In contrast, the light and under-gunned “Cavalry tanks” conducted reconnaissance and exploited enemy weakness. The resulting “Infantry tanks” would be used to accompany men on foot at a slow pace. ![]() He also ordered the Infantry and Cavalry branches to separately devise their own distinctive tanks and rules for their use(2). Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur disbanded the “Mechanized Force”. This act seemingly destroyed any hopes for a future independent armored force. It also placed the Tank Corps under the Chief of Infantry as adjunct to that arm of the U.S. In 1920, the U.S Congress passed the National Defense Act of 1920, which eliminated the infant Tank Corps. Pershing’s testimony resulted in a significant event. Pershing also said (during his 1919 testimony) “it should be placed under the Chief of the Infantry as an adjunct to that arm”. Pershing (said in testimony before Congress) that the American Tank Corps “should not be a large organization”(1). Army viewed the Tank and the infant American Tank Corps as a threat and an encroachment to their turf and authority!. The Cavalry, Infantry, and Artillery branches of the U.S. In contrast, Airpower and Artillery were the most effective Anti-Tank weapons.Īt the end of World War I the U.S Military was trying to re arrange the peace time army. ![]() Very little could be done to improve the American Tank and Tank Destroyer’s marginal effectiveness. The logistics and transportation of these weapons played a role in their technological inferiority. Extensive research has been done about the technical mediocrity of these weapons. The inferiority of these weapons was a direct result of government and U.S Army policies and doctrine. American Tanks and Tank Destroyers in World War II are very well known to the public and historians.
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