Tank Destroyer?

Military men the world over have searched for two years for a surefire, mechanical defense against the tank. The U.S. Army Ordnance Department last week announced that perhaps they had found one--in the form of a faster tank, on rubber tires.

The new anti-tank weapon is not a makeshift (like the captured tanks from which the Germans shear armor and top-hamper for greater speed, or the improvised tactical organizations used in the Carolina maneuvers--see col. 1) but a machine specially built to destroy tanks. It is long (30 feet), low-lying (7 feet), armored, mounted on wheels, not caterpillars.

Not yet thoroughly committed to its new gadget. Ordnance ordered 17 of the destroyers, to be built by Reo Motor Car Co. at Lansing, Mich., expects them to be ready for test this spring. If they work as well as their designers (Manhattan's Trackless Tank Corp.) and some Ordnancemen think they will, quantity production will be an easy job for the U.S. motor industry.

The trackless tank rides on eight huge wheels, independently sprung so that each can crawl over stumps and gullies in its own way. Powered by a 250-h.p. Guiber-son Diesel engine, it has impressive speed --better than 80 m.p.h. on smooth highways--is fast and nimble over rough ground. It mounts two .50-caliber machine guns and a slim-nosed, long-barreled 75 in its flat turret.

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