 The Big Picture, an official television report of the United States Army, produced for the armed forces and the American people. Now to show you part of The Big Picture, here is Master Sergeant Stuart Quain. In the history of warfare, man learned that the best formula for victory was compounded of striking power, mobility, and self-protection. The ability to deliver a hard, fast punch with the smallest possible personal risk is one which has marked successful combat units since ancient times. It is as valid today in terms of modern combat power as it was 4,000 years ago when the first war chariot appeared to confound the enemies of the Assyrians. A hard-hitting, mobile, protected war machine, the chariot was used in one form or another by many tribes and armies for over 3,000 years. While British tribesmen fought from a spiked, two-wheeled war cart, which gave them a heavy battle advantage over their enemies, from Africa shortly before the time of Christ came one of the strangest war machines of all time, the four-footed tank of Hannibal's army, the armored elephant. Carrying groups of archers and spear-throars, these formidable beasts terrorized Roman infantry and spearheaded a drive which carried the Carthaginian armies over the Alps and deep into Europe, laying waste large territories of the Roman Republic. With the widespread use of the short sword and the lance, personal armor was developed to a fine art during the 1,000 years following the fall of Rome. The horse became important to the conduct of war in the Middle Ages and armored combat power was represented for several centuries by the armored clad knight on his heavily plated steed. Only with the construction of fortified castles and the consequent need for firepower, strong enough to breach the walls where any advances in armored combat power made, it was then that the inventive mind of the military ordinance designer applied principles still in wide use today. Little but clumsy battering rams, weapons capable of hurling 1,000-pound boulders, and primitive flamethrowers could be driven up against a fortress wall and used to pour destruction upon the luckless defenders. Great breaching towers could move a squad or an army of men against a besieged objective. Archers and crossbowmen protected by the wall sides of the towers delivered storms of arrows over castle battlements. By the year 1400, the widespread use of gunpowder on battlefields called forth many changes in defensive and offensive weapons. But the principles behind armored combat power remained valid and such odd war machines as the great battle car, bristling with lances and bows, cannon and pikes, made its appearance. The first true ancestor of the tank. It was this first motorized armor in World War I which helped break the bloody stalemate on the battlefields of France. The British were the first to develop and introduce the modern armored vehicle to warfare. Winston Churchill, then a minor government official, requested in a letter to Premier Askmouth that the British Army build a number of steam tractors with small armored shelters. This vehicle said Churchill would carry machine guns, cross trenches, and flattened barbed wire entanglements designed to stop troops on foot. The tank worked and the Germans tried their model with less success. Germany learned fast. Panzer divisions crushed most of Europe under foot in World War II as they led the drives of the German Wehrmacht and forces plunged a motorized spearhead deep into the heart of Germany. American armored once again on the barren treacherous hills of Korea. Armor bared its teeth and helped decide another fight in favor of free man functioning sometimes as close cover support for infantry action, sometimes as artillery. American tanks and other armored vehicles helped drive the red enemy from South Korea. Recently at Fort Knox, Kentucky, armored units from today's dynamic army flexed their combat muscles in a demonstration which showed precisely what armor is and what it can do. With its capacity for movement, massive firepower, and built-in protection, the shock action of a modern armor team, backstopped by strong supporting weapons, is a guarantee to quick destructive contact with an enemy. No scattered widely for protection, armored forces are closely bound by a precise and efficient communication system. Like so many iron links in an exceedingly strong but flexible chain, vehicles in the armor team operate as a unit. Highly responsive to command, tanks, armored infantry, and other elements move with a single purpose toward their mission, to seize the initiative in combat and keep it. Army and the shock action of its firepower make armor capable of fulfilling this mission on almost any kind of battlefield. The vehicles and weapons which make up the fighting core of armor are tough and deadly. Among them are the M-84 carrier for the 4.2-inch mortar, the M-42 with twin 40-millimeter guns, the M-41 light tank, the M-47 medium tank, M-48 a newer medium tank, the 105-millimeter howitzer, the 155-millimeter howitzer, and the armored infantry vehicle. In addition, there are larger, more devastating weapons, the self-propelled 8-inch howitzer capable of firing atomic projectiles, and the Honest John Rocket, another weapon having an atomic capability. Both of these are today integral to armor's combat power. All of the weapons except the Honest John provide armor protection for their crews. A demonstration of the firepower of these weapons shows their destructive effect on a battlefield. The M-42 with twin 40-millimeter guns is used to provide not only ground support, but also defense against low-flying aircraft. When it is used as a fully automatic weapon, it fires 240 rounds a minute. Here's an example of what it can do. The M-41 tank is the reconnaissance vehicle, the modern-day cavalry steed, which darts speedily ahead of the others when needed. Plenty of protection is carried along with it in the breach of its fast-firing 76-millimeter gun. The M-47 medium tank is equipped with a heavier gun, a 90-millimeter whose range is greater. The M-48 or patent tank also has a 90-millimeter gun. The M-52 105-millimeter howitzer provides support from close range for the armor team. Usually, it is used for indirect or unobserved fire. Here, however, can be seen its direct fire capability. The M-44 155-millimeter howitzer fires a projectile weighing 95 pounds. This weapon also provides close fire support for the armor team. It too usually employs indirect fire, but its direct fire demonstrates its force. Each vehicle and each weapon demands skilled trained crewmen working as a team to achieve the full might of armor. Armor team has two basic elements, the tank platoon and the armored infantry platoon. The tank platoon has five tanks. They have five 30-caliber machine guns mounted in turrets and five 50-caliber machine guns also mounted the same way. Tank platoon's primary armament consists of five high-velocity 90-millimeter guns. Fights alone or as part of a team, the tank platoon is used to attack an enemy force, to counterattack, to destroy enemy armor, to support other troops by direct fire and to engage in mounted mobile warfare both offensively and defensively. The armored infantry platoon, the other member of the team, gets its mobility from armored vehicles which enable the infantrymen to fight in conjunction with the tanks on the battlefield. This platoon is able to support the tanks by fire and maneuver in both offensive and defensive combat. The platoon has three rifle squads and a machine gun squad. There are 47 individual weapons and two 30-caliber machine guns manned by crews. Three additional 30-caliber machine guns are in the carriers, making a total of five that can be dismounted and manned on the ground. 50-caliber machine gun is also mounted in each of the vehicles. Radio is the chief means of contact, linking together the unit commander and the elements of his command and the platoon with other units and higher headquarters. An extensive communications system holds the platoon intact and keeps it operating as a unit. Each armored infantry squad carries a portable radio. The already devastating firepower of these platoons on the battlefield is supplemented by mortars and artillery. A 4.2-inch mortar platoon can lay down a spectacular blanket of fire. The air bursts fired by a battalion of 105-millimeter howitzers present a lively show. This type of fire is most effective against enemy troops in open fields or in foxhole. Spectacular effect of all this firepower can be seen when it is delivered on a target at the same time. This non-tactical demonstration represents only about one-twenty-fifth of the firepower of the armored division. The support elements lead off. Target within range of its guns and armored infantry often need assistance in overcoming obstacles in their way. The armored engineers provide this assistance by improving and maintaining force, constructing fixed spans, and floating bridges. They also clear minefields and other serious impediments in armor's path. Just armor's movement, the armored engineers use not only tools that are part of their organizational structure but expedient means dictated by the necessity of the moment. The scout platoon is another valuable partner for the tanks and armored infantry. Moving ahead of them, it can provide advanced security or flank security. It guides other units during movement. It maintains contact or liaison with adjacent units, and it serves as the forward eyes in finding out about the terrain, the bridge capacity, and the position of the enemy. The aviation is another essential supporting element. Among the aircraft used are the L-19, a standard observation plane, the L-20, a slightly larger craft, the H-13, a mosquito-like helicopter used for reconnaissance, the H-19 helicopter employed often for the tactical transport of troops, and the awkward-looking H-21 helicopter, which can carry light cargo. The reconnaissance and surveillance of the battle field, tactical transport of men and equipment, are the chief missions of Army aviation. Like the fixed-wing aircraft, the helicopter can be used as an elevated observation post to locate targets and adjust the fire of armored units in the field. Army aircraft with its invaluable speed and flexibility gives the commander a means of exploiting to the full, armor's own mobility, its firepower and shock action. There is yet another support available to armor and a powerful one, the tactical support given by the Air Force. Fighter bombers can blast a target with a wide variety of bombs, rockets, napons. Here is an example of the tactical support the Air Force provides. A forward air controller belongs to the Air Force, but working with armor spots the target from the ground. Back at the base, the fighter bombers take off. Air controller aids them in locating the target. Once they are spotted, the first flight drops general-purpose bombs. The next flight uses machine guns and rockets, and out with napalm, a bit of destruction over the enemy's position. A plane of devastation from the air softens up an entrenched enemy who would be difficult to dislodge with ground weapons alone, gives the way for assault by armor. If war were ever to be fought on an atomic battlefield, an attack by armor could be supported with atomic weapons. Such an attack can be vividly demonstrated by our army. Enemy forces occupy strong points along the high ground. Our armored units are located here. The artillery supporting the attack will fire an atomic cannon with ground zero at this point. During the attack, the camera will follow an armored team consisting of a tank company with an armored infantry platoon attached. The team will attack along this axis to seize this objective. Here is the position from which the attack will be made and the line of departure. The tanks, followed by the armored infantry, move into the attack position. Signal for the assault will be the firing of an atomic burst. Fifteen seconds to zero. The team moves toward the line of departure. The supporting elements lay down a curtain of non-atomic fire. The armored team you are seeing represents only five percent of the combat power of an armored division. Deadly tentacle, it moves over the terrain reaching deep into the heart of the enemy's forces, destroying pockets of resistance which have survived the atomic burst and supporting artillery fire. Flank poses a threat to the advance. It must be eliminated quickly and the target is destroyed. As soon as the hazards of radiation from the atomic blast have cleared sufficiently, the tanks continue their steady advance. The platoon leader calls for artillery fire on an enemy's strong point which stands in his way. At the artillery fire direction center, the firing data is prepared and the guns respond. All is destroyed by the mirage. Armor can move forward again, but an enemy bunker is spotted which the tanks are able to eliminate themselves. Under the cover of continued artillery air bursts, the team advances. Infantry closes up. Prepare to dismount is the command passed by the platoon leader. Before giving the order to dismount, the team commander asked that the artillery shift its fire to enemy positions on the flank and rear of the enemy's forces. Now the infantrymen jump quickly from their carriers and press the attack on foot. Cautiously they move forward with the tanks. The armor team continues. While the infantrymen wipe out whatever enemy resistance still remains, the commander reports a success. Our objective is taken. It does not halt for long. With the fight taken out of the aggressor force here, the armor team prepares to advance on the next objective. Rugged and strong, a rolling mass of destruction, armor churns its inexorable way through the heart of the enemy's defenses, and grinding toward the ultimate objective, triumph on the battlefield. The emergence of the armor team on the field of combat has often decided the course of battle in modern war and would decide it again if called upon. In armor there is strength, and in strength there is victory. Aggressively powerful, fast and mobile under all conditions, the armor team in your army is a forceful deterrent to any would-be aggressor of the future. Now this is Sergeant Stuart Queen, your host for The Big Picture. The Big Picture is an official television report for the armed forces and the American people, produced by the Army Pictorial Center, presented by the United States Army in cooperation with this station.