American Military Vehicles of World War I: An Illustrated History of Armored Cars, Staff Cars, Motorcycles, Ambulances, Trucks, Tractors and Tanks

327 Pages·2009·25.24 MB·English

by  Albert Mroz

American Military Vehicles
of World War I
ALSO BY ALBERT MROZ
American Cars, Trucks and Motorcycles of World War I:
Illustrated Histories of 224 Manufacturers(McFarland, 2009)
American Military
Vehicles of
World War I
An Illustrated History of Armored Cars,
Staff Cars, Motorcycles, Ambulances,
Trucks, Tractors and Tanks
A M
LBERT ROZ
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Mroz, Albert.
American military vehicles of World War I : an illustrated history of
armored cars, staff cars, motorcycles, ambulances, trucks, tractors
and tanks / Albert Mroz.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-3960-7
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
1. Vehicles, Military—United States—History—20th century.
2. World War, 1914–1918—United States.
3. Armored vehicles, Military—United States—History—20th century.
4. United States—Armed Forces—Transportation—History—20th century.
5. World War, 1914–1918—Transportation. 6. Vehicles, Military—
United States—History—20th century—Pictorial works.
7. Armored vehicles, Military—United States—History—20th century—
Pictorial works. 8. United States—Armed Forces—Transportation—
History—20th century—Pictorial works. I. Title.
UG618.M76 2009 623.7'47097309041—dc22 2009022079
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2009 Albert Mroz. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover:clockwise from top left White armored car built in ¡9¡6;
Militor standardized 4 ×4 truck being tested by
U.S. Ordnance Department in ¡9¡8;
Indian motorcycle with machine gun sidecar and crew of three
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
To Edward and
Teresa Mroz
This page intentionally left blank
T C
ABLE OF ONTENTS
Credits and Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations x
Preface 1
Introduction 3
I. Bullets, Blood and Gasoline 7
II. The Hunt for Pancho Villa 50
III. Clever Minds and Motors 76
IV. Slogging Through Mud and Smoke 115
V. Accelerated Progress in the Industrial Revolution 163
VI. New Allied Vehicles Dominate 231
Chronology of the War, 1914–1919 283
Bibliography 305
Index 309
vii
This page intentionally left blank
C
REDITS AND
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
American Truck Historical Society, Art Archives at Imperial War
Museum, Autolit.com, Tom Berndt, Cadillac Factory Literature, Fred
Crismon, Bev Davis, Peter Debski, Paul DeLucchi, Ralph Dunwoodie,
Ford Factory Literature, FWD Museum, David Gallagher, Al Garcia,
General Motors Factory Literature, Bryan Goodman, A. W. Hays, Don
Hays, Elayne Hurd at Autopaper, Johnson’s Auto Literature, Arthur
Jones, James V. Lee, Library of Congress, Jacques Littlefield, Mack Fac-
tory Literature, McLellan’s Auto Literature, Medical College of Penn-
sylvania, Military Vehicle Preservation Association, Edward Mroz, Nash
Factory Literature, National Archives, National Automotive Museum,
Pacific Northwest Truck Museum, Bill Powk, Dirk Roberts, Ed Roberts,
Peter Roberts, Randy Shapiro, Society of Automotive Engineers, Soci-
ety of Automotive Historians, Stanford Hoover Library, U.S. Patent
Office, Roger Viollet, Western Front Association, White Factory Liter-
ature, Geoffrey Wintrup, Greg Wintrup, World War I Museum at Kansas
City, Peter Zappel.
Published articles by the author of this book used in part through-
out the text, including some photographs and illustrations, have appeared
in the following magazines: American History, American Iron, Antique
Power, Army Motors, Auto Moto, Autoweek, Automotive History Review,
Hard Hat, Militaria International, Old Time Trucks, Old Truck Town News,
SAH Journal, Steam Traction, Tractor and Machinery, Transport Topics,
Turning Wheels, Vintage Truck, VTFE Monthly, and Wheels.
ix