On March 9, 1916, a group of around 1500 Mexican rebels angered by the changing winds of American support for the various factions in their country’s civil war crossed the border and struck the town of Columbus, New Mexico. The attack, commanded by the infamous revolutionary Pancho Villa, left 19 innocent townfolk dead and their city in flames. The American response was decisive. 5000 American troops under General John J. Pershing were sent across the border in pursuit of Villa. The campaign, which was unsuccessful in locating Villa, would last until February 1917 and would today be just a minor footnote in American history except for one thing, it was the first time that trucks and aircraft were used in American combat operations.
The US Army had been experimenting with internal combustion powered vehicles as early as 1901 but because automotive technology was still rapidly evolving at the time, the Army Quartermaster had waited until 1910 to being building up a fleet of trucks. By 1916, the Army had decided that as far as transport and logistics duties in urban areas with established roads was concerned, the truck held great promise as it could travel almost twice the daily distance of horse drawn wagons which averaged only aruond 20 miles per day. However, as far as actual field operations went, the truck remained untested and so America’s entry into Northern Mexico presented an opportunity to actually try them under combat conditions.
General Pershing’s force included 588 new trucks, 67 specialized vehicles, and numerous other vehicles like passenger cars and motorcycles. Because the trucks were thrown into the field with little preparation, they were often overloaded and suffered from frequent failures. Replacement parts soon became a problem and many took months to arrive on scene. Trucks that broke down beside the road were soon stripped for bare by Army mechanics in order to keep others working and maintenance became such an issue that Pershing began to rotate his truck companies on a schedule of eight days in the field and two behind the lines in order to give them enough time to make required repairs.
One of the major lessons learned from the Mexican adventure was the need to consolidate the Army’s trucks into one, specialized type. Because Pershing’s trucks included those built by various manufacturers that shared little parts interchangeability the Army Quartermaster was required to stock parts for all of the vehicles. Trucks built from a pool of common parts, they realized, would be easier to maintain in the field, allowing parts to be swapped from a damaged truck to any other, and simplify the entire logistics train. By 1917 the Army had two working prototypes (one of which can be seen in the photo above) and although the demand for trucks in World War I soon overwhelmed the manufacturer’s capacity to build them, leading again to the purchase of vehicles from different manufacturers, by World War II the goal of standardization had been fully achieved.
Today, General Pershing’s pursuit of Pancho Villa is a minor footnote in history, a small operation lost in the shadow of the Great War that was already raging in Europe, a fight that would soon have American doughboys in the trenches as well. Pancho Villa was not caught by the American forces, in fact there is no evidence that American troops ever got close enough to the elusive revolutionary to engage him in battle, but a message was sent and Pancho Villa never again attacked American territory. Eventually the civil troubles in Mexico calmed down and Pancho Villa “retired” to an estate with many of his soldiers. In 1923, he again became involved in his country’s politics and was assassinated by one of his rivals.
John J Pershing and Pancho Villa in 1914
General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing went on to command the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I and in time became the highest ranking military officer to ever serve in the US Military, General of The Armies. He served as a mentor to an entire generation of military officers who, in their own time, would join the pantheon of great American heroes, George C Marshall, Dwight D, Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley and George S, Patton among others.
Military trucks have continued to evolve and today are, along with ships, rail and aircraft, an important part of the military’s logistics operations. They have served in every combat operation since 1916 and will continue to do so as long as men and equipment need to be moved across a battlefield.
Fascinating piece of automotive history that I had never heard before. Thanks!
+1
I have understood the trucks to be of multiple brands as stated, but I have also understood that the use of passenger cars was almost exclusively limited to Dodge Brothers touring cars. This was only a couple of years after Dodge Brothers started making their own cars (after getting rich supplying parts for and assembling cars for Henry Ford). Those early Dodge Brothers cars were extremely tough cars and were highly thought-of by those in the infantry.
The Dodge brothers supplied Ford with rolling chassis complete with engines and drive trains. One day the brothers went to Ford with what they felt would be an improvement-a sliding selector 3-speed transmission to replace the Model T’s archaic planetary unit. More modern, less money. Henry threw a shit fit and kicked the brothers out. At that point they then decided it was time to begin manufacturing a car with their name on it. I would be cutting edge. For a body supplier they chose The Budd Company. Edward Budd was messianic about all-steel, bodies built from welded stampings. No wood. Dodges were tight and didn’t become limp dishrags after a week or two on the road. Pershing appreciated this attribute and the Dodge touring cars made a name for themselves on Pershing’s Mexican border campaign.
I have read that one of the reasons that Henry Ford had such an animus towards other automakers was that even during the earlier part of the Model T’s life, the American Assn. of Automobile Manufacturers denied membership to Ford, on the grounds that the Model T was an assembled car, not a manufactured one. You can imagine Henry’s reaction. It was, however, kind of true, as you point out – Dodge Bros. largely built the things for him in that brass radiator period.
Have read that too JPC Henry didnt have many friends he was far too successfull and largely self taught Detroit may not have liked him but the public liked his cars.
Kevin, I find your info and knowledge about Budd interesting. Are you still able to reply to this post or by email? I would like to talk to you more about a possible Budd manufactured truck. Jon
Kevin passed away in 2014.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/kevin-martin-in-memoriam/
I recall a recent BBC web article which emphasized the Jeep as the vehicle influencing tactical mobility during WW2, completely neglecting to mention the vast numbers of Canadian & American trucks, together totalling over a million vehicles, & supplied to all the Allies (the Russkies loved their Studebakers). These were far more important in contributing to victory.
And our friends up north outdid us in one respect: The Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) truck in particular was a marvel of standardization: most parts were interchangeable between Chevy & Ford models, except for the grille logo & powerplants. And the companies helped ea. other out when there were supply problems.
The Wehrmacht, OTOH, never had enough trucks, let alone ones of military grade like Krupp’s. I think most were Opel Blitzes, civilian-spec, compared to GM’s stateside CCKW. Right up to the end, an army which long emphasized tactical mobility, even before the tank, relied heavily on horse-drawn carts! And even German horses did poorly in Russian winters, compared to Asiatic breeds.
Saw a CMP military truck recently at a show our WW2 lendlease trucks all came from N.A. Fun piece of trivia Napoleon progressed faster through Russia in his bid for conquest than Hitlers troops with only horse drawn equipment, Same result though its a bad idea picking on Russia nobody has succeeded yet. Heres the CMP truck commonly referred to as a Monkey face, twin stacks I’d bet its a Ford
Good pic & trivia. BTW besides “Boney” [Redcoat nickname for Napoleon], Charles XII of Sweden was the other militarily talented commander who, in recent history, failed to conquer Russia. So Hitler was doubly foolish.
Wellington’s nickname among rank & file was “Nosey.” It was his brother-in-law who was defeated at New Orleans, just as Nosey feared. Some generals just aren’t cut out for independent command.
As you say Neil, “vast numbers of trucks”…
Many decades after WWII we still got what we call “Army Dumps”. Specialized yards (I wouldn’t call them junkyards) that store parts and complete vehicles from WWII and the years after.
Right after WWII countless military trucks were converted into, for example, dump trucks to (re)build the country.
That’s how truckmakers Ginaf and Terberg started: convert 6×6 military trucks, like GMC and REO, into dump trucks. Their experience was that the REO/Diamond trucks were more “heavy duty” than their GMC counterparts. Those 6×6 trucks still hauled sand, gravel etc. way into the seventies.
There’s also a well-known club that does the opposite: keep all those military vehicles from the Allies as original as possible, with or without a complete restoration job. “Keep Them Rolling” is the club’s name, here’s the English version of their website: http://www.ktr.nl/en/
Thanks for the info & link. Diamond T 980s (aka M19s) were procured by the Brits as tank transporters, they were that big.
The Israelis built their postwar tank corps using Shermans from Italian dumps.
Ginaf and Terberg converted the REO M34, M35 and M52 trucks.
The M34 and M35 were called “small REO” and the M52 was the “big REO”. (how original…)
Domestic truckmaker DAF developed and built a wide range of military vehicles after WWII, funds came from the Marshall Plan. Part of the deal was that DAF used Hercules gasoline engines. These were the DAF YA types. The YA328 was the most famous, it had a rather unconventional 6×6 drivetrain. Since 1997 DAF belongs to the Paccar Group.
Also heavy FTF tractors with a screaming V12 Detroit Diesel two-stroke to haul tanks. Basically an FTF was an American truck with an English cab (COE), assembled in the Netherlands. They also made trucks and tractors for civilian use, those had V6 or V8 Detroit Diesels.
A bit smaller were the Nekaf Jeeps from the Kaiser-Frazer plant in Rotterdam.
Thanks, since I couldn’t find much about this side of DAF’s history, at least on English-language sites. It seems that nowadays, DAF is owned by PACCAR.
Can you tell me if there is an FTF truck ex. Mexican army availeble ?
to buy back and take the truck back to Holland.
please replay on my mail — arie@kandtbv.nl
with my regards
Arie Kandt – Holland
Neil, maybe this will help: the website of the DAF Club of America
(yes, there’s actually a DAF Club in the US….)
This part is about the military vehicles with a lot of pictures, the big YA328
is among them:
http://dafclubamerica.proboards.com/board/31/daf-trucks-military-vehicles
Also lots of videos on YouTube, search for DAF YA …
And yes, DAF is a member of the Paccar truck family since 1997. They’re doing quite well, at the moment Paccar is building a DAF factory in Brasil.
Second that, untill Valentines in Hamilton NZ burnt out early in the 80s brand new old stock Indian 45 motorcycles could still be assembled from parts then suddenly they became collectable, During the 70s our goverment fleet finally sold off its last 48 Ford Bonus pickups all sorts of engine conversions keep those things going a friend has turbo Nissan diesel in his but those and Jailbars will be part of the landscape forever at the same time NZelectricty dept 6×6 fleet was sold off it dated from WW2 so it was well worn all GMCs the Studebakers got sold off lucky too my uncles logging fleet of Studes was still going in the 80s their spares truck largely untouched so who thought to buy any more? And the best part, the new 6×6 D series Fords had to be towed everywhere behind Caterpillars for power line construction work, the gimmys simply drove behind the Tractors they were designed to follow a tank anywhere it could go carrying towers and cables was childs play behind a bulldozer you could not kill them but they are all gone now.
In reality, the Whermacht was never a motorised force. Even at its absolute peak of June 22, 1941, only about 10% of Whermacht supplies were moved by motor. The rest trudged along with old Dobbin at the rate of armies in all of time to that point. From this point forward, the mobility of the Whermacht declined as the civilian trucks, many seized during the 1940 campaign in western Europe, proved most unsuited to conditions in Russia. Spare parts were practically impossible to get and the “roads” in Russia meant said vehicles didn’t last long.
This was not too much of a problem for the Germans until 1944, when the Russians were receiving large quantities of Lend-Lease 6X6 trucks, and the fuel to run them. From this point, the Whermacht could not retreat faster than the Red Army could advance.This costs the Germans upwards of 100 divisions destroyed in Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944.
My SIL and her whanau (family) come from Russia the name Studebaker is reveered.
Hitler’s insane “No Retreat” orders had a lot to do with Bagration’s aftermath, too. Many East Prussians fell prey to vengeful Soviets because their leaders refused to order evacuations until the last minute. Except for themselves, of course. Nazis proved to be the greatest cowards of them all.
Germans terrified of the Bolshevik hordes from the East conveniently forgot that it wasn’t the Russians who broke the peace, nor was it they who started the precedent of gratuitous atrocities. Hitler’s instructions to his troops for Barbarossa made it clear that no quarter was to be given.
The US Army Transportation Museum has an excellent display on the use of trucks in the Mexican expedition, including one of the early White military trucks used in the expedition, as well as displays on transportation and logistics from the Revolutionary War to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I recommend it highly.
Museum website:
http://www.transchool.lee.army.mil/Museum/Transportation%20Museum/museum.htm
Mexican expedition page:
http://www.transportation.army.mil/museum/transportation%20museum/mexwar.htm
Good stuff. BTW Pershing earned his nickname “Black Jack” (a sort of euphemism) because of his service with the 10th Cavalry Regiment. He, unlike many of his colleagues, had no objection to integrating African-American troops, though he dared not put this into practice during WW1, given the views of his civilian superiors.
OTOH, there are photos of colonial African troops posing with French poilus in the trenches.
As an aside, US Army African-American infantry regiments in WWI fought as part of French Army divisions, as the American Expeditionary Force did not want them, but the French Army with its experience with African colonial troops was happy to use them. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/93rd_Division_%28Colored%29)
Speaking of trucks in the US Army, the all-black Red Ball Express truck convoys that supplied the US Army in Europe was the outstanding achievement of US military trucks in WWI.
Good job on the history. Time and money well spent when WW1 arrived. Drove by Columbus once. Didn’t stop. Prob a good place for a museum.
On a side note. A young Lieutenant Patton led what is said to be the fist motorized attack in the history of U.S. warfare when they surprised three of Pancho Villa’s men during a foraging expedition.
Quite right; he brought back the henchmen’s corpses on the fenders, as if returning from a successful hunting trip. That’s how he gained national attention. He later led a tank attack during WW1 using Renault FTs; having no radio, he had to run from tank to tank to direct it.
Speaking of Dodge Brothers cars and Pancho Villa, a 1919 Dodge Brothers roadster was the car Pancho was riding in when he got whacked while driving in Parral, Chihuahua Mexico in 1923.
According to the Quartermaster General website, 54 one-and-a-half ton trucks from companies in Cleveland, Ohio, and Kenosha, Wisconsin were purchased on the 24th of March 1916. I presume that the Cleveland truck would have been the White – would Rambler/Jeffrey be the Kenosha truck?
At the same time the Punitive Expedition was going on, the French were using trucks on the “Voie Sacree” to supply their army during the battle of Verdun. A good account of this can be found in Alistair Horne’s “The Price of Glory.”
Great story and great commentary.