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TANKS 246 TANKS AMERICAN TANK — HEAVY TYPE shops. Before the end of the war the total number reached immense propor- tions, and the improvements effected in them enabled General Foch to attack without preliminary bombardment in the summer of 1918, in the great counter- offensive which proved the final turning- point 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 Mesopota- mia that the machine received the name that stuck to it. As the weight and mo- bility 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 Ren- ault tank was known as the "Baby Tank." The light British tank was 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 characteris- tics that had proved effective in the war and ended by being exceedingly cumber- some. These big tanks carried two six- pounder 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