The Mark VIII Tank

The First Joint Armor Program

By Robert L. Cogan

Article published on: June 1, 2024 in the Army History Summer 2024 issue

Read Time: < 5 mins

In April 1917, the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allies. Only seven months earlier, the British had introduced the tank to warfare during the Battle of the Somme. When the commanding general of the American Expeditionary Forces, General John J. Pershing, arrived in France that June, one of his first directives was to form several committees researching the British and French use of tanks and their production. The Army dispatched two mechanical engineers

Original 1920 manufacturing plate from Rock Island Arsenal

The Army dispatched two mechanical engineers from the Ordnance Corps, Majs. James A. Drain and Herbert W. Alden, to France to study Allied tank design and the potential for the manufacture of American tanks. Drain and Alden concluded that the British heavy tanks and French Renault FT light tank were the most capable vehicles of the time, and that American production could be established quickly by licensing American firms to build these already established designs. In mid-November 1917, Drain was assigned to the newly created Inter-Allied Tank Committee to coordinate tank design and production efforts between the Allies. Major Drain worked closely with his British counterparts on a new heavy tank design that could be fielded in time for the planned Grand Offensive of 1919. This was the first time two nations cooperated in a shared design for an armored fighting vehicle.

The Mark VIII was 34 feet long to cross the widest of German trenches on the Western Front.

Demonstration at Camp Meade, ca. 1920, showing the size difference between the heavy Mark VIII and the light M1917 used by the Tank Corps after World War I.

The wide tracks made the Mark VIII difficult to turn and often resulted in breakages.

Brig. Gen. Samuel D. Rockenbach, chief of the Tank Corps, watches maneuvers at Camp Meade, ca. 1920. Two M1917 6-ton special tractors follow the Mark VIII heavy tank.

To produce large numbers of the new tank, construction would be divided between two nations based on their strengths in manufacturing. Great Britain would produce the armor plate and provide cannons from its robust naval industry. The United States, already home to several continuous track firms, would provide the track and power train systems. The Ordnance Corps selected The Liberty L–12 aircraft engine, already mass-produced in the States, for propulsion. The manufacturers would ship the components from the United States and Britain to a centralized assembly plant in France. The Allies made plans to build 1,500 of the new heavy tanks, designated the Mark VIII, by the end of 1918.

The American Mark VIII had a secondary armament of five M1919 .30-caliber machine guns, shrouded in armored sleeves.

Developmental issues, bureaucracy, and competition for vital resources, like engines, delayed the Mark VIII program. The first operational prototype finally was ready on 11 November 1918, as the guns fell silent on the Western Front. With the fighting over, the Allies canceled the joint production program. Great Britain would build twenty-five Mark VIIIs using all-British components and engines. They quickly scrapped most of them.

In the United States, the Army completed one hundred Mark VIII tanks using British-made parts at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, in 1919 and 1920. The American-built Mark VIIIs, often called “Liberty Tanks” after their engine, weighed 38 tons with a maximum armor thickness of .63 inches. The L–12 engine provided 300 horsepower, giving the Mark VIII a top speed of 6.25 miles per hour. Two British-produced QF 6-pounder guns and five 1917 Browning .30 caliber machine guns provided firepower. Ten crewmembers operated the tank: a commander, driver, mechanic, two gunners, two loaders, and three machine gunners. Starting in 1919, the Army assigned the Mark VIIIs to the returning Tank Corps units at then Camp Meade, Maryland, where future Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton Jr. commanded them. When the Army disestablished the Tank Corps in 1921 and placed tanks under the Infantry Branch, it sent several to Fort Benning, Georgia (present-day Fort Moore). There the service housed them on the ground that later became Eubanks Field, currently the home of the U.S. Army Airborne School. The Mark VIIIs continued to serve through the 1920s at both Fort Meade and Fort Benning before finally being retired in 1932.

The interior of the Mark VIII, showing driver’s position (center), 6-pounder gun mounts, and ammunition storage.

The front hull of the Mark VIII featured a triangular splash guard to redirect incoming fire from the driver’s visor.

The Mark VIII shown here was built at Rock Island Arsenal in 1920 and served under Maj. Dwight D. Eisenhower. The now-closed Fort Meade Museum displayed it for many years. In 2022, it was transferred from Fort Meade to the Armor & Cavalry Training Support Facility at Fort Moore, Georgia. Only two other Mark VIII tanks exist in the world: another American example displayed at Rock Island Arsenal, and a single British-produced example at The Tank Museum in Bovington, England.

The triangular plate on the back of the Mark VIII allowed the rear machine gun to ricochet fire into trenches that the tank crossed over.