Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur was a semi-regular contributor to Army Ordnance throughout the 1930s until his first retirement from active duty in 1937. Those years were not only marked by the Great Depression, there was ongoing tension between military leaders who believed in preparedness such as MacArthur and isolationalists in Congress and the executive branch. In this excerpt from the January-February 1933 issue, then-Army Chief of Staff MacArthur in an article ponders, "The Use of the Machine in Battle: The Powers and Limitations of Mechanized Equipment."

The editor of Army Ordnance has asked my permission to republish from my annual report to the secretary of war that section devoted to mechanization. Not only am I pleased to grant the request, but I cannot let the opportunity pass without extending a word of congratulation to the engineers, executives and manufacturers who are members of the Army Ordnance Association for their devotion to the progress of industrial preparedness. The mechanization of armies is an important question as well to the possible producer of weapons as to the tactical user.

What I have written in the following pages could not have been written at all were it not for the fact that American industry by its own research and resources, and in cooperation with the technical services of our Army, has made possible the engineering advances in the mechanical equipment of peace which are having a vital influence on the future conduct of war.

In recent years probably no other subject has so engaged the attention of military students as has that of adapting the peculiar capabilities of the motor-propelled vehicle to the requirements of battle. In this country and in all foreign armies the possibilities of increasing fighting strength and conserving manpower through a maximum utilization of machines continue to be assiduously explored....

It is obvious that for some years to come, at least, there cannot possibly be available in the initial states of any great emergency large units completely equipped with the most modern types of fighting vehicles. But the Army's mission requires its readiness for defense under conditions of the moment. It must be prepared to utilize existing means at the same time that it strives to develop more efficient means to accomplish the defeat of the enemy. Far-reaching changes, such as that implied in mechanization, are subject to...