Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers: Innovation in the U.S. Army, 1917-1945

by David E. Johnson

Overview

The U.S. Army entered World War II unprepared. In addition, lacking Germany's blitzkrieg approach of coordinated armor and air power, the army was organized to fight two wars: one on the ground and one in the air. Previous commentators have blamed Congressional funding and public apathy for the army's unprepared state. David E. Johnson believes instead that the principal causes were internal: army culture and bureaucracy, and their combined impact on the development of weapons and doctrine.

Johnson examines the U.S. Army's innovations for both armor and aviation between the world wars, arguing that the tank became a captive of the conservative infantry and cavalry branches, while the airplane's development was channeled by air power insurgents bent on creating an independent air force. He maintains that as a consequence, the tank's potential was hindered by the traditional arms, while air power advocates focused mainly on proving the decisiveness of strategic bombing, neglecting the mission of tactical support for ground troops. Minimal interaction between ground and air officers resulted in insufficient cooperation between armored forces and air forces.

Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers makes a major contribution to a new understanding of both the creation of the modern U.S. Army and the Army's performance in World War II. The book also provides important insights for future military innovation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801434587
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	12/15/1998
Series:	Cornell Studies in Security Affairs
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.94(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David E. Johnson is a senior research staff member at RAND. A retired U.S. Army field artillery colonel, he served in a variety of command and staff assignments in the United States, Korea, Germany, and Hawaii. His last assignment was at the National Defense University, where he served as Director of Academic Affairs, Chief of Staff, and Professor.

Table of Contents

IntroductionPart I. Soldiers and Machines: 1917–1920
1. America, the Army, and the Great War
2. The Tank Corps
3. The Air Service
4. The Army in the Aftermath of the Great WarPart II. Inertia and Insurgency: 1921–1930
5. Peace and Quiet
6. Infantry Tanks
7• The Failed Revolution and the Evolution of Air Force
8. The War DepartmentPart III. Alternatives And Autonomy: 1931–1942
9. From Domestic Depression to International Crusade
10. Alternatives for Armor
11. Autonomous Air Power
12. A Crisis in the War DepartmentPart IV: Dying for Change: 1942–1945
13. The Arsenal of Attrition
14. Armored Bludgeon
15. Air Force Triumphant
16. Coequal Land Power and Air PowerConclusionNotes
Primary Sources
Index

What People are Saying About This

Harold R. Winton

Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers is a superbly researched and tightly argued work that chronicles the period of transformation of the United States Army from a constabulary force to the military instrument of a major world power. It forces the objective reader to reconsider the notion that America's interwar Army was purely the product of social, political, and fiscal indifference. Perhaps most importantly, it provides a poignant reminder that the destiny of the Republic in the twenty-first century will be inextricably bound up with the vision, wisdom, and professional acumen of its military leaders.

William A. Owens

David Johnson has written a must-read for anyone following today's Pentagon debates concerning the culture and budgets of the United States military. He has provided one of the most insightful analyses of the development of the U.S. Army and Air Force between the World Wars with a special set of lessons to be learned about how a bureaucratic military system precludes the best decisions for the good of the nation's overall national security missions.

Editorial Reviews

Johnson's book should be read and his conclusions debated. His work is timely and relevant to the Army and Air Force today.

Army Magazine

The subject of Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers is familiar—an interwar army, crippled by austerity and public apathy—fails to modernize and enters the next war unprepared for the challenges it faces. But David E. Johnson departs from traditional interpretations of this scenario.... Johnson paints a bleak picture of an Army designed to preserve itself rather than prepare for the next war.

Military Review

Johnson's nicely researched and well written study is much more than an interesting account of tank and airplane development during the interwar years. Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers is a fascinating intellectual and cultural history of the interwar Army with intriguing implications for our own day..

Parameters

A powerful book.... Johnson convincingly takes aim at the current wishful thinking that a sound defense depends merely on money spent, and that only politicians, not soldiers, are responsible for their lack of preparedness. His powerful and convincing historical analysis offers profound implications for today.

Foreign Affairs

This well documented and convincingly argued book... speaks to the follies of extremists in today's airpower versus land power debates.

Naval War College Review

Johnson's densely factual volume is elegantly written.... He successfully demonstrates that the United States Army that entered World War II reflected the biases and resistance to innovation that existed throughout the interwar years.

Journal of American History

This book gives great insights into our military's (not just the U.S. Army's) innovative process during the interwar years. As we now find ourselves in a similar interwar period, with similar interwar opportunities for either stagnation or innovation, the book is extremely relevant to today's national defense establishment. There is great insight to be derived from these pages.... Johnson has done a superb job of researching his subject. He has written an interesting book based on mountains of documentation.... There is much more to Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers than documented history. To the educated reader, this book is a warning for today.

Marine Corps Gazette

A fine place to get a feel for the enormous task of military transformation—and also get a gritty appreciation of the risks involved—is David Johnson's Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers. The War on Terror and accelerating demands for change in the Pentagon... make this book extremely relevant. Every military transformer should read it—and reckon with it.

Houston Chronicle

In Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers, David Johnson does an excellent job of taking in the big picture, breaking it down into its parts and then tieing it back together to form a cohesive whole of U.S.Army policy during the interwar period.

Air Power History

A fine place to get a feel for the enormous task of military transformation--and also get a gritty appreciation of the risks involved--is David Johnson's Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers. The War on Terror and accelerating demands for change in the Pentagon... make this book extremely relevant. Every military transformer should read it--and reckon with it.

-- "Houston Chronicle"

A powerful book.... Johnson convincingly takes aim at the current wishful thinking that a sound defense depends merely on money spent, and that only politicians, not soldiers, are responsible for their lack of preparedness. His powerful and convincing historical analysis offers profound implications for today.

-- "Foreign Affairs"

In Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers, David Johnson does an excellent job of taking in the big picture, breaking it down into its parts and then tieing it back together to form a cohesive whole of U.S.Army policy during the interwar period.

-- "Air Power History"

Johnson's book should be read and his conclusions debated. His work is timely and relevant to the Army and Air Force today.

-- "Army Magazine"

Johnson's densely factual volume is elegantly written.... He successfully demonstrates that the United States Army that entered World War II reflected the biases and resistance to innovation that existed throughout the interwar years.

-- "Journal of American History"

Johnson's nicely researched and well written study is much more than an interesting account of tank and airplane development during the interwar years. Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers is a fascinating intellectual and cultural history of the interwar Army with intriguing implications for our own day..

-- "Parameters"

The subject of Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers is familiar--an interwar army, crippled by austerity and public apathy--fails to modernize and enters the next war unprepared for the challenges it faces. But David E. Johnson departs from traditional interpretations of this scenario.... Johnson paints a bleak picture of an Army designed to preserve itself rather than prepare for the next war.

-- "Military Review"

This book gives great insights into our military's (not just the U.S. Army's) innovative process during the interwar years. As we now find ourselves in a similar interwar period, with similar interwar opportunities for either stagnation or innovation, the book is extremely relevant to today's national defense establishment. There is great insight to be derived from these pages.... Johnson has done a superb job of researching his subject. He has written an interesting book based on mountains of documentation.... There is much more to Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers than documented history. To the educated reader, this book is a warning for today.

-- "Marine Corps Gazette"

This well documented and convincingly argued book... speaks to the follies of extremists in today's airpower versus land power debates.

-- "Naval War College Review"

From the Publisher