American Armor in WWI

(Source)

So a few weeks ago, Tennessee Budd asked if I would be interested in perusing the book pictured above.

"Hhmm, the United States Tank Corps. Patton, Eisenhower, my paternal grandfather, why not?"

So I told Tennessee that yes, I would be interested. So he sent me his copy!

I received the book a couple of weeks ago. Didn't get the chance to start reading it until last week (I was still finishing up reading Snow & Steel) and was immediately enthralled.

Here is a piece of history which is often glossed over in the rush to write about the use of tanks in World War I (particularly by the British, I'm sure in France they get more about the French use of tanks) with very little (that I can recall) about the American use of tanks in that war.

Two very famous officers really got their start by their belonging to the Tank Corps in World War one. These two fellows -

Recognize them?

Yup, General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower and General George S. Patton, Jr. as young captains during the Great War (WWI as we know it here). Both officers are posing with the French designed Renault FT, speaking of which -

When the tank entered service with the French army it was called ‘Renault Char d’assaut 18 chevaux’ (Renault assault tank 18 hp) or just ‘le Char Renault’ (The Renault Tank). It was only when Renault started to develop some different armoured fighting vehicles that there was a need to differentiate it from these different designs in reports and other documents. The factory code was used and this is when it started to be called ‘Le Char Renault FT.’ ‘Renault FT’ is the accepted modern term for this tank. (Source)

I was actually very well acquainted with a fellow who spent part of his long Army career (mostly in the National Guard after the '20s) as a driver of that armored beastie standing behind "Ike" and "Georgie," my grandfather -

Louis Goodrich, United States Army

Yup, Gramp drove the Renault FT, reading Treat 'Em Rough made me understand why Gramp was always so handy around automobile engines. The early tankers were taught a lot about their mounts, I guess you could say he had engines in his blood. (He always seemed to have motor oil on his hands, something my sainted Grandmother would give him three kinds of Hell for if he didn't wash his hands properly before Sunday dinner!) He also served with Ike in Panama, there is a unit picture, somewhere, with my grandfather near the front and Eisenhower at the back. Pretty neat, I saw it as a boy, haven't seen it since before my grandmother died in 1972.

Tennessee warned me that the book is kind of dry in places, I guess I haven't hit those places yet, or we have different views on what constitutes "dry" reading. Probably has to do with unit movements later in the book, I'm still at the part where Patton is trying to get things up and running in France and Ike is getting the tank school up and running at Camp Colt in Gettysburg, PA.

Speaking of driving le Char Renault -

Man, I miss Gunny Ermey (who passed a year ago Monday, hard to believe).

A good article on the friendship between Eisenhower and Patton is here, also for a good article on the making of a general (Ike) read this.

I often wonder how the war effort in World War II would have gone without Ike at the helm in Europe and Patton running Third Army. I'm guessing things would not have gone as well as they did. (Not to mention the performance of both men during the North African campaign.)

History, I love it.