I'm sure this has been done to death, but it hasn't been done to death lately. So...what if this had been able to go forward with the following models:
Plan 1919 originated in a paper written by a junior staff officer in the British Army, J.F.C. Fuller. Fuller argued that, under the new conditions prevailing on the battlefield in late 1918, breaching a defense line or routing and encircling an enemy formation was no longer enough. Weakening the enemy by destroying his manpower and materiel—by attrition— was demonstrably too costly and uncertain. Instead, Fuller proposed, the Allies should try what would later be called a "decapitation" strategy in the Persian Gulf, a war directed at enemy command, control, and communications. With its head cut off, the body of the German army would flounder about spasmodically and ineffectually. Panic would set in, resistance would crumble, and the German war effort would rapidly collapse.
Fuller envisioned a three-phase attack with each phase closely supported by aircraft. First, medium tanks would infiltrate enemy lines on narrow fronts at two separate points, disorganizing German command and control. There would be no preparatory bombardment to alert the defenses. Then a combined force of infantry and heavy tanks would breach the disorganized German lines and reduce any strongpoints that slowed the advance. Finally, medium tanks and cavalry would pour through the gaps created by the assault and would sweep around the slow-moving defenders, destroying supply dumps, cutting telephone and telegraph wires, tearing up rail lines, and overrunning artillery and command posts. For five to seven days, the pursuit would continue, at a rate of 20 miles per day. The speed and power of the armored thrust would, Fuller argued, allow the attack to succeed before the Germans could counterattack the long, exposed flanks of the mobile columns. Mechanization would, in short, supply the speed and fire power that the foot-borne
Sturmtruppen had lacked.
Fuller's plan caught the imagination of the Allied supreme commander, Marshal Foch. Foch was anxious for some way of breaking the stalemate in the trenches, without the grotesque waste of life that had all too recently pushed many French units to the brink of mutiny. Embracing Fuller's vision, the general swept aside the objections that had thus far fettered tank-minded officers in the French army. Fuller's work was, in essence, adopted as the basis of the Allied strategy for winning the war. To implement Plan 1919, Foch called for a 1919 Allied tank strength of 10,000 vehicles of two basic types. For an assault on a 90-mile front, Fuller's original plan required 2 heavy, "breakthrough" tanks and 2400 medium, "exploitation tanks." But, with the exception of the excellent Renault FT-17, the existing, 1916-type designs were clearly inadequate for the kind of battle that was now envisioned. They broke down too often for deep penetrations and/or carried too little fuel and ammunition for sustained operations. Habitability was terrible—exhaust fumes, noise, and labor-intensive transmission and steering arrangements quickly left crews exhausted (no tank had so much as a firewall between crew and engine before American automotive engineers added one to the American-built FT-17). As assault vehicles, the early tanks lacked the armor and the trench-crossing ability that were now essential. No one vehicle could fulfill all of these new demands, given the technology of the time. So a new, mixed force of heavy, short-range assault tanks and fast, long-range mediums would be necessary.
Tank, Medium C
The first British medium, the Whippet, had proved barely adequate. It was fragile, hard to drive, short-legged, and lacked the trench-crossing ability that the infiltration phase of the plan required. Mediums would have to cross the formidable anti-tank ditches of the Hindenburg Line before they could turn the German flanks and raid the headquarters areas at the rear. Accordingly, the new Medium B, Medium C, and Medium D tanks adopted the rhomboidal form of the British heavies. While they retained the all-machine gun armament and fixed turret of the Whippets, they were much larger, easier to handle, and better protected vehicles. The the main breakthrough tank would be the Anglo-American Mark VIII "Liberty" or "International." This was an enlarged and improved version of the rhomboid-type heavy tank, with better track, greater trench-crossing ability, and a powerful Ricardo or Liberty V-12 engine in a sealed engine compartment. The armor was designed to withstand the German
K-patrone and the bullet splash (molten lead) that forced its way through the joints and vision slits of the earlier vehicles. The Mark VIII went into production in the US, but did not see combat. They formed a major part of the US Army's nominal tank strength up until 1940, when they were quietly sent to Canada for use in training. Examples can still be seen at the Aberdeen and Bovington tank museums.
Tank, Mark VIII, the "Liberty" or "International" as it might have looked in action during 1919.
The French were to produce International tanks for their units. But, typically, they also developed breakthrough tanks of their own. These were rather more ambitious than the Mk. VIII, and none actually appeared prior to the mid-1920s. The furthest advanced was the
Char 2C, in effect a greatly enlarged and lengthened, multi-turret FT-17. It had a 75-mm field gun in the rotating, forward turret and a 7.5-mm machine gun in separate, rear-mounted turret. The latter was intended to enfilade trenches as the tank crossed. Additional machine guns fired from ball mounts on the flanks of the vehicle. Ten were eventually built between 1920 and 1925. All were destroyed on their railroad flatcars while being rushed to the front in 1940. The illustration shows how the vehicle might have appeared in action in 1919.
Char de rupture 2C
Better tanks were not, however, the whole answer to the problems of the late-war battlefield. Plan 1919 thus built on experience gained from the first major tank actions—Cambrai, Amiens, Villers- Bretonneux. In each of these seminal battles, tanks had achieved major breakthroughs and thoroughly disorganized the German defenses. But, just when victory seemed in reach, the offensives had, in each case, faltered. Tanks broke down, got lost, or fell victim to well-sited field guns. The artillery that would normally have neutralized the enemy guns and the flow of orders, supplies, and spare parts that would sustain and guide a conventional advance had been rapidly left behind in the mud of the shattered German defence lines. Poor communications and the inability of artillery to keep up were, by 1918, the main limiting factor on the success of tank offensives.
Fuller addressed these problems by suggesting a greater reliance on aircraft than had hitherto been the norm. Bombers would isolate the battlefield by disorganizing enemy communications, attacking headquarters, and bombing road junctions. Fighters would serve in lieu of field artillery during the advance. They would use their machine guns and 20-lb Cooper bombs to pin down antitank artillery, thus securing the fast and, hopefully, reliable medium tanks against their most dangerous enemy. Fighters would also strafe rolling stock, road transport, and assembling reinforcements in the rear. Most importantly of all, "contact patrol" aircraft would take over for the supply train and the field telephone network that the fast moving assault forces had left behind. These airplanes would locate friendly forces and front lines, pick up messages, and drop orders and supplies to temporarily isolated units.
One other element to the plan put forward by American officer Billy Mitchell was the introduction of a small parachute infantry force to assist in the capture of the Metz bridges ahead of the actual Allied crossing, so speed could be maintained in the advance.