Samuel D Rockenbach

Operations of the Tank Corps A.E.F. Samuel D Rockenbach

Operations of the Tank Corps A. E. F. is the definitive treatise on the American Tank Corps in World War I, written by Brigadier General Samuel D. Rockenbach, its first commander. Commonly referred to as "The Rockenbach Report," only a few typed copies are known to exist. It has never been published-until now. Much has been published about one of Rockenbach's subordinate officers at the time, the famous World War II commander George S. Patton, Jr. But General Rockenbach is a much less familiar figure historically although he was hand-picked by General John J. Pershing to design, organize, man, train and deploy Tanks into 1918 France as part of the American Expeditionary Forces. Written in the same month as the Armistice was signed, General Rockenbach relates his experiences in developing and fielding this fearsome new combat arm, candidly citing the challenges as well as the victories. Appended to the original-and included here-are supporting documents, presented in their entirety. Significant portions of these documents are either paraphrased or directly quoted in the main body of the Report. This is especially true in the chapters pertaining to operations at the Battle of St. Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. These are the unedited versions. They include the organization and manning list for the Tank Corps as of September 10, 1918, operations reports from the 304th (1st Provisional) Tank Brigade (commanded by George S. Patton, Jr.) and the 1st French Brigade on the Battle of St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Also included is complete text of the operations report from the 301st American Tank Battalion, which had been allotted to the Australian Corps.