Fort George G. Meade: The First 100 Years

The Tank Destoyer Force
BETWEEN THE WARS
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In 1939 and 1940 the U.S. military studied the advances
made by both the German and Russian armies, and their
aggressive use of armor. Several members in the Army
Headquarters saw an immediate need to develop a force
to counter the anticipated armor threat.
As one solution, in 1940, Lt. Gen. Leslie McNair
authorized each infantry regiment an anti-tank company
but the change was not enough to provide adequate
countermeasures.
In April 1941, an anti-tank conference was hosted.
At the end of the conference, despite what all agreed
was a growing threat, all that was done was to suggest
the infantry branch continue to assess the issue until the
armor branch was operational.
Three days later, Gen. George Marshall weighed in,
recommending an anti-tank regiment for each division
and on June 24, 1941, each division was ordered to create
a regiment.
Fort Meade’s part in this was that one battalion of the
34th Infantry became the 93 rd Infantry (Anti-Tank). The
93rd, due to its proximity to Washington, D.C., would
become part of the Tank Destroyer Demonstration
Battalion (Provisional). The 93rd was used to test several
anti-tank vehicles and weapons systems. As such, the
93rd became the first battalion to be fully equipped
with the M-12 halftrack mounting a 75mm gun. When
the unit deployed to the Carolina Maneuvers in 1941, as
TA1, (Tank Attacker One) they were the first battalion
to be operationally complete with infantry, artillery and
reconnaissance elements. C Company, 70 th Tank Battalion
(Light) also a Fort Meade unit, TA1 acquitted themselves
well, attacking the 69 Armor’s bivouac area with their
M-12 halftracks causing the defenses of the tank unit to
disintegrate.
Over the course of the Carolina Maneuvers, the antitank
forces would account for the “killing” of several
hundred tanks, and pave the way for a new branch of
service. On Oct. 7, 1941, the decision to field the new
force was made. The term “anti-tank” was felt to be too
passive, so the new branch became The Tank Destroyers.
On Dec. 3, all anti-tank units were inactivated, to be
By James Speraw
reactivated on Dec. 15 as Tank Destroyer Forces. The
General Headquarters anti-tank units, of which the
93rd Anti-Tank Battalion was one, became the 893rd
Tank Destroyer Battalion. In 1941, the 893 rd continued
in the developmental role it had earlier, however, it was
transferred from Fort Meade, Maryland to the new Tank
Destroyer Tactical and Firing Center at Camp Hood,
Texas, to serve as the Tank Destroyer School.
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(Left) Members of the 893rd Tank Destroyer Battalion filling
downtime overseas while they wait for a road to be cleared.