{{Short description|Former United States military unit}} The '''Experimental Motorized Force'''s were [[United States Army]] units formed to use post-[[World War I]] military transportation tactics.
The first of these units was assembled on July 1, 1928, at [[Fort Meade]] (at the time known as "Fort Leonard Wood") near Baltimore, Maryland, and deployed on July 17 for [[United States Department of War]] officers. It formed a {{Convert|42|mi|km|abbr=on}} convoy {{Convert|8|mi|km|abbr=on}} long with 240 vehicles and 1,100 men to [[Upper Marlboro, Maryland]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 14, 1928 |title=Motorized Army Force to Parade on Tuesday |location=[[Joplin, Missouri]] |newspaper=Joplin Globe }}</ref> Subsequent convoys from the Fort included one {{Convert|6|mi|km|abbr=on}}<ref name=TheSun>{{Cite news |title= Mechanized Army is at Gettysburg |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1830236532.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Aug+01%2C+1928&author=&pub=The+Sun+(1837-1985)&desc=MECHANIZED+ARMY+IS+AT+GETTYSBURG&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108005957/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1830236532.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Aug+01,+1928&author=&pub=The+Sun+(1837-1985)&desc=MECHANIZED+ARMY+IS+AT+GETTYSBURG&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 8, 2012 |location=[[Baltimore, Maryland]] |publisher=The Baltimore Sun |date=Aug 1, 1928}}</ref> long that [[Gettysburg Battlefield camps after the American Civil War|camped on the Gettysburg Battlefield]] on July 31;<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 31, 1928 |title=Motorized Army Arrives Here on Training March |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V9MlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=F_gFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5091,5715531&dq=leonard-wood+gettysburg+mechanized&hl=en |newspaper=[[Gettysburg Times]] |access-date=2011-08-25 |quote=We are trying to make 1918 equipment stand up in 1928}}</ref> one with 300 men and 96 vehicles to [[Tobyhanna Army Depot#History|Tobyhanna Artillery Range]] via [[Pottstown, Pennsylvania]], on August 14, and another to Gettysburg on October 11.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gdg.org/Research/Authored%20Items/BCRReports/1929.html |title=Annual Report to Quartermaster General |work=War Department National Military Park Gettysburg, Pa. |date=September 18, 1929}}</ref>
The Experimental Motorized Force to Tobyhanna included a [[Hybrid electric vehicle|gasoline-electric bus]], 1,050 men, and 45 officers<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Z7YhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OJ0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=3138,2611566&dq=fort-leonard-wood+maryland&hl=en "Army Division passes over Berks Roads"] ''Reading Eagle''</ref> with "the first armored troop (cavalry); one rifle company of infantry; one machine gun company of infantry; one battery of field artillery and detachments of engineers, ordnance, and signal troops. They will be in light armored cars, trucks, passenger cars, cross-country cars, and light tank trucks. On its way north the armored car units will engage in a tactical reconnaissance, splitting into four sections and reconnoitering to the front and flanks of the column along different routes."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 14, 1928 |title=Motorized Forces of Army to Try Long Trip |location=Bradford, Pennsylvania |newspaper=Bradford Era |quote=Col. Oliver S. Eskridge, commanding the force, plans to give the motorized units a thorough try-out on the trip to test the convoy for speed, stamina, and control over distance. It is expected to maintain an average speed of 15 miles an hour. The trip northward will be made in two days with a stop-over Tuesday night at the Pottstown, Pa., racetrack. An endeavor will be made to make the return trip of 205 miles in one day. The force will move in two sections so as not to interfere with normal traffic on the highways.}}</ref>
The majority of the Experimental Motorized Force vehicles were obsolete,<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 16, 1928 |title=Defense Fund Declared Low |url=http://www.newspaperarchive.com/SiteMap/FreePdfPreview.aspx?img=100941240 |newspaper=Salt Lake Tribune; Newspaper Archive |format=pdf |access-date=2011-08-25 |quote=Column 3 page 3}}</ref> and the convoys were conducted nearly a decade after the [[Transcontinental Motor Convoy]]s of the [[United States Army Air Service|Air Service]] and the [[Motor Transport Corps]] such as the [[1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy]].
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
[[Category:Military logistics units and formations of the United States]]