Tanks by Murray Leinster

arts · EN-US

Tanks and the future of war is what Murray Leinster speculates about in this story. Written in the 1920's he observed the terrible new inventions that were used in World War I to kill people, armored tanks and poisoned gas and then tells us how war will be fought in the future. In this case the war will occur in 1932 and be between the US and the 'Yellow enemy'. It was published in the very first issue of Astounding Stories of Super Science, January 1930. It is science fiction in the sense that it guesses what the future will hold for man based on developing the technology that was coming into being at the time, the 1920's. He leads off with a 'quote' from a future historian " ... The deciding battle of the War of 1932 was the first in which the use of infantry was practically discontinued ... —History of the U.S., 1920-1945 (Gregg-Harley).