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PERILOUS SERVICE SERVICEReference Reference has been niade to the new baby tanks that participated in the Picardy battle and that are said to be quicker than a man in running and turning Some description of these tanks is contained in a private letter just received from somewhere in France The writer says saysThe The new French tanks are tiny little things each just big enough for two men to crawl into They arrived here on flat cars and it is the fun ¬ niest thing to see them get off They look like clumsy baby elephants They hesitate and wiggle nervously and finally with great dignity they walk off the car and waddle off to their stamping grounds and the next conies along until they are all lined up This is the only branch of the service more dangerous than aviation the baby tanks not the big ones In fact it is so dangerous that each man lias to be a volunteer and unmarried the consequence being that as most Frenchmen marry young the tank crews are still younger They wear short black leather coats tight blue trousers black leggings chasseur officers berets a wide brown belt worn short wuisted with a revolver and a long thin dagger and just as artillerymen are usually big and blonde these are small with black curly hair and bright complexions complexionsOne One of them told me that when they were first sent in they were not armed at all so the gentle bodies used to climb on top of the tanks and stick their bayonets through the slit that the gunner looks out of and as the gunner has no more room to dodge 11 tortoise in his shell he was rather helpless So now they are armed with daggers and they have made narrow slits all over the tanks so when brother boche jumps on the roof the occupant pushes his knife through a slit and brother boche slides off I would rather do any ¬ thing than go in one of those things for jou have to crawl on your hands and knees The gunner can stand provided he keeps in the same spot It is all pitch dark and the mechanism must be worked by feel You want to scream the moment they shut the door on you The Argonaut
