INTRODUCTION

Very few tracked vehicles of any description were in the U.S. military before General Pershing's venture into Mexico in 1916. Several European countries had tried various types of military tracklayers designed by creative inventors, and some of them worked quite well. The American military watched these developments intently, and reported on them in military and technical journals. Development of such vehicles in the U.S., however, was extremely slow as there was little reason to encourage U.S. manufacturers to engage in research. The U.S. War Department was doing very little development on it’s own. The Holt Tractor Company and the Best Tractor Company both took their heavy commercial tracklayers around 1916 and experimented by adding riveted boilerplates to the tractor chassis. Their high silhouette, low speeds, weight, instability, and poor cross-country abilities (due to the great weight), all rated against them. Animal teams were used for moving all cargo for the War Department before Mexico, supplemented by only very few of the “new fangled devices” known as the motor truck, or "motor”. Troops either walked or were transported in wagons, while the officers and cavalry troops rode horses. The ponderous nature of tracked vehicles prior to 1920 and their two to three mile per hour top speeds helped assure that they were never seriously considered for either cargo or personnel carrying roles.

TRACKLAYERS IN MEXICO

The great majority of motor vehicles involved in General Pershing's punitive expedition into Mexico in 1916 and 1917 had wheels - with cargo trucks, ambulances, and staff cars predominating.  There were tracked types too, and they were awesome! The Holt Tractor Company, subsequently known by the name Caterpillar, was producing a series of semi-tracked prime movers. These had a relatively small, steel wheel out front which was expected to help in the steering effort. The tracks could also be slowed independently to provide the basic steering. These monsters, which were purchased in 10, 15, and 20 ton capacities, were intended to be used just like a large team of draft animals might have been: to pull trailers loaded with cargo over the long distances required to provide logistical support to the government forces operating deep in Mexico. Animals had proven to be impractical due to heat, food, water, and distance considerations. Motor trucks, while agile, fast, and reliable, were restricted to a maximum load of perhaps two or three tons. Motor trucks also bogged down easily in adverse terrain.

The track-laying tractor became an important element in the logistical plans of General Pershing, since they were able to pull multiple trailers for very long distances. About 230 of the big tracklayers were purchased, but not many were needed: their immense 6-cylinder, 120 horsepower engines, extra low gearing, and good traction allowed them to pull as many as ten fully loaded trailers, for a gross train weight of up to 60,000 pounds, at two to three miles per hour!   The big Holts were successful enough that by 1920, they had been officially included in the inventory of the Ordnance Corps, and training manuals were being issued.

WORLD WAR I

Tracked vehicles did not play a major part in the American involvement in WWI.Trucks and wheeled prime movers were more useful there due to the rapidly changing tactical situations. Tracked vehicles which were used were primarily the Holt tractor which served as prime movers, and a handful of light tanks which were built by Renault in France (FT-17), and us, by the Americans (M-1917).   Of course British, French, and German tanks were also present on the battlefields. The maneuverability of these early tanks was severely limited by weight, low power, and slow steering. The guns that they carried were of small caliber, and placed in mounts that had limited elevation and traverse. There is no doubt that the early tanks presented an enormous psychological factor, especially when they were over running troops in dug-in positions.

The larger tanks of WW I, despite their tactical drawbacks, were impressive from the size, weight, and noise points of view, and they set the stage for rapid development of what would soon become one of the most famous weapons in the arsenal of the United States:

The Tank!

Unarmored
Halftracks

Armored Halftracks

Light Tanks

Medium Tanks

Heavy Tanks

Self Propelled Guns

Cargo &
Personnel
Carriers

Other...

U.S. Nomenclature

Warposters

Amphibious

Armored Cars

Katya Kuersteiner

David Barrett

Major James C. Collins - U.S.A.F.

Olaf Schiltmans

John Wilson

Jim Hensley

Dragomir St. Stoikov
Author of
Kapitan Panzer Page

James Merrick
The Stanley Museum

Henry Penn
The Patton Museum

Pen Brown

Dennis G. Berkin

Ion Fonosch

Mark Holloway

Xin Hui

George Eaton
US Army Operations Support Command Historian

Last Update: Thursday, February 13, 2003