Consciousness Transfer Science Fiction
“Tanks,” written by Murray Leinster, appeared in the first issue of Astounding Stories of Super-Science (January 1930). It truly helped establish what Astounding would become with its adventure-hard-sci-fi orientated stories. Significantly, “Tanks” was penned during the interwar period (1918-1939). At that time, military theorists were intensely debating the lessons of WWI and the future of warfare.
Plot Summary of "Tanks"
The story takes place during a future war fought entirely under an artificial fog that blankets the battlefield. Two irreverent American infantrymen—Sergeant Coffee and Corporal Wallis—stumble upon a mystery which could determine the outcome of a massive tank battle. When they discover that enemy listening posts across a two-mile front have been silently eliminated by a new type of gas, they are ordered to investigate the matter. The commanding general, meanwhile, orchestrates strategy from a high-tech mobile headquarters, desperately waiting for their report. The two soldiers manage to capture an enemy infiltrator. Their casual interrogation of this prisoner, conducted over shared cigarettes and complaints about military life, yields the critical intelligence. This information, in turn, allows the general to outmanoeuvre an enemy force twice the size of his own.
Themes of Military Science Fiction
This is one of the earliest examples of what would later become “military SF.” This fiction focuses on the conduct of future warfare, technological innovation in combat, and military culture and hierarchy. Writers such as Robert Heinlein (Starship Troopers) and Joe Haldeman (The Forever War) would go on to develop this popular subgenre. Predictably, Leinster takes existing technology and extrapolates forward in a relatively “hard” science fiction manner. These developments seem like plausible extensions of 1930s technology rather than fantastical inventions, which is clever.
Furthermore, much like later military fiction, the story focuses heavily on how things work. This includes communication protocols, command structures, and tactical analysis. It is genuinely interested in the mechanics of military operations.
Also, the story does not fetishise advanced technology. The critical intelligence comes from a face-to-face interrogation over cigarettes, from a personal memory of lunch in Vienna, and from human judgement. High-tech systems certainly deliver information, but human intelligence interprets it.
Military Bureaucracy
The story is fundamentally about information flow in hierarchical organisations, a topic relatively well explored in Military Sci-Fi. “Tanks” tracks how intelligence moves from ground level to high command and back down into action. It is a narrative about the mechanics of military communication as much as combat itself. When Coffee calls in, for example, they cut in Lieutenant Madison “to listen in on me and make sure I was who I said I was. He recognised my voice.” Information flows up through multiple levels—pill-box to sector HQ to front-line sector to G.H.Q.—with each level processing and forwarding.
The crisis begins when observation posts “broke off between words” and “ceased to communicate.” The nightmare is suddenly going blind and deaf. Happily, multiple communication methods like telephone, wireless, and ground buzzer sets, ensure some system survives enemy countermeasures.
Tank Doctrine Development and Advanced Tactics
Tanks had emerged in WWI (1916), but they were slow, unreliable, and of questionable value. By 1930, theorists like J.F.C. Fuller in Britain and Heinz Guderian in Germany were developing doctrines for fast, independent armoured warfare—what would become “blitzkrieg.” Tanks genuinely seemed to promise renewed mobility and manoeuvre, breaking the stalemate of trench warfare.
The enemy, for instance, “paralysed our radios.” However, the Americans swiftly switch to “tuned earth-induction wireless sets,” essentially describing both radio jamming and the vital backup communication systems that became crucial in WWII and beyond. The general’s mobile headquarters tank, with its illuminated manoeuvre-board, anticipates modern command centres. These have electronic displays, real-time position tracking, and networked communications.
The general’s strategy focuses on destroying enemy supplies and fuel rather than just defeating their combat forces. This demonstrates an understanding that modern, mechanised armies absolutely depend on supply lines. This concept later became central to WWII tank warfare. The story also envisions infantry transported in specialised vehicles, fighting from or near mechanised units.
The Prisoner: Humanising the Enemy
In almost all these stories, the enemies are often treated as barbarians or speakers of other languages. They conveniently know how to speak English when it suits the public, of course. Yet, here, the prisoner is simply a common ground. He’s a former waiter from New York who knows the same bars and people as Coffee. He isn’t alien or inhuman; he is a working-class chap who got called up for war, just like the Americans. All three soldiers—two Americans and one “Yellow Empire” soldier—complain about the same things: bad rations, being expendable, and tanks getting all the credit.
Author: Murray Leinster
Murray Leinster was the pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins (1896-1975), one of science fiction’s most prolific and influential writers. He published his first science fiction story in 1919 and his last in 1967. That’s a 48-year career spanning SF’s entire pulp and golden ages. People called Leinster “the Dean of Science Fiction” for his long career, consistent quality, and technical innovation. He mentored younger writers and helped establish SF’s conventions. Some of his notable works include: “Sidewise in Time,” “First Contact,” and “A Logic Named Joe.”
Leinster favoured clear prose, practical problem-solving, working-class protagonists, and relatively hard extrapolation. In “Tanks,” Leinster moves between intimate (Coffee and Wallis chatting), technical (descriptions of communication systems), strategic (the general’s planning), and action (the tank charge) registers. He skillfully varies the pace and perspective.
My Thoughts
“Tanks” is genuinely cool because Leinster understands that military fiction requires multiple registers to work well. The grunt-level narrative (Coffee and Wallis) provides humour, humanity, and ground-truth authenticity. The command-level narrative (the general) provides strategic overview and intellectual challenge. The technical descriptions provide verisimilitude and a real sense-of-wonder. Combining these elements creates a satisfying whole that works simultaneously as an adventure, an intellectual puzzle, and a character study.
Leinster could have easily shown us the tank battles in the fog, with monstrous machines ramming and blasting each other at point-blank range. He might have depicted the air battles overhead, or the enemy’s panic when they realise their supplies are destroyed. Instead, he focuses on the mundane: two soldiers chatting with a prisoner and a general studying a board. The climactic “action” is Coffee and Wallis simply standing still while tanks thunder past. This restraint brings the intellectual content to the foreground.
Published in the first issue of what would become SF’s most influential magazine, it helped establish the genre’s potential for sophisticated treatment of complex subjects. It is incredibly cool to see a story about dreadnought tanks, actually being about three characters chatting in the middle of it all. I don’t know, but I really like this approach; it’s well done and completely draws me in. Furthermore, the multiple viewpoints and timelines interweave to create dramatic irony and build palpable tension.
More Old Warfare Stories
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque was published in 1928; a film of the same name was released in 1930.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985) is a famous one in the subgenre.
MASH (1970): Depicts enlisted men and junior officers resenting higher command, finding humour in military absurdity, and performing essential work without recognition.
David Drake’s Hammer’s Slammers series: Focuses on mechanised armour (hovertanks) with realistic military culture and dark humour.
Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War (1974): Depicts alienated infantry soldiers fighting an incomprehensible war with communications breakdown. This novel was updated for Vietnam-era cynicism.
Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (1959): Features powered armour infantry feeling marginalised by the navy’s capital ships. It also focuses on military culture, training, and the grunt’s perspective.
Well, there are certainly a lot more!
Wrapping Up
Warfare is ultimately a human activity, regardless of the technology involved. The machines definitely matter, but victory goes to whoever better understands the psychology, logistics, and information dynamics. The fog may hide everything, but human intelligence—both analytical and personal—can pierce it. Those who do essential work are often unrecognised; those who make victory possible often don’t share the glory, and professional resentments persist even in success. Coffee and Wallis win the battle, but they cannot truly enjoy it. This is simultaneously funny, sad, and instantly recognisable.
“Tanks” offers both historical interest (an early military SF story from Astounding’s first issue) and continuing relevance because it is so well written. It represents a good approach to the theme. In the end, “Tanks” is about much more than just tanks. It is about information, uncertainty, class, recognition, technology, humanity, strategy, and psychology.
Other stories from Astounding Stories
More Works with warfare theme:
Another vintage pulp magazine:
Science Wonder Stories, Vol. 1, No. 2
Original Astounding Stories issues at the Internet Archive.
Disclaimer: The story featured on this page is in the public domain. However, the original authorship, magazine credits, and any associated illustrations remain the property of their respective creators, illustrators and publishers. This material is provided for informational and educational purposes only and may not be used for commercial sale.