The 64-page Fall 2026 issue of Armor magazine (the Mounted Maneuver Journal) is available online for free (read or download).
The cover article, “Indispensable Iron” by COL Bryan Bonnema, MAJ Aram Hatfield, and CSM Greg Swayer, describes the importance of the ABCT and cautions against the temptation to substitute lighter formation or standoff fires for the capabilities that the ABCT provides.
Enjoy!
3 April 1945.
Original Caption: “Dragon teeth on the Siegfried Line presented an obstacle to tanks of U. S. Seventh Army in the Wissembourg area, France. Note teeth extend to mountains which raise a natural barrier.”
Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-203387 Photographer: Sgt. Robert G. Heller.
Fast forward some 80 years, and the line has moved well East but still looks much the same, only a bit less angular and more…NATO.
OK, Ok it isn’t the size of a guided missile cruiser on wheels, but Rheinmetall has marked a key advance in modern loitering munition technology by successfully demonstrating the FV-014 loitering munition/kamizakee drone launching from a container while in motion.
Developed entirely in-house, the system was launched from a modular Containerized Missile Launcher at the National Test Centre in Cochstedt in July 2026. During the test, the loitering munition demonstrated its flexibility by launching from an 18-cell VLS HX truck both while stationary and while moving, then completing simulated attack flights.
For reference, the 66-pound FV-014 can pull off recon, target tracking, precise single or swarm attack scenarios with a range of about 60 miles before delivering its 13-pound HEDP warhead with a penetration capacity of more than 24 inches of rolled armor.
In other words, it is akin to a smart TOW missile with a whole lot longer range and without the need for guidance wires.
You know the old 40th Tank Battalion of WWII from this amazing period Kodachrome, showing the outfit’s M-4 Shermans lined up in a snow-covered field, near St. Vith, Belgium, just after the Battle of the Bulge.
M4 Shermans in temporary position near St. Vith, Belgium, fire on enemy positions beyond the city. 40th Tank Battalion. 7th Armored Division.” Date: 24 January 1945. Salis, U.S. Army Signal Corps photo 111-SC-199467
Constituted 13 January 1941 in the peacetime Regular Army, the 40th Armored Regiment soon became the 40th Tank Bn. It was attached to the 7th Armored Division for the duration of the European War, earning campaign streamers for Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland, the Ardennes (Alsace), and Central Europe.
In the process of refitting with water-kit-equipped Shermans (as the 40th Amphibian Tractor Battalion) for the Olympic Landings in Japan, VJ Day caught up to the unit, and they were disbanded in February 1946.
Cold War reactivation saw the unit attached to the 4th Infantry Division (1948 to 1957), one of the only armored units in Alaska, as part of the 171st Infantry Brigade (1957 to 1969), then part of the Fort Polk-based 5th Infantry Division from 1987 to 1997, when it cased its colors once again.
Stood back up in 2005 as the 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment (Airborne) at Fort Richardson, Alaska; it has been part of the 25th Infantry Division and then the 11th Airborne Division in the past 21 years, with breaks to earn four campaign streamers in Afghanistan and two in Iraq over that period.
U.S. Army Soldiers walk through a stream during a patrol near Sar Howza, Paktika province, Afghanistan, Sept. 2, 2009. The Soldiers are deployed with Bulldog Troop, 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment. Photo by Staff Sgt. Andrew Smith
Since 2005, 1-40 CAV’s unit insignia, a t-rex holding a charged sword, earned it the nickname “Reptar.”
The troopers of the 40th earned their unique silver spurs, which included airborne wings and the 25th ID’s “electric acorn” patch, during the multi-day Denali Spur Ride rite of passage.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Alejandro Peña)
During this most recent stage of 1-40’s life, it became the last ground (not Air) cavalry squadron in the Regular Army and the final cavalry unit to be airborne-certified.
I say this because, last Friday, 1-40 CAV conducted its final airborne operation into Malemute Drop Zone, taking that “leap of faith” from C-17As of the 535th Airlift Squadron.
The same day, 1-40 CAV reflagged as the 1st Battalion, 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, “restoring one of the Army’s most distinguished airborne lineages to active service as part of the Army’s ongoing transformation efforts.”
The old 511th, formed in 1943, was one of the 11th’s regiments during WWII and is best known for its combat jump onto Tagaytay Ridge and its role in the Raid at Los Baños, where paratroopers helped liberate more than 2,100 civilian internees from a Japanese prison camp. The unit had such a reputation for being on hopeless “behind the 8-ball” missions that they even added it to their patch
General Kruger Discussing Plans For A Paratroop Drop With Officers Of The 11Th Airborne Division, 511Th Parachute Infantry Regiment. 4:30 a.m., 23 June 1945, at Lipa Airstrip, Luzon, In The Philippine Islands. (U.S. Air Force Number A60741AC)
During the war, the regiment earned two Medals of Honor, nine Distinguished Service Crosses, 326 Silver Stars, 1,126 Bronze Stars and 884 Purple Hearts before serving in the occupation of Japan. The regiment was inactivated in 1957.
So, out with one storied lineage in for another.
Welcome back 511th!
One of the most aggressively American images I have seen in a long time.
It is beautiful.
Official caption: “U.S. National Guardsmen join service members from Croatia and nine other countries for Combat Power in Slunj, Croatia, June 27, 2026. The exercise was designed to bring partners together to conduct joint operations in land, air and sea domains.”
U.S. Army Photo 260627-Z-DY230-9221 by Army Staff Sgt. Mahsima Alkamooneh
Of note, elements of the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 136th Infantry Regiment, of the Minnesota Army National Guard, are currently in Croatia, showing how to sport around in the 62 refurbished M2A2 Bradley IFVs which were transferred to the country’s Army starting in late 2024 to modernize its forces. Minnesota and Croatia have been united through the National Guard Bureau’s State Partnership Program for 30 years.
The 2-136 IN (CAB) is part of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 34th “Red Bull” Infantry Division, and their motto is “REX MONTIS” or “King of the Hill,” which tracks.
The 67-page Summer 2026 edition (Volume CXXXVIII, No II) of Armor Magazine: The Mounted Maneuver Journal, is online for free download.
TOC:
Link here.
Enjoy!
Some 90 years ago today.
Fort Riley, Kansas, 29 June 1936.
The 13th U.S. Cavalry Regiment is seen returning to garrison from its last march as a horse cavalry outfit before shipping off their mounts, trading horse shoes and oats for tires and tracks. The regiment’s colonel at the time was Charles “Lutie” Lewis Scott (USMA 1905), a noted horseman, prominent in the Cavalry Branch as a across an array of organized horse shows, polo matches, fox hunting, and endurance races.
Note, they are outfitted in marching order, complete with gun belts and M1911s. U.S. Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-108064, National Archives Identifier 523751061
The 13th Cavalry Regiment was first constituted on Groundhog’s Day 1901 with its first unit, Troop K, standing up at Fort Meade, South Dakota, on 26 July of the same year.
Spending much of its early years in the Philippines on counter-insurgency operations, the 13th Horse then shifted gears to police the border with Mexico from 1911 through 1916, which included pursuing Mexican outlaw Pascual Orozco.
With about 350 men (four Troops and the MG Troop) already stationed at “Cavalry Camp” in Columbus, New Mexico, they were on hand to repulse Pancho Villa’s raid on the border town that left the unit with 14 casualties versus 100~ suffered by the Villaristas in a 90-minute firefight, which led to Blackjack Pershing’s Punitive Expedition to chase old Panch into the Chihuahua desert.
Mexican Punitive Expedition, 13th Cavalry marching out of El Valle, 1916 111-SC-93333
Retiring from the border in 1921 after missing out on going “Over There,” with the rest of the Doughboys to France in the Great War, the horse soldiers helped film several early western movies, including “The Pony Express” in 1925 and “His First Command” in 1929.
They also notably conducted a 625-mile march from Fort D.A. Russell (now Francis E. Warren AFB, west of Cheyanne, Wyoming) to Fort Riley in good order over 30 days, carrying all their own supplies and bivouacking in the field long before there were interstates and rest stops.
13th Cavalry marched 625 miles to Fort Riley, Summer 1927 111-SC-91997
The regulars of the 13th started to receive their first trucks and motorcycles in 1927, in the slow decade-long transition to becoming a mechanized unit.
Leaving Ft Riley, they were assigned to the 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mechanized) at Fort Knox and began to receive the brand-new M1 Combat Car in 1937.
13th Cavalry M1 Combat Car operating cross-country. Fort Knox, Kentucky. August 1938 111-SC-108927
Thompson submachine gun mounted on a Harley flathead motorcycle of the HHC Troop, 13th Cavalry Regiment, August 1938, at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Note the early round “Old Ironsides” sleeve patch and the riding boots. 111-SC-108934
By 1940, re-badged as the 13th Armored Regiment (Light), they had an allowance for 82 M3 Scout Cars and 136 M3 Stuart Light Tanks, tasked with armored recon, and would soon be receiving M3 (Lee) medium tanks.
Shipping out with the “Old Ironsides” of the 1st Armored Division, the 13th landed in North Africa for Torch in November 1942, went on to lock horns and learn from the Afrika Korps the hard way in Tunisia. They saw their first major combat since 1916 at the Battle of Kasserine Pass, which was one tough proving ground for American armor.
M3 medium tank crew from Company F, 13th Armored Regiment, displays assorted 75mm ammunition. North Africa, 1942-43. Rounds from left to right are 75mm APCBC-HE-Ta shell M61, 75mm AP-T shot M72, and 75mm HE shell M48. Signal Corps 167328 via NARA.
The unit then traded its M3 Stuarts for M5s and M3 Lees for M4 Shermans to land in Europe for the invasion of Italy in November 1943. They pushed all the way up the Italian “boot,” ending the war nearly at the Swiss border, and earned seven battle streamers: Algeria-French Morocco (with arrowhead), Tunisia, Naples-Foggia, Anzio, Rome-Arno, North Apennines, and Po Valley.
Then came occupation duty as the 13th Constabulary Squadron (which ironically included some horses), Cold War reorganization, activation, and inactivation until the 1st Battalion, 13th Armor (1-13 Armor), was stood back up on 16 February 1996 at Fort Riley, Kansas, and assigned once again to the 1st Armored Division. Of note, it had been nearly 60 years on the nose since the unit had hung up its horses at that very base to switch to tracks.
Since then, they have been overseas again to South Korea, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and today the only active Squadron, 2-13 Armor, is the armored recon unit for Old Ironsides’ 3rd Brigade, and is based at Fort Bliss. They ride Bradleys and Abrams.
Their motto is “It Shall Be Done,” and they are still nicknamed the 13th Horse.
Some 85 years ago today.
How about these great shots of an Australian-manned Vickers Light Tank Mk VIB in Syria, 11 June 1941, dressed in British Caunter camo, a staple of the Desert Campaigns.
Photo by James Jarche, Australian 6th Division, Cavalry Regiment, IWM E 3154E
Photo by James Jarche, Australian 6th Division, Cavalry Regiment, IWM E 3149E
Created by Colonel John “Blood” Caunter of the 4th Armoured Brigade during its Desert Rats period, the pattern was essentially an arid/desert take on the “dazzle” camouflage created by British artist Norman Wilkinson in 1917 for ships. Caunter-flauge was typically used from July 1940 to October 1941
A13 Cruiser Mk IVA tank being checked over shortly after arrival in Egypt, 1 November 1940. Note ‘Caunter’ camouflage and pith (Foreign Service) helmet on the fender. No. 1 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit IWM (E 1004)
As a sidenote, Somerset-born Caunter was a Sandhurst man who was captured by the Germans near Ypres in 1914, then released himself on his own recognizance, arriving back in England via the Netherlands still clad in his POW uniform before wrapping up his Great War service on the Salonika front.
Finishing his career in the CBI against the Japanese, he later became a noted shark angler in his retirement, which figures.
Brigadier John Alan Lyde Caunter, CBE, MC & Bar, passed away in 1981, aged 91.
Lucky Number Three! Belgium. 12 January, 1945. 42nd Tank Battalion, 11th Armored Division. They keep their fingers crossed as this is their third tank since the 29th of December. The other two were shot out from under them, but they sustained no injuries. Left to right: Cpl. Cecil M. Lindsey, Springfield, Mo.; Cpl. Walter P. Waymer, Seymour, Conn.; Capt. John Megglesin, Aurora, Ill., all of the 42nd Tank Battalion, 11th Armored Division. Photographer: MacDonald. SC 335399.
23 April represents the observed 1,723rd anniversary of the execution in Nicomedia (modern-day İzmit, Turkey) of Nestor of Cappodocia, a Roman Army officer, punished by the Emperor Diocletian for not renouncing his religious faith.
He came to be known as “Saint George” by the Catholic Church. Over the years, legends grew that he appeared on horseback to save a village by slaying a Dragon.
Saint George Killing the Dragon, 1434, Bernat Martorell
Centuries later, Saint George has become the patron saint of many, including England.
But most importantly for the U.S. Army Armor Branch, Saint George is the only saint depicted fighting on horseback and thus is the patron saint of Cavalrymen and now modern Tankers and Cavalry Scouts.
The U.S. Cavalry and Armor Association honors old Nestor through the Honorable Order of Saint George, which, established in 1986, recognizes exceptional Tankers and Cavalrymen.
If you are a fan of U.S. military arms, especially of the 20th Century, you are well aware of Mr. Bruce Canfield.
The March American Rifleman has an article penned by Bruce on the Short Life of America’s Anti-Tank Rifles. Of note, he includes the early Browning .50-caliber AT variant, the Winchester Model 1918 .50-caliber High Power Bolt Action Swivel Gun, and the T1E1, a .60-caliber experimental design tested at Aberdeen Proving Ground in October 1942.
More here.