Mobility, Shock, and Firepower: The Emergence of the U.S. Armys Armor Branch, 1917-1945

587 Pages·2008·7.79 MB·English

by  Robert S. Cameron

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Pin : 084344–000 Robert S. Cameron

Mobility
,
Shock
,
and
Firepower
T e U.S. A ’
he mergence of The rmy S
A B , 1917–1945
rmor rAnch
by
Robert Stewart Cameron
Center of Military History
United States Army
Washington, D.C., 2008
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cameron, Robert Stewart.
Mobility, shock, and firepower : the emergence of the U.S. Army’s armor branch,
1917–1945 / by Robert Stewart Cameron.
p. cm. — (Army historical series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. United States. Army. Armored Force—History. I. Title. II. Series.
UA30.C36 2008
358’.18097309041—dc22 2007045505
CMH Pub no. 30–23–1
UNITED STATES ARMy HISTORICAL SERIES
Richard W. Stewart, General Editor
Advisory Committee
(As of October 2007)
Theodore A. Wilson
University of Kansas
William T. Allison Joyce E. Morrow
Weber State University Administrative Assistant to the
Secretary of the Army
James J. Carafano
Heritage Foundation Brig. Gen. Mark E. O’Neill
U.S. Army Command and General
Brig. Gen. Patrick Finnegan Staff College
U.S. Military Academy
Mark P. Parillo
John F. Guilmartin Kansas State University
Ohio State University
Reina Pennington
Brian M. Linn Norwich University
Texas A&M University
Ronald H. Spector
Howard Lowell George Washington University
National Archives and Records
Administration Col. Thomas Torrance
U.S. Army War College
Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz
U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Stephen F. Vogel
Command Washington Post
U.S. Army Center of Military History
Jeffrey J. Clarke, Chief of Military History
Chief Historian Richard W. Stewart
Chief, Histories Division Joel D. Meyerson
Chief, Publishing Division Keith R. Tidman

CONTENTS
Chapter Page
Foreword ....................................................... xv
Preface ........................................................ xvii
1. America Adopts the Tank ......................................... 1
The Tank Corps .............................................. 1
The Tank Corps’ Demise ....................................... 9
The War Department and the National Defense Act of 1920 .......... 14
Infantry Tank Development .................................... 21
Reconsidering the Tank’s Battlefield Role ........................ 28
The Experimental Mechanized Force ............................ 32
The Bureau System Versus Mechanization ........................ 34
The Mechanized Force ........................................ 40
2. Early Development of the Mechanized Cavalry ....................... 45
Demise of the Mechanized Force ................................ 45
Birth of the Mechanized Cavalry ................................ 49
The 1934 Fort Riley Maneuvers ................................ 56
Reorganization of the Mechanized Cavalry ........................ 61
The Bureau System and Mechanized Cavalry Reorganization ......... 66
Mechanization of a Second Cavalry Regiment ..................... 70
Second Army Maneuvers of 1936 ............................... 74
3. Mechanization: The Chief of Cavalry’s Runaway Horse ................ 79
American Cavalry in the 1930s ................................. 79
The Problem of the Cavalry’s Image ............................. 84
The Office of the Chief of Cavalry and the Bureau System. . . . . . . . . . . . 88
The Mechanized Cavalry Board ................................. 97
The Cavalry School and Mechanization ......................... 101
The Chief of Cavalry and Cavalry Modernization .................. 105
4. The Infantry and Mechanization .................................. 109
Army Doctrine in the 1930s ................................... 109
Infantry Motorization ........................................ 112
Division Redesign .......................................... 115
The Foundations of Infantry Tank Doctrine ...................... 119
Chapter Page
4. The Infantry and Mechanization (Continued)
Tank Development and the Infantry School ...................... 123
Infantry Tank Organization ................................... 127
Infantry Tanks ............................................. 133
5. The View from Abroad ......................................... 139
The Military Intelligence Division and Its Military Attachés ......... 139
Army Intelligence Dissemination .............................. 144
The Confusion of British Mechanization ......................... 147
French Mechanized Development .............................. 156
The Military Intelligence Division and the Panzer Division .......... 167
World Mechanization ........................................ 182
6. Cavalry at the Crossroads ....................................... 189
Mechanized Cavalry Development, 1936–1939 ................... 189
Mechanized Cavalry Maneuvers, 1937–1938 ..................... 195
The Cavalry Field Manual of 1938 ............................. 200
The War Department and Mechanization ........................ 208
The Case for Horse Cavalry ................................... 210
The Future of Cavalry ....................................... 214
7. A New Beginning: The Armored Force ............................ 221
Building a Mechanized Cavalry Division ........................ 221
Stepping Back: The Mechanized Cavalry Division Rejected ......... 226
First Army Maneuvers, 1939 .................................. 229
The Mechanized Cavalry Division Revisited ..................... 232
Third Army Maneuver Preparations ............................ 237
The Crucible of Mechanization: Third Army Maneuvers, 1940 ....... 243
The Armored Force and the Centralization of Mechanized
Development ............................................ 250
8. Armored Force Development, 1940–1941 .......................... 259
Building the Training Base ................................... 259
Command Climate .......................................... 265
A New Doctrinal Base ....................................... 270
Early Training Activities ..................................... 273
The Armored Force and Foreign Experiences ..................... 277
Armored Division Development ............................... 283
An Armored Corps? ......................................... 286
The War Department’s Army .................................. 290
vi
Chapter Page
9. Creating an Armored Force Nemesis .............................. 293
Antitank Development in the 1930s ............................. 293
Building an Antitank Unit .................................... 297
Antitank Weapons .......................................... 301
Self-propelled Antitank Weapons .............................. 307
Foreign Antitank Developments ............................... 309
The Problem of Antitank Doctrine, 1940–1941 .................... 312
Antitank the American Way ................................... 317
10. The Art of Maneuver, 1941 .................................... 325
Louisiana Maneuvers ........................................ 325
Carolina Maneuvers ......................................... 335
Assessing Mobile Operations .................................. 343
Antitank Operations ......................................... 350
Maneuver Management ...................................... 353
Cavalry: A Maneuver Casualty ................................ 357
11. From Armored Force to Armored Center .......................... 361
Armored Force Expansion and Personnel Shortfall ................. 361
Training Challenges and Accomplishments ....................... 365
The Question of Separate Branch Status ......................... 369
Demise of the Armored Corps ................................. 371
Evolution of the Armored Division ............................. 373
Combat Operations in North Africa ............................. 377
The Armored Division’s New Look ............................ 382
Applying Lessons Learned in North Africa ....................... 385
Armored Materiel ........................................... 390
Sustaining Combat Capability ................................. 393
Air Support ................................................ 396
Branch Status Resolution ..................................... 398
Evaluating the Armored Wartime Experience ..................... 401
12. Tank Destroyer Development ................................... 405
Building a Tank Destroyer Force, 1941–1942 ..................... 405
Doctrine and Organization .................................... 408
The First Tank Destroyers .................................... 412
Combat Debut ............................................. 414
Tank Destroyer Criticism ..................................... 418
Tank Destroyer Doctrine and Training Revisited .................. 421
Organizational and Materiel Development ....................... 426
Tank Destroyers ............................................ 428
vii
Chapter Page
12. Tank Destroyer Development (Continued)
An Uncertain Future ......................................... 431
13. Armored Divisions in Battle, 1944–1945 .......................... 435
Armored Division Doctrine ................................... 435
The Armored Division Organization ............................ 444
Combat Operations .......................................... 451
Armored Division Air Support ................................. 457
Armored Materiel ........................................... 461
Armored Maintenance ....................................... 466
14. Armored Enablers: Mechanized Cavalry, Independent Tanks,
and Tank Destroyers ...................................... 471
Mechanized Cavalry ......................................... 471
Independent Tank Battalion Readiness .......................... 481
Independent Tank Battalion Combat Operations ................... 484
Rejection of Independent Tank Battalion Doctrine ................. 491
The Armored Group ......................................... 494
From Tank Destroyer to Armored Gun .......................... 495
15. Conclusion ................................................. 509
Bibliography ................................................... 521
Acronyms ..................................................... 535
Index ......................................................... 537
Table
Armored Division and Corps Activation, 1940–1943 ................... 362
Charts
No.
1. War Department Bureau System, 1917 ............................. 15
2. War Department Rationalization, 1918 ............................. 18
3. Mechanized Cavalry Regiment, 1932 ............................... 56
4. Proposed Mechanized Cavalry Regiment, 1935 ....................... 64
5. Triangular Division, 1939 ....................................... 118
6. British Mobile Division, 1936 ................................... 149
7. British Armored Division, 1939 .................................. 151
8. French Light Mechanized Division, 1939 .......................... 160
9. French Armored Division, 1940 .................................. 163
10. Panzer Division, 1937 ......................................... 174
viii