Many people are aware of the fact that the importance of the army
tank in World War II was foreseen by George S. Patton. But it was
also foreseen and emphasized by Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Ike had served in the independent Tank Corps of World War I. In
the aftermath of that war, however, this particular unit was at
risk. General John J. Pershing argued in 1919 that the tank corps
“ought to be placed under the Chief of Infantry as an adjunct
of that arm.” This was very bad news for the advocates of
tanks, since the Chief of Infantry at that time — Major General
Charles S. Farnsworth — took a dim view of tanks, as did many
others. After all, the tanks of the 1910s had been clumsy, slow,
and inefficient.
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Among the young officers who saw the great potential of tanks in
the future were George Patton and Ike, who were serving together
at Camp Meade, Maryland in 1919 and 1920. As Eisenhower later recalled,
he and Patton were part of a “group of young officers who
thought . . . that tanks could have a more valuable and spectacular
role. We believed . . . that they should attack by surprise and
mass . . . . We wanted speed, reliability and firepower.”
Patton and Ike spent considerable time conducting tactical experiments
and tinkering on tanks at Camp Meade during 1919.
In 1920, each of them wrote a significant article on the subject
of tanks for the periodical Infantry Journal. Ike’s
article, entitled “A Tank Discussion,” recommended a
bold redesign of the tank to increase its combat capabilities. “In
the future,” Ike wrote, “tanks will be called upon to
use their ability of swift movement and great firepower . . . against
the flanks of attacking forces.”
The articles of Ike and Patton represented a serious dissent from
prevailing military doctrines. Accordingly, the duo were summoned
to Washington and given sharp personal rebukes by General Farnsworth.
As Ike recalled the episode, Farnsworth told him his opinions were
“not only wrong but dangerous and that henceforth I would
keep them to myself. Particularly I was not to publish anything
incompatible with solid infantry doctrine. If I did, I would be
hauled before a court-martial.” Ike also recalled that Patton
was “given the same message.”
Ike and Patton were careful to maintain a very low public profile
regarding the subject of tanks after Farnsworth’s warning.
Yet both of them continued in a quiet but determined manner to anticipate
the strategy and tactics that America would need to win the next
world war, which they were certain would erupt within the lifetime
of their generation. As Ike put it, “George had become convinced
— as I had — that the Treaty of Versailles had practically
guaranteed the outbreak of another great war within something like
a quarter century.” That being the case, they would carefully
prepare for what their instincts correctly perceived.
© Dwight
D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission, Washington, DC, 2004
