, which vý-as composed of more fully. By this time the godfather of the
the outstanding military people of the Empire. modern tank, Winston Churchill, had left his
Among these was Winston Churchill, who high office because of failure of another of
was the First Lord of the Admiralty. The his daring schemes-the Dardanelles Cam-
Idea of an armored vehicle was received with paign.
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GENERA DATA
CREW: 6. DIMENSIONS: Length, 16 ft 6 In; width, 9 ftI
ARMAMENT-, On* 75-mnt (2.95 in.) mountain in; height, 7 ft 9%~ tn.
howifter and 2 cal .30 machineguns. WEIGHT: 25 tons.
ARMORs 0.25 ta 0.63 In. ENGINE: One Holt A-cyflnder. high speed, 90 hp
MAXIMUM SPEED- 6 mph. with electric generator, forced water cooling.
Figure 5. Holt gas-ele~ctric tank.
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GENERA DATA
CREW: 6. DIMENSIONS: Length, 22 ft 3 in, width, 10 ft
ARMAMENIT: One 75... (2.95 In.) mountain 1 In; height, 9 ft 10 in.
howitier and 2 cal .30 machineguns. WEIGHT: 17 tons. 3
ARMOR: 0.25 to 0.63 In. ENGINE: Two Dob[* 2-cylinder, deass e~ng$4s
MAXIMUA SPEED: 5 mph. combined hp 150.
Figure 6. Steam tank, three-wheeled.
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