Even though the motorcycle had proved itself both in the Pershing Expedition and throughout WWI, the US Army still relied on horses for it's cavalry regiments. In 1928, the US Army put together it's first experimental regiment composed solely of vehicles than ran on gasoline (rather than hay). The regiment was given the nickname "Gasoline Brigade" and was made up of trucks and tanks. Oddly enough, some of the trucks were used to transport horses and riders so they would be well rested when they reached the battlefield. Initial tests were promising, but the vehicles could not stand up to the sustained high speed maneuvers and soon the regiment was plagued with mechanical failures. This led to the disbanding of the regiment, but the idea of a fast attack motorized unit was not abandoned. Finally in 1931, a new cavalry regiment was formed in Fort Eustis, VA and this time it included motorcycles, armored cars and fast tanks.
This new regiment was made up of 600 men and was the first of it's kind with vehicles that could actually sustain speeds of 60 miles per hour. The Army named it the "Mechanized Force" and it's activation came just a few months after they announced the discontinuation of horses in combat.
The strategy used by this force was simple. First the armored cars would recon the enemy to determine it's size and position. Then the tanks and self propelled guns would sweep in and weaken the enemy position with heavy bombardment. Once the enemy was in disarray, motorcycles and trucks, both outfitted with machine guns, would charge forward and clear out the remaining soldiers. An article from a 1931 edition of Popular Science tells it like this: "Instead of the cavalry charge with drawn sabers of another day, it is possible to picture a band of motorcyclists riding into the face of the enemy, spitting death from machine guns." Sounds like the trailer for a new action movie to me, someone call Stallone and Schwarzenegger...
0 comments:
Post a Comment