War Diary 1918 - Paperback

by Ranulf Compton (Author), Aleksandra Rohde (Editor), Aleksandra Rohde (Introduction by)

George S. Patton Jr. was the first tank commander in the history of the U.S. Army, and the officer responsible for creating its first tank unit. On November 10, 1917, he was chosen to lead America's entry into armored warfare and soon established the 1st Light Tank Center at Langres, France. In early 1918 he organized and commanded the 304th Tank Brigade-the first tank brigade ever formed by the U.S. Army-which fought with French Renault FT tanks during the major offensives of that year. Although Patton later became famous for leading armored armies in World War II, his pioneering work in World War I laid the foundation for American armored doctrine. This volume offers a rare, day-by-day record of the violent birth of U.S. armored combat. From September 1918 through the final weeks before the Armistice, Patton-then commanding the 304th Tank Brigade-documents the first American tank operations at St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne. The book also includes the diary of Ranulf Compton, one of Patton's battalion commanders and the officer who assumed front-line tank leadership after Patton was wounded in late September. Compton's entries provide an unfiltered view of some of the war's most intense fighting, assessing both the promise and the limitations of early tanks in combat. For military historians and admirers of Patton, this is an essential primary source-a dual-voice account capturing the moment when tanks first reshaped the modern battlefield.