History of the Armor Corps

History of the Armor Corp This roots of the Armor Corp are based from the The National Army Tank Corps (also known as the “American Expeditionary Force”) which was formed in world war one by the Tank Service of the National Army of 15 February 1918 by the 65th Engineers at Camp Meade, later it was removed from the engineers and formed its own branch known as the Tank Corps. The leader of these Tank Corps was Brigadier General Samuel D. Rockenbach in 1917. In 1919 it was handed over to General John J. Pershing who suggested to the Senate and house committee that the Tank Corps be absorbed into the infantry due to high costs, In 1920 the Tank Corps were finally disbanded and fully absorbed. The first tank the U.S Army used was the French Renault FT which set the basic designs for tanks, with a centered turret and rear mounted engine.
Up until the 1930s the interwar period between world war one and world war two the world of armor was rather silent, Then the U.S. cavalry adopted the M1 combat car to allow the cavalry units to move with speed and protection, it had a twin mounted 7.62 machine guns mounted in the turret which was latter replaced with one 37mm cannon. This tank however never saw combat. The M2 light tank was then manufactured in 1939 by the Rock Island Arsenal, it was one of the first tanks to incorporate sloped armor in the design. Though however it was later decided it was a majorly flawed with such a high profile and thin armor. There
The Armor Corps was finally formed in 1940 and Fort Knox was reassigned as an armor training base. Thus solidifying the need for armor in the military, thus also initiating a jump of improvements of tank design. One major one being the transition of moving from riveted armor to welded armor. Riveted armor had the issue of spalling when hit, Spalling is when the armor literally disintegrates and sends micro shrapnel into the tank. Other improvements included moving from the hull mounted gun design of the M3