Tom Swift and His War Tank

Description

Tom Swift and His War Tank, by Victor Appleton, is subtitled Doing His Bit for Uncle Sam and indeed, volume number 21 in the Tom Swift series published in 1918 is about the young scientist’s contribution to his country’s military efforts as America is preparing to join World War I.

While the entire country is in turmoil because of the War, while young men are joining the army in masses, Tom Swift apparently lives an idle life. His laziness and inactivity is only a façade, though, for he is secretly working on an extraordinary invention, a war tank to be used on the battlefield. The project is so special and so secret that Tom doesn’t let anyone in on what he is working on, not even his closest friends, which makes everyone around him think he is lazy and raises serious doubts about his patriotism.

This novel by Appleton, just like all the other stories by him, focuses just as much on the story as it does on the scientific background of the invention at the center of the plot. The project Tom Swift is working on is the improvement of a British tank model that has been previously deployed in combat by the British. What Tom wants to achieve is higher speed and he also wants to develop a device that would allow the tank to move not only on the field, but across wide trenches as well. It is easy to imagine how much harm such an advanced war machine can do among the lines of the enemy, so the interest that German spies take in Tom’s project comes as no surprise. They first try to steal the prototype, but they cannot, so they resort themselves to kidnapping Tom himself.

This installment of the Tom Swift series is action-packed and well-written, just like the other Tom swift stories, but it is also a great period piece that provides great entertainment for those interested in history as well.
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