60-TON TANKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 June 1942, Page 4

60-TON TANKS

PRODUCTION IN -UNITED STATES RAPID PROGRESS BEING MADE. MOST POWERFUL IN WORLD. WASHINGTON, March 28. _ Large-scale production of America's new 60-ton tank—believed by the War Department to be the most powerful in the world —is expected soon as part of this country’s rapidly quickening tank production programme, writes Joseph G. Harrison, staff correspondent of the “Christian Science Monitor.” With light and medium tanks already rolling out of nearly a dozen plants in very large numbers, the Army is reported ready to turn its attention to the output of its heaviest type of land monster, the first production model of which appeared in December. Although the War Department has been particularly secretive about the 60-ton tank both as to specifications and to production pregramme, it is understood that plans call for .100 or more a month when output is in full swing. Heavy tank construction to date has been confined, so far as is known, to the Baldwin Locomotive Works at Eddystone, Pa., but other companies are expected to figure in final mass production.

All descriptions, both official and otherwise, agree that the 60-ton tank is the most formidable earthbound warmachine yet developed by any country. Not only does it have a rate of speed and ease of manoeuvrability equal to that of the M-3, or 30-ton medium tank, but it also carries armour plating sufficient, to resist any but the most powerful of direct hits. NO KNOWN PEER. ’writing about this tank in the current issue of the magazine Army Ordnance, Brig. Gen. G. M. Barnes, assistant chief of engineering in the office of the Chief of Ordnance, declares that “while there are heavy and supertanks in existence in Europe, there is no vehicle known to exist which would approach the American 60-ton supertank in regard to power of weapons carried and horsepower or engine used to drive it at high speeds across country.” In comparing American tanks—all the way from the 13|-ton light tank to the 60-ton heavy—with those abroad, General Barnes writes that “foreign tank designers have not given speed as high a value as we have. “This probably has been due to the fact that only engines of relatively lower horsepower have been available. Regardless of the reason, it is a fact that most European tanks, including German, have about one-half the horsepower-to-weight ratio of the corresponding American vehicles. For this reason, it may be expected that American tanks will travel much faster than foreign vehicles and w’ill be more difficult to put out of action.” Like airplanes, the American 131-ton and 30-ton tanks are now considered to be rolling out at a mass production rate. Both Army officers- and tank manufacturers express full confidence that the President’s 1942 goal of 45,000 tanks will be amply met. This will necessitate an average monthly output of nearly 4,000 during the current year, while monthly production toward the end of 1942 will probably equal the entire 19'41 output. The rate at which tank production has been stepped up may be judged from the fact that, whereas it took nearly a year to build the first 1,000 light "tanks, it took less than three months to build the second 1,000, work on the third batch starting last October.

An even more impressive record has been made in the production of the medium, 30-tdn tanks, the first production model of which did not appear until May, 1941. At the present time, they are pouring out of six factories, while the original M-3 model is now being superseded by the improved M-4 style. The M-4 is faster to build since it is welded, together instead of rivetted.

American tanks in sufficient numbers to equip several armoured divisions have already gone to the British North African and Middle Eastern armies. The latest check to the army of Nazi Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is credited to a in-the-nick-of-time arrival of American reinforcements. General Barnes’s assertion that American tanks are the equal of any produced abroad is borne out by careful descriptions of European models now in the War Department’s hands. According to this information, German tanks —known by the designation PK or papzerkampfwagen—range from a light tank of 5.7 tons to a bpavy tank believed to weigh 35 tons. There is a report of a superheavy tank, known as PK-7 which is reported to weigh 90 ton's, but little is known of this tank since it doe's not appear to have played an important pari in any battles to date.

Whereas the American light tank weighs 131 tons, the German light tank weighs but 9 tons. As against the United States’ 30-ton medium, the German medium weighs but 18 tons, while Germany’s heavy-medium tank weighs 22 tons. Tne discrepancy is still greater in the matter of heavy tanks since the Gorman heavy tank weigiis 32 tons as against 60 tons for the American job of the same category. While Army officers admit that Germany may well have a number of 90-ton PK-7s, they are inclined to doubt its practicability for general use, the weight being almost prohibitive for roads, bridges, freight cars and anything but the hardest ground. French factories fire probably producing several good tanks for the Germans, among them the Somua S-35 medium tank, weighing 18 tons, and the Char B heavy tank weighing 31 tons.