Armored vehicle

“ The railway mounts, designed for this particular purpose, were built and covered with armor plate by the Navy according to plans and designs prepared by its Ordnance Bureau, while the locomotives and the twelve cars for the operating forces of each gun, including berth and kitchen cars, armored ammunition cars, machine shop cars containing everything from a forge and anvil to a handsaw, crane and wireless cars, were all built and equipped especially for the purposes of these land batteries of naval guns. ”

“ Germany, France, and England vied with each other in devising armored motor cars equipped with guns of this type—the British using the makes of Vickers and Hotchkiss, and the French their favourite Creusot. The trucks are always armoured, the guns mounted in turrets so that the effect is not unlike that of a small battleship dashing madly down a country road and firing repeatedly at some object directly overhead. ”

“ Equipments in Use.—Practically all nations have abandoned the simple wheeled carriage for machine-guns, or rather have adopted the tripod or table mounting, reserving the wheeled vehicle for the mere transport of the equipment. ”

“ Protection, when necessary, is temporarily assigned to the unit, nearly always in the shape of armored motor cars. The trucks are heavily manned, having from three to six men per truck. Every man is armed with a rifle, but no other arms are carried as an integral part of the [Pg 340] unit. Such motor transport units are not often captured or destroyed since they seldom come in touch with anything but the enemy’s cavalry which, as a rule, prefers to leave them strictly alone, as a train of motor trucks has good defensive ability and none of the vulnerability of horse-drawn wagons. ”

“ In this, and in most cases, the improvised armoured car is merely an ordinary vehicle with some simple form of body covered over by armour plating, and with the more vital portions of its mechanism to some degree similarly protected. Thus, some protection is provided for the radiator and steering gear. The dash is covered by steel plating extending upwards to protect the driver, while the platform or body behind is protected by vertical or sloping steel plates. ”

“ One of these, used by the Germans, had a "barbette" top, which looked like the shell of a tortoise, fitted down over the chassis. Guns protruded from holes in the front, back and sides.
VALUE OF ARMORED CARS.
The armored cars have proved extremely valuable for scouting purposes. They can sneak through and complete scouting where mounted men would be detected, and besides, are better able to protect themselves against attack. The cars also possess the ability to speed away out of range of enemy detachments.
The army officer, too, has taken to the armored automobile, and put aside his horse. ”

“ In the rare cases when actions have taken place, motor trucks have become moving forts, which continue on their way at a rate of twenty or twenty-five miles an hour, while from each one three or four well-protected riflemen keep up a steady fire.
The type of automobile most desirable for army use has become well-defined. The practice in this regard is the same in the French, British, German, Austrian, and Hungarian armies. On a powerful chassis, with an engine of at least 50-horse-power, is mounted a very light body, of the “pony tonneau” type, with room for two men in front and two behind. ”

“ You cannot kill an automobile; and the armor laughs at the bullets from small caliber guns. The officers can, with the high-speed armored cars, travel from one end of a line to the other and in a few hours make surveys and complete observations which would take days were horses used.
Very few of the light-armored cars used by the officers are armed, the attache or aide of the officer carrying a rifle. Some of the armored cars used for scouting and by the officers have, in the case of Germany, been provided with sharp knives attached to the front of the machine. ”

“ Motor parts alone kept vehicles deadlined for extended periods of time, until similar vehicles could be cannibalized and a reduced number of trucks, armored cars, and tanks could again be put into operating condition. ”

“ Though hundreds of airplane photographs of the country behind the German trenches were brought in and minutely examined, there was nothing about them to suggest the hiding-place of a gun of so large a caliber until some one called attention to the deep ruts left by motor-trucks which had left the highway at a certain point and turned into the innocent-looking patch of woods. Why were the wheel-ruts shown on the plate so black? Because the vehicle must have sunk deep into the soft soil. ”

“ The endurance of the guns is a factor because it is difficult to get repairs for such great weapons on the field of battle.
At the outbreak the contending forces are said to have had 4,000 guns in the field artillery. Among the devices of interest identified with the artillery is the armored automobile, which has been described as the "cavalry" of motor driven artillery. The advent of the armored automobile in the war changed many features of campaigning and helped to revolutionize military methods. The armored automobile is an ordinary chassis with a body made of chilled steel. ”

“ No puffing engine hauls the train: the motor-power is at the rear. First and foremost is a platform car,—open, uncovered, but over its buffer glisten the barrels of the dreaded Gatling gun, and around the gun—can these be soldiers? ”

“ The rugged, irregular country, with its narrow roads, makes impracticable the use of trucks larger than three and one-half tons, and "trailers," largely employed by the French, German and Belgian armies, were found not satisfactory. What is described as the Isotta Fraschini heavy model armored artillery car of Italy is considered one of the most effective of the "motor forts" or "land cruisers" developed during the war. ”

“ Despite the armor and presence of the machine gun it was upholstered in unusual style, with cushions and padded sides in dark green leather. There were many little lockers and fittings not to be found often in a car intended for war. On a tiny silver plate under the driver's seat a coat of arms was engraved. John, who was the first to catch sight of it, exclaimed:
"This car belong to some duke or prince. Car- stairs, you're a subject and not a citizen, and you ought to be up on all kinds of nobility worship. ”

“ The armored car shown in this picture is the first of a new type of armored car to be constructed by the United States. It was designed under the direction of the Board of Engineers of the U. S. Army, and was constructed by the Standard Steel Car Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., at their Hammond, Ind., plant. The car was designed and built within twenty-seven days.
The Rapid Fire-Gun Here Shown is a Model of a Three-inch Field Gun Mounted upon a Special Carriage. The Well in which the Gun is Located may also be Used as a Fighting Top for Troops Armed with Rifles or Machine Guns. ”

“ The wheeled fort has a battery of four rapid fire guns and a revolving turret. Besides being full armored and turreted, the car has steel wheels of the disc type, and is as formidable in appearance as it has proven in practice. France has a type of the completely enclosed armored motorcar which affords its crew unobstructed view on all sides through lattice panels. ”

“ The board is of the opinion that, except as to perfection of details, the limit of carriage design, as expressed by the most modern type of box-trail and split-trail carriages, has been reached; and feels that with the advent of motor transportation the tendency will be toward a gun mounted on a self propelling carriage and expressing the desires of the field artillery with respect to maximum horizontal and vertical arcs of fire. ”

“ From railhead they are brought forward daily by the motor lorries of the divisional ammunition parks to a convenient re-filling point, where they are transhipped on to horsed ammunition carts for distribution in detail. With the troops entirely dependent [Pg 95] on the motor vehicle for the maintenance of their supplies both of food and of ammunition, there is no need to labour the enormous importance of mechanical transport in modern warfare, or the terrible consequences which would follow anything approaching a general failure in the reliability of the machines used. ”

“ It is reasonable to suppose that the near future will see considerable developments in the armoured motor car in two directions, namely, in the direction of the vehicle designed and constructed throughout for a specific purpose, and also in the direction of the lightly armoured fast touring car available for staff and scouting purposes. ”

“ Early History—The Industrial Motor—The Motor ’Bus and Motor Cab—Steam Lorries and Tractors—Petrol-Electric Vehicles—Daily Mileages and Fuel Consumption.
When we remember that the motor vehicle as we know it to-day is the result of a development not more than a quarter of a century old, its enormous influence upon the character of modern warfare must indeed be regarded as remarkable. Especially is this so in view of the fact that progress has not in the main been dictated by military considerations, but almost entirely by the requirements of private individuals and of peaceful trading concerns. ”

“ This car also has a revolving turret and carries a 5-centimeter rapid fire gun and possesses high speed.
All of the powers have armored automobiles, and in Germany, England and France the exigencies of conflict impelled the Governments to practically commandeer all of the automobiles in the countries for war purposes. Many of these cars were turned into armored cars of the lighter type, and the number of such automobiles in use runs far into the thousands. The United States has not made much fuss about it, but has had armored cars in the regular army for several years. ”

“ To a column of infantrymen, dusty, dejected, haggard, with rifles held indifferently on the shoulder, at the trail, or tucked under the arm, succeeded a procession of miscellaneous vehicles—ambulances, army-wagons, brick-carts, gigs, anything that would roll on wheels it seemed. Some of these vehicles were loaded high with goods whose nature was hidden by the bulging tarpaulins stretched tightly over them, but the majority held only men who sat up listlessly, swaying with every jolt of the vehicle, dull-eyed, mournful, and silent. ”

“ Then there are motor wagons, also full. Those going up contain ammunition, barbed wire, galvanized iron sheeting, engineering material, or rations. Those returning are heaped with salvage of every kind—furniture, the property of the refugees; battlefield dèbris, and, wherever an available chink presents itself, men—footsore men, stragglers, or regular working-parties. The latter are usually coloured, and, with steel helmets balanced at every angle upon their woolly pates, smile upon the seething activity beneath them with the simple enjoyment of a child at its first circus. ”

“ In the first place the truck carriage, a simple structure of resilient elm, with bed, cheek-plates, and trunnions strongly fitted together and secured by iron bolts, was better adapted than any other form for the prevention of excessive stresses, resulting from the shock of recoil, on either gun or ship’s structure. ”

“ Passenger cars for the transportation of personnel, four wheel drive trucks with caterpillar tractors for the transportation of the materiel, and the development of self-propelling mounts for the 75 and 155 rifles are the latest and the most important developments in field artillery materiel. ”

“ THE TRUCK CARRIAGE From the small truck, trochos, or wheel on which it ran, the four-wheeled carriage which served for centuries as a mounting for the long guns of fighting ships has come to be known as a truck carriage: the gun, with trunnions cast upon it, as a truck gun.
Artillery being from the first an affair common, in almost all respects, to land and to sea service, and being applied to ships as the result of its prior development on land, it would be expected that naval practice should in its evolution follow in the wake of that on land. ”

“ In the morning we made slow progress in our automobile. Roads and fields were greenish grey with troops—a vast horde of them possessed the [pg 28] valleys; they enveloped the hills like fog-banks turning the whole world grey—infantry, artillery, cuirassiers, Uhlans, hussars—all mist colour from helmet to heel—and so are their waggons and guns and caissons and traction-engines and motor-cycles and armoured cars and aeroplanes. ”

“ There were half a dozen artillery ammunition waggons, a few infantry transport carts, several Army Service Corps vehicles. All of them were moving at a trot, the waggons rumbling and lumbering heavily and noisily over the cobblestones, the drivers stooped forward and peering out anxiously to pick a way between the obstacles in their path. ”

“ Guns and munition wagons are moving along a cross-road. The backs of the horses shine in the moonlight, their movements are beautiful, they toss their heads, and their eyes gleam. The guns and the wagons float before the dim background of the moonlit landscape, the riders in their steel helmets resemble knights of a forgotten time; it is strangely beautiful and arresting.
We push on to the pioneer dump. Some of us load our shoulders with pointed and twisted iron stakes; others thrust smooth iron rods through rolls of wire and go off with them. ”

“ The motor-ambulances move here, there and everywhere over the clayey fields, where the wheels of the ammunition wagons have drawn mighty furrows, like those that peaceful toil once made here. One hardly sees the faces of these men. ”

“ While everyone was aware that the heavy motor would play a very important part in the great war in connection with the transport of supplies and artillery, and that touring cars would be largely used for staff purposes, the enormous extent to which the armoured car has been employed has probably come as something of a surprise. ”