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Tanks
Two miles of American front had gone dead. And on two lone infantrymen, lost in the menace of the fog-gas and the tanks, depended the outcome of the war of 1932.
Excerpt
The persistent, oily smell of fog-gas was everywhere, even in the little pill-box. Outside, all the world was blotted out by the thick gray mist that went rolling slowly across country with the breeze. The noises that came through it were curiously muted--fog-gas mutes all noises somewhat--but somewhere to the right artillery was pounding something with H E shell, and there were those little spitting under-current explosions that told of tanks in action. To the right there was a distant rolling of machine-gun fire. In between was an utter, solemn silence.
Sergeant Coffee, disreputable to look at and disrespectful of mien, was sprawling over one of the gunners' seats and talking into a field telephone while mud dripped from him. Corporal Wallis, equally muddy and still more disreputable, was painstakingly manufacturing one complete cigarette from the pinched-out butts of four others. Both were rifle-infantry. Neither had any right or reason to be occupying a definitely machine-gun-section post. The fact that the machine-gun crew was all dead did not seem to make much difference to sector H.Q. at the other end of the telephone wire, judging from the questions that were being asked.
"I tell you," drawled Sergeant Coffee, "they' dead.... Yeah, all dead. Just as dead as when I told you the firs' time, maybe even deader.... Gas, o'course. I don't know what kind.... Yeh. They got their masks on."
He waited, looking speculatively at the cigarette Corporal Wallis had in manufacture. It began to look imposing. Corporal Wallis regarded it affectionately. Sergeant Coffee put his hand over the mouthpiece, and looked intently at his companion.
"Gimme a drag o' that, Pete," he suggested. "I'll slip y' some butts in a minute."
Excerpt
The persistent, oily smell of fog-gas was everywhere, even in the little pill-box. Outside, all the world was blotted out by the thick gray mist that went rolling slowly across country with the breeze. The noises that came through it were curiously muted--fog-gas mutes all noises somewhat--but somewhere to the right artillery was pounding something with H E shell, and there were those little spitting under-current explosions that told of tanks in action. To the right there was a distant rolling of machine-gun fire. In between was an utter, solemn silence.
Sergeant Coffee, disreputable to look at and disrespectful of mien, was sprawling over one of the gunners' seats and talking into a field telephone while mud dripped from him. Corporal Wallis, equally muddy and still more disreputable, was painstakingly manufacturing one complete cigarette from the pinched-out butts of four others. Both were rifle-infantry. Neither had any right or reason to be occupying a definitely machine-gun-section post. The fact that the machine-gun crew was all dead did not seem to make much difference to sector H.Q. at the other end of the telephone wire, judging from the questions that were being asked.
"I tell you," drawled Sergeant Coffee, "they' dead.... Yeah, all dead. Just as dead as when I told you the firs' time, maybe even deader.... Gas, o'course. I don't know what kind.... Yeh. They got their masks on."
He waited, looking speculatively at the cigarette Corporal Wallis had in manufacture. It began to look imposing. Corporal Wallis regarded it affectionately. Sergeant Coffee put his hand over the mouthpiece, and looked intently at his companion.
"Gimme a drag o' that, Pete," he suggested. "I'll slip y' some butts in a minute."
56 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1930
21 people want to read
About the author
Murray Leinster
898 books121 followerssee also:
Will F. Jenkins
William Fitzgerald Jenkins
Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.
An author whose career spanned the first six decades of the 20th Century. From mystery and adventure stories in the earliest years to science fiction in his later years, he worked steadily and at a highly professional level of craftsmanship longer than most writers of his generation. He won a Hugo Award in 1956 for his novelet “Exploration Team,” and in 1995 the Sidewise Award for Alternate History took its name from his classic story, “Sidewise in Time.” His last original work appeared in 1967.
Will F. Jenkins
William Fitzgerald Jenkins
Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.
An author whose career spanned the first six decades of the 20th Century. From mystery and adventure stories in the earliest years to science fiction in his later years, he worked steadily and at a highly professional level of craftsmanship longer than most writers of his generation. He won a Hugo Award in 1956 for his novelet “Exploration Team,” and in 1995 the Sidewise Award for Alternate History took its name from his classic story, “Sidewise in Time.” His last original work appeared in 1967.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 10, 2024
First published in 1930, “Tanks” is an interesting attempt to imagine a Second World War by extrapolating the two most devastating technological advances of WWI (tanks and poison gas) forward and adding the newest military tech (helicopters) to the mix. Leinster imagines a near-future invasion of America by “the Yellow Empire” (presumably Japan). The story is contained within the field of combat, toggling between two infantrymen who stumble upon an abandoned observation post and a general committing forces from a mobile command center. Therefore there’s a lot we don’t know about the war: how it started, how far it has spread, or how far the battlefield destruction has reached. The story ends with the American routing the enemy in battle, but it isn’t clear if the war is anywhere close to being over.
Leinster was never a sophisticated writer and there is as always a pulpy, rough-hewn feel to his prose. The characters are little more than ciphers. Nevertheless this is an interesting story imagining what a hypothetical Second World War might be like.
Leinster was never a sophisticated writer and there is as always a pulpy, rough-hewn feel to his prose. The characters are little more than ciphers. Nevertheless this is an interesting story imagining what a hypothetical Second World War might be like.
May 12, 2025
During what politicians call The Last War, two infantrymen wander through a battlefield shrouded in a mysterious poison gas. They stumble across one of their own communications outposts only to find the staff dead from the gas. From there, they contact their HQ and relay information on enemy movements in a war fought mostly by specialized tanks.
April 30, 2022
Extrapolation can only go so far
This world war one on steroids is an entertaining romp. The author looked at the battlefields of world war I, and dreamt something bigger. Long on concepts, short on story, a fun little read.
This world war one on steroids is an entertaining romp. The author looked at the battlefields of world war I, and dreamt something bigger. Long on concepts, short on story, a fun little read.
October 11, 2024
Tobacco and tanks. Ironically, the former proved more deadly. Surprisingly, as cogent today as it was in 1930. Interesting, how helicopters first flew in ‘39 yet this story anticipates their tactical use very well, better than most military tacticians.
May 21, 2019
Appears in Astounding stories January 1930. Kindle. Guttenberg project.
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June 16, 2021Actually has so many comparisons to world war 2
August 21, 2021
This is a very fun, action-packed short story first published in "Astounding Stories of Super-Science January 1930." It revolves around a battle in the War of 1932, complete with airplanes, helicopters, thick fog, and tough men. I enjoyed this short story.
💥 Recommended.
💥 Recommended.
December 15, 2015
Ok story. I was surprised by how short it was (I got an electronic copy from Google books). Not Leinster's best, but a decent plot, and it kept my attention.
Definitely not one of those science fiction classics that have endured.
Definitely not one of those science fiction classics that have endured.
February 17, 2015
Sci-fi war story from the classic period that really didn't hold up well for me. More of a short story than a book.
July 10, 2017
A nice look into the belief of future warfare in the eyes of someone from the 1930's
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews