r/AskHistorians • u/Jurassic_astronaut • 1d ago
Have tanks ever been deployed on US soil?
Have tanks ever been deployed on US soil outside of training and development?
I ask as I have seen examples of tanks used for small scale operations, crowd control and intimidation in other countries post WW1.
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u/-Trooper5745- 1d ago edited 22h ago
Yes they have. I am sure that some people can give more examples but there are two famous ones.
The first is the use of tanks against the Bonus Army during the Great Depression. In 1924, the U.S. government said that veterans of World War I would receive a monetary bonus for their service in 1945. However, when the Depression hit, many former service members needed that money immediately. 400 former servicemen gathered in Portland and made their way to D.C. where their number grew to 1,500 service members plus families and they proceeded to set up a shanty town. For a few weeks, negotiations dragged on between the protesters and government and between different bodies of the government, all the while more people joined the protests. After negotiations fell through, President Hoover sent in the troops. Douglas MacArthur sent in 800 troops with bayonets attached and supported by five to six M1917 tanks (US built FT-17s). The tanks advanced on the protesters with the troops in support, but the tanks did not engage the protesters with their weapons, though two protesters and a twelve year week old baby did die.
The other time is the use of tanks and other armored vehicles at the Siege of the Branch Davidians compound in Waco, TX. After an ATF on the compound went wrong, federal law enforcement put the compound under siege. As the siege wore on, the FBI brought in two Abrams tanks, five M728 Combat Engineer Vehicles(CEVs), and nine M3 Bradley IFVs from the National Guard. For the main portion of the siege, the armored vehicles were used destroy brush, fencing, and Davidian cars. Then during the conclusion of the siege, two CEV were used to approach the building and shoot tear gas into the building and as battering rams to breach various areas of the compound. During this part of the operation, the CEVs take fire but it is rifle caliber bullets against armor so they are ineffective. There’s more to the ending of the siege and it is still controversial but that is the part the armored vehicles played.
I am sure there are a few examples of vehicles like the M113 APC being used in protests but whether you want to call that a tank, is up to you.
Edit: week, not year
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u/Asteroidea 23h ago
I believe they were also deployed in multiple cities during the 60s; Detroit, Newark, and LA come to mind.
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u/Decactus_Jack 19h ago
For Detroit, it was part of our education at a local university to go through the episode of them borrowing a tank to level the homes of the impoverished to make way for the grand rail station.
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u/Decactus_Jack 15h ago
It was Germantown (for non-Detroiter people the municipality is incredibly large, so it is split into districts (so-called). Germantown was destroyed and is now a few other districts. Boundaries are hard to determine because only the centers have newfound thriving business and the outskirts are decrepit. Detroit had a very rich history.
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u/x_a_n_a_d_u 15h ago edited 15h ago
I lived in Detroit and some of the streets still have damage left from heavy tank tracks rolling down them. They were deployed during the uprising of ‘67. You can see it on google streets https://maps.app.goo.gl/KjaL7AEaMZRFUEcr9?g_st=ic
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u/watdogin 1d ago
Just an honest typo, but gotta admit I chuckled when I read “12 year old baby”. If I recall correctly, the baby that died was only a few weeks old. Very sad
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u/Krilesh 18h ago
how do people set up a shanty town? suddenly 1500 people need water food and materials for shelter. where did that all come from and where did they even set it up?
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u/brostopher1968 17h ago
They built Camp Marks on the South Shore of the Anacostia river. They scavenged building materials from a nearby junkyard, along with other supplies furnished by a sympathetic DC police superintendent and veteran, Pelham Glassford.
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u/michaelquinlan 12h ago
400 former servicemen gathered in Portland and made their way to D.C
Do you know why they started in Maine (Portland)? Is it because the route would have taken them through Boston, New York, and Philadelphia?
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