This country is at war with Germany.

We shall go on to the end.

I remember the sheets of flame which came up and almost blinded us from our guns. Hello and welcome to another episode of the World War II Podcast I'm Angus Wallace.

In this episode we're going to be discussing the development of US tanks from the end of the First World War through to the end of the Second World War.

I'm joined by renowned historian and author Stephen Zologna who has penned numerous works

on military technology and history and his latest book is US Battle Tanks 1917 to 1945.

It is a comprehensive and richly illustrated examination of the development and combat performance of US battle tanks.

Stephen delves into the history of tanks in American service, tracing their journey from the

initial experiments with armoured vehicles in the early 20th century

through the significant battles and innovations up to the end of World War II.

Steve, it's great to have you back.

Let's start with the first war. Let's start with the First World War.

Everything goes back to the First World War.

It's interesting the United States had been using tanks during the First World War.

Were these US designed and manufactured or were they purchasing them from Britain and France?

In many respects America could have been the arsenal of democracy in the First World War

War.

The problem that the US Army faced in World War I is that there was no available tank program.

What happened is that in 1917 when it was evident that war was going to break out or that the US was going to become involved in the war.

A tank program started out at Rock Island Arsenal and they involved a number of tractor

companies like Holt and Caterpillar to design very early tanks. But the problem was, number one, they weren't very good. The US Army had no clear sense of what they needed in a tank. And also, they weren't really ready for production. So they tested the first American

tanks roughly at the beginning of 1918. They were technical failures. And so the

...