These Tanks use a Great Deal of Gasoline!

Some 85 years ago this month. Original Caption: “1st Army Maneuvers in the Carolinas. An M2A2 light tank of the 191st Tank Battalion. These tanks use a great deal of gasoline. South Carolina. October 16, 1941.” The M2A2 light tank ran a 668 cubic-inch (11.0 L) Continental 7-cylinder radial gasoline engine and carried 50 gallons of mogas. Photographer: 161st Signal Photo Co., Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-130131 Another view of the above, same day, same place, showing off the 11-ton M2A2, which saw no combat service with the U.S. military, although 36 updated M2A4s did land with the Marine 1st Tank Bn at Guadalcanal. 111-SC-130069 In October 1918, the U.S. Army, gearing up to beat the Kaiser, had peaked at 2,395,742 active men in uniform with a few million more on the schedule. Just 15 years later, the story was much different. During the Depression, the Army was gutted to the point that in 1933 it could count only 135,015 officers, men, Philippine Scouts, and USMA cadets on active…