The C.L.Best Tractor Company of San Leandro, a agricultural tractor manufacturer and rival of Stockton’s Holt Caterpillar Company, built two prototype tanks based on their Model 75 tractor.
Undated photographs, show one of the tanks training with an infantry unit of the California National Guard, probably the 5th Infantry Regiment (after August 1917, the 159th Infantry Regiment, 40th Division).
One tank was used for recruiting purposes in San Francisco on 4 July 1917.
I haven't seen this before, but I suspect that the weight of the front end would cause it to bog down in the mud. One thing is certain. It would have been hot inside the metal beast.
ReplyDeleteI think they were labeled as "Water Tank" during shipment to the front lines in WWI to prevent the German forces from knowing the real purpose of these machines.
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