US Mark VIII Tractor Caisson

[CharlieC]

Before the end of WW1 the US Army Ordnance Dept responded to criticisms of the Holt artillery tractors by specifying prototypes of a new type of vehicle - the Tractor Caisson - which could not only tow artillery pieces but also carry a useful quantity of ammunition and other stores. Holt produced two vehicles - the Mark VII based on the 5-ton Artillery Tractor and the Mark VIII based on the 10-ton Artillery Tractor. There is a modest amount of information on the Mark VII, which was standardised before the end of WW1, but hardly anything on the Mark VIII.

The performance and characteristics of the Mark VII Tractor Caisson were very similar to the French Schneider CD. The US Army imported a Schneider CD in September 1918 for trials. It's said that a small number of Mark VIIs were built after WW1 but never issued to units.

Does anyone have images of the Mark VIII or pointers to where images for this vehicle may be found? It's for a Landships II article.

Regards,

Charlie

[ROLAND1369]

try this url

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... 0910-1.jpg

[ROLAND1369]

Also try this publication.

THE FIELD ARTILLERY JOURNAL - SEPTEMBER - 1920

[CharlieC]

The image is of the Mark VII Tractor Caisson. I think the context is that the vehicle was being tested at Aberdeen in 1918.The Mark VIII was a longer vehicle and rather than having segmented track frames had a large single frame.