Upload
moulin-kubis
View
271
Download
6
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
1/58
12 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
LEFT...
Photographed in a London
Mews we see a line-up of
Brish Peerless trucks that
had been handed over to
the recently arrived
American forces. US
markings are just visible
on the bonnet.
RIGHT...
Photographed in Belgium
this Peerless truck was made
in Cleveland Ohio, purchased
by the Brish who loaned it
to the Australians!
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
2/58
NOVEMBER 2014MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL 13
An arms race raged across
Europe in the years running up
to 1914 as the prospect of war
seemed inevitable and every
country readied itself for the ancipated
conflict. Having beer weapons than
your opponent was an advantage, but the
speed of mobilisaon was considered to
be absolutely crucial, and it was thought
that the country that could put an
organised army into the field before its
opponent would quickly win the war. At
the me the railways, supported by horse-
drawn wagons and steam tracon engines,
were considered to be the most effecve
way of moving the large amounts of
equipment and ammunion that would be
necessary for a European War, however,
this line of thinking changed shortly aer
1896 when Golieb Daimler designed
the first truck powered by an internal
combuson engine.
SUBVENTION SCHEMESThe German military experimented
with the Daimler truck in 1898 and
quickly realised its potenal. Aer
purchasing cars, motorcycles and trucks
for further tests, the military were
suitably enamoured with the idea of
mechanized transport, and in 1907 theyintroduced a subvenon scheme. Under
this scheme purchasers of a truck of
an approved design would receive an
inial cash subsidy on purchase followed
by a payment (if the vehicle had been
maintained in a sasfactory condion) at
the end of each year on the understanding
that they would hand it over to the Army
in me of naonal emergency. This gave
the army a large pool of well-maintained
trucks to draw upon in the event of war
without having to pay for them in advance,
and similar schemes were quickly adopted
by Austria and France, with the Brish WarOffi ce following suit in 1911.
When war broke out in 1914 the
subsidised vehicles were immediately
called up, but it was soon found that the
subvenon schemes had not provided the
volume of mechanical transport required,
and while the schemes were sound in
their operaon, they had simply not
been running long enough to register the
number of vehicles required so addional
trucks were sought from every other
available source.
Civilian vehicles were impressed,
domesc manufacture was stepped up
and vehicles were purchased from other
countries with surplus capacity. Belgium
and Russia had no established truck
industry to call upon so purchased trucks
from Britain, France and the United States
and by the wars end Britain had supplied
to Belgium 816 trucks, 352 cars and vans,
2,020 motorcycles and 22,861 bicycles.
Meanwhile Britain had supplied 1,126
trucks (mostly manufactured by AEC,
Ausn, Burford and Napier) while the
United States had provided predominantly
Garford, Locomobile, Packard and White
trucks to Russia. Britain went on to supply
vehicles to Italy, Rumania and France with
the largest number going to the United
States who received more from Britain
than had been supplied to all of the otherallied naons put together.
The end result was that the allies had
an incredibly diverse mixture of trucks,
which must have made their maintenance
very diffi cult. This arcle certainly could
not cover every single make of vehicle
used by the allies, but seeks to give an
insight into the most common types and
demonstrates how the allied naons
supplied trucks to each other, however,
further informaon on this subject and
a much more detailed account can be
found in the book Brish Military Trucks
of World War One that was recentlypublished by Tankograd Publicaons.
RIGHT...
Photographed
in Belgium
this Peerless
truck was
made in
Cleveland
Ohio,
purchased
by the Brish
who loaned
it to the
Australians!
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
3/58
14 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
AECThe Associated Equipment
Company (AEC) was set up in
June 1912 by Londons largest
bus operator the London
General Omnibus Company
(LGOC) to build and repair
their London buses. In March
1915 the first Y Type truck
le the factory, but due to a
complicated agreement with
the rival bus builder Daimler,
the AEC built chassis were
fied with Daimler engines and
badged as Daimlers up unl
December 1917. Aer this date
they were fied with 7720cc
JB4 engines manufactured
by Tyler. By the wars end
6,334 AEC Y Types had been
supplied, a large number of
which went to the American
Expedionary Force such as this
convoy of mail trucks.
ALBIONEstablished in Glasgow in 1899 Albion trucks were chain drive,
that is power was transmied to the back wheels by chains
running from shas on each side of the gearbox to sprockets
on the inside of the rear wheels. This was not a preferred
system within the subsidy scheme and for which accreditaon
was not applied. Despite this, the War Department placed
large orders for this Model A10 and by the wars end 5,563
had been purchased. Other Albion models, the A3 and A6
also served having been impressed in small numbers from
private operators.
BELSIZEIn the early stages of the war it was quite common to see trucks painted
with patrioc slogans such as the Are we downhearted no and the This
way to Berlin slogan, which appears on this Belsize. The Manchester-based
Belsize Motors built a range of cars and trucks from 1897 up unl 1925
when it closed its doors for the final me. Belsize did not build trucks underthe subsidy scheme but they were purchased by the War Department to
help alleviate the shortage of mechanical transportaon. Although some
went to serve on the Western front the majority seem to have been used
for driver training in Great Britain.
GREAT BRITAIN & DOMINIONS
The Brish Army had the record for having
the largest number of trucks in service
by the wars end. Starng the war with
just 80 trucks, Great Britain finished
the conflict with 59,940. The subvenon or
subsidy scheme was very successful in selecng
trucks suitable for the military, however, by the
me the war started just 700 trucks had been
registered under the scheme. This number was
augmented by the Government taking control of
the motor industry, impressing trucks (and many
hundreds of London buses), and by purchasing
trucks from overseas, most notably the USA, but
also Switzerland and Italy.
The South African and ANZAC forces had
very lile mechanical transport of their own to
draw upon when they went to war and had to
rely on those loaned by their allies. The Brish
War Offi ce were allegedly not very generous
and provided trucks that had seen beer
days and were already in poor condion. The
ANZACs received trucks predominantly made by
Thornycro, Dennis, Lacre, Commer, Leyland,
Peerless and FWD.
Canada, with its proximity to the United
States predominantly purchased American-
built trucks such as Kelly Springfield, Peerless,
Packard and White. In addion to these the
Brish War Offi ce transferred large numbers
of trucks already in Brish service such as
Daimler, Seabrook Standard, Thornycro,
Halley, Locomobile, Leyland and Commer to
the Canadian forces.
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
4/58
NOVEMBER 2014MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL 15
COMMERThe Luton-based Company of Commer Car produced a wide range of
different truck models most of which were impressed into service at some
stage through the war. The 3-ton RC model (such as this one) was found to
be parcularly suitable and despite being chain driven, the War Department
purchased in the region of 2,500 of them. The War Department was not
parcularly enamoured with the idea of chain drive as they felt them to be
too noisy and required regular cleaning. To overcome this problem Commer
enclosed the chain in a metal case, which protected it from flying dirt and
reduced noise levels very slightly. Commer, despite sll using chain drive, was
well ahead of its me by adopng a pre-selector gearbox, which necessitated
new drivers taking a special course to become proficient in its operaon.
CROSSLEYThe 4,531 cc engine in this Crossley gave it a top speed of 55mph,
which compared favourably to most other Brish army trucks at
this me, which had a top speed of just 15mph. The Manchester-
based Crossley Motors Ltd supplied approximately 6,000 of these
20/25hp chassis to the War Offi ce of which the majority went tothe Royal Flying Corps (RFC) who fied them with a body of their
own design and referred to them as Light Tenders. The Crossley
also made a handsome staff car of which two were assigned to
each RFC Squadron.
DENNISGuildford-based Dennis
manufactured approximately
3,500 of these 3-ton A Type
trucks under the subsidy
scheme and is now the
only surviving Brish truck
manufacturer from the
Great War, which sll makes
commercial vehicles today.
Fied with a 49.6bhp engine
manufactured by White and Poppe of Coventry, the Dennis had a good
reputaon for reliability with the excepon of the chassis which had a
habit of cracking, but this was more likely a result of the poor roads of
the Western Front when combined with the soldiers habit of overloading.
Also well known for producing the N Type fire engine, both this and the
A Type were used by Brish and American forces throughout the war.
HALLFORDHallford trucks
qualified for
treatment under the
War Department
subsidy scheme
and by the wars
end nearly 2,000
were in military
service. Readers
will note a similarity
with several other
trucks in this arcle, most notably the bonnet and radiator of the PierceArrow and that it is chain drive with the chains being protected from dirt
by the large cases inside the rear wheels. The radiator is protected from
accidental damage by the large metal plates each side which hold a heavy
metal bar in front of it.
HALLEYThe Glasgow-based
Halley Industrial Motors
is a name that most
readers would not be
familiar with, but in 1914
it was one of the ten
largest Brish vehicle
manufacturers. Halley
produced a wide range
of commercial vehicles and in 1914 the Government took over the control
of producon making the Company direct its efforts to building the Model
B35 (as seen here) and the producon of arllery shells. The Halley was
predominantly used on the home front for driver training purposes and to
assist in essenal war related industries such as munions producon.
DAIMLERDaimler trucks served on both sides of the trenches throughout
the war. Inially established in Germany by Goleib Daimler, the
patent for a two-cylinder engine was sold to a Frederick Simms
who established the Daimler Motor Car Company Ltd in Coventry
in 1896. No further relaonship existed between the companies.
The Brish Daimler started building luxury cars, but soon turned
its hand to buses and commercial vehicles. When war broke
out Daimler directed their services to the war effort. The MET
bus Company had 70 D Type buses commandeered and takento Belgium, which was followed by a further 247 most of which
were converted to trucks. A range of other models was to follow
including 2,507 3-ton Y Types (such as this one), nearly 2,000 of
the 30cwt CB model as well as ambulances and staff cars.
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
5/58
16 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
LEYLANDNearly 6,500
Leyland trucks
served with the
Brish forcesduring World
War One. The
majority of these
were the WO
Subsidy Class
A Type 5000,
also known aer
the end of the
war as the RAF
Leyland. The
Company was formed in 1896 to make steam wagons and was originally
known as the Lancashire Steam Motor Company and made their first
petrol-powered truck in 1904 changing the name to Leyland Motors
three years later. Leyland supplied some of the earliest motor truckspurchased by the War Offi ce and in 1913 the newly designed A Type
Leyland was accepted under the subsidy scheme. In 1914 the subsidised
Leylands were called up into service alongside many impressed civilian
Leylands trucks.
KARRIERKarrier is another once famous Brish name that disappeared
in the early 1970s. Throughout the war Karrier provided nearly
2,000 of their trucks for military service, the majority being like
this, the three ton WDS Model subsidy lorry. At the start of the
war many of the cab over engine A Type and more convenonal
appearance B Type Karriers were impressed into military
service with most of these sll in service at the wars end. Like
several other Brish trucks the WDS Karrier was fied with an
engine manufactured by Tylor.
LGOCThe London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) was formed in 1855 to
operate the London bus routes. The LGOC inially used horsepower, but
from 1904 purchased a variety of motor buses before building their own
X Type in 1909 followed by the famous B Type in 1910. In October 1914
300 B Type buses were taken to France to be used for carrying troops,
although on landing many had their bus body removed and were fied
with a general service type body such as this one. By the wars end 1,319
B Types had gone to France with a further 300 staying in Britain. Many of
those that had gone overseas were sold back to the LGOC who refurbished
them and put them back on the streets of London.
MAUDSLAYThe Coventry based motor manufacturer of Maudslay designed a
3-ton truck to meet the specificaons of the subsidy scheme but
it broke down on both occasions that it was being tested. Despite
this setback it was accepted under the scheme with some of the
producon ulmately being contracted to the Meteor works of the
Rover Company also based in Coventry.
NAPIEROne of the most important Brish precision engineering companies
at this me was Napier. In the run up to the war they had developed
a reputaon for building engines, luxury cars and a range of
commercial vehicles. It is not surprising therefore that they receivedorders for the construcon of aero engines and commercial vehicles
in the 3 -ton, 1 -ton and - ton range. By the end of the war Napier
had manufactured for the War Department in the region of 2,000
trucks. This picture shows a line up of 3 -ton Model B74 trucks.
LACREThe Lacre Motor Car
Company was named
aer the locaon of its
London factory (Long
Acre). Formed in 1902 to
build cars and light vans
they started making a
range of trucks from 1909
and in 1914 producon
was taken over by the
War Department. Lacre
produced approximately
100 of these 35hp
O Types which were
used by the War
Department, Royal
Flying Corps and the
Royal Navy.
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
6/58
NOVEMBER 2014MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL 17
TILLING STEVENSTilling Stevens of Maidstone were pioneers in the design of petrol-
electric vehicles. The rear wheels were powered by a tracon motor,
which received current from an electrical generator powered by the
engine. This method might seem long-winded, but it removed the
need for a gearbox and was therefore easier for novice drivers. A
variaon of the petrol electric
system was used on some 3-ton
Dennis trucks (creang the
Dennis Stevens) the generator
of which was ideal for thepowering of searchlights. Only
a handful of Tilling Stevens
trucks were used by the Brish
War Department although the
French Army purchased several
hundred (like this one) to use
for instrucng new drivers.
SEABROOK STANDARDIn 1896 brothers Herbert and Percy Seabrook set up a London business
to make bicycle parts. From 1911 they started imporng and selling
cars that had been made in Detroit by Regal. Just a few years later they
started imporng 2, 3 and 5-ton truck chassis made by the Standard
Motor Truck Company of Detroit, which they would assemble and
market under the name Seabrook Standard. Sharing common aributes
of many other American-
built trucks of this me it
has wooden wheels and
exposed drive chainsto the rear wheels.
The actual number
purchased by the Brish
War Department is
not recorded but was
probably in the low
hundreds.
WOLSELEYWolseley was a luxury
car manufacturer that in
the years just prior to the
war reintroduced truckmanufacturing and supplied
trucks under the War
Department subsidy scheme.
This 3-ton A Type Model CR6
displays the black cat emblem
of 818 Company Army Service
Corps and if the top tank of
the radiator is anything to go
by it has recently boiled over.
Wolseley was the smallest
supplier of trucks built under
the subsidy scheme with just
385 being produced during the
war. Wolseley also produced asmall number of 2-ton Model
CL trucks as well as the 12cwt
model CU that was really a car
with a basic pick up type body.
PAGEFIELDThe Pagefield N Type truck was made by the Wigan-based company
of Walker Brothers. Accepted by the War Department for inclusion
within the subvenon scheme shortly aer it was tested in 1913,
the N Type was the first truck registered under the subsidy scheme
to be taken into service in 1914. Walker Brothers was not a big
concern producing just two chassis a week in September 1916. Their
producon was taken over enrely by the War Department and
despite plans to increase producon less than 500 Pagefields were inservice by the wars end.
THORNYCROFTThe disncve disc wheels on the Thornycro J Type make it one
of the most instantly recognisable trucks of the Great War. With a
background in building steam ships, Thornycro started building
steam wagons in 1895, one of which was purchased by the Royal
Engineers in 1899 with 10 more subsequently being purchased for
use in South Africa. Thornycro went on to build trucks powered
by the internal combuson engine and it was their J Type that was
accepted under the subsidy scheme and of which approximately
5,000 were supplied to the War Department. This example has beenfied with both an unusual set of markings and body type.
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
7/58
AUTOCARPhotographed here
while being tested
by the US Army on
manoeuvres is an
Autocar UF21 fied
with a Command
car type body. The
Autocar is best
remembered for its
use by the Canadian
Army, who purchased
20 for use by the 1st Motor Machine Gun Brigade (including eight
armoured versions each equipped with two machine guns), which
were used with great effect against the German offensive in March
1918. The Brish Army also used the Autocar in greater numbers.
Fied with a general service type body, 189 Autocars were used in
East Africa while a further 265 were fied with a rectangular tank and
used on the Western Front for carrying water.
FORDThe ubiquitous Model
T Ford chassis was
purchased in vast
numbers by the allies.
Predominantly used
as ambulances or
field cars, they were
also fied out as vans
or light trucks. Theirlight construcon
enabled them to travel through the muddy condions with much
more ease than the heavier trucks and if they did get stuck it was
fairly straighorward to manhandle them free. This Model T has been
fied with a very basic, locally made pick up type body.
FWDBuilt by the Four Wheel Drive Automobile Corporaon of Clintonville
Wisconsin the FWD Model B was the most successful four-wheel drive
truck of World War One. Power was transmied from the Wisconsin
6.39-litre engine through a central differenal to the front and back
axles. This differenal could be locked to prevent the power going to just
one axle. To meet demand the FWD was also made under licence by the
Companies of Peerless,
Premier, Mitchell and
Kissel. A copy of the
truck was also made
in the UK where it
was known as the
Brish Quad. By the
wars end over 16,000
FWDs had been built
for the allies.
GARFORDIn 1914 the Ohiobased Garford motor
truck company
supplied a number
of their 5-ton truck
chassis to the
Imperial Russian
Government who
fied them with 1
76.2mm gun and
an armoured car body made at Pulov. This 9-ton monster was the
excepon to the lighter trucks, which follow into military service.
The Brish War Department purchased the 0.75-ton Model 66
(as seen here receiving a fresh coat of paint) and the 1-ton model
75 in small numbers primarily for use as water tankers. While theUS Army purchased 1,010 of the 1 and a 1/2-ton trucks and 978 of
the standardised Liberty B trucks. Garford barely survived the
depression and was taken over in 1933 by Consolidated Motors
when the Garford name was dropped.
DODGEWith the construcon
of complete vehiclescommencing in 1915
Dodge was a relave
latecomer to the
automove industry
having since 1900
just manufactured
automove parts for
other Detroit based businesses. Dodges first military vehicle was a
Type 30 touring car, which was used with great success in the hunt
for Pancho Villa. With a reputaon for reliability by the end of the
war, the US Army had purchased 7,376 Dodge staff cars, 2,644 light
delivery trucks and 1,012 light repair trucks like this one.
FEDERALOnce a well-known
American quality
truck manufacturer,
the name of this
Detroit based
Company disappeared
in 1959. Federals
contribuon to the
war effort in WW2 is
well known, but its
greatest contribuon
during WW1 was the
construcon of 1,000 of the Heavy Aviaon trucks designed for theUS Air Service that carried the AS name on the radiator and the cab.
During the fighng on the Mexican border and throughout the war
Federal did provide some trucks in their own name comprising 53
5-ton trucks and 85 of their 3.5-ton trucks like this one.
UNITED STATES
Despite the intenon to remain neutral,
America was inexorably brought into the
conflict, declaring war on Germany on
April 6 1917. One year earlier the United
States had launched a punive expedion into
Mexico to hunt down the bandit Pancho Villa.
At that me the US Army had approximately
200 trucks and cars in service, a number that
immediately proved to be inadequate. Many
hundreds more were quickly purchased from
various manufacturers for use in the hosle
Mexican terrain. Leading the expedion
was General Pershing who developed an
understanding and appreciaon of mechanical
transport that proved crucial when he became
the leader of the American Expedionary Force.
Having access to the vast American
automove industry was of lile consequence as
the US Army was simply not able to transport all
the trucks required to France in me. To alleviate
the shorall the US Army borrowed trucks from
Britain (who supplied 4,306) and France, many
of which had actually been manufactured in the
United States and supplied to their allies. As a
result the United States had an incredibly diverse
range of vehicles comprising 294 different makes
and models.
18 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
8/58
GMCThe most common
product of the
General Motors
Corporaon during
the war was the Model 16AA heavy ambulance of which 5,553 were
built by the wars end. This ambulance could carry four stretchersor eight seated passengers. This photograph shows a 1-ton GMC
model 23 of which 2,401 were used by the military. GMCs other large
contribuon was 1,888 Light Aviaon trucks, which were designed
and built to standardised specificaons specially for the Air Service by
GMC, Republic, Paige and Denby.
GRAMM BERNSTEINIf it wasnt for the name Gramm Bernstein, which appears on the
front cross member, you would not be able to idenfy the truck.
Gramm Bernstein was based in Lima, Ohio and sold a small number
of 1-ton trucks to the Brish War Department. These had a poor
reputaon for reliability and no more were purchased. The US army
desperate for trucks
of all sorts purchased
66 examples of the 3
-ton trucks like this
one unl the company
turned over its
producon capacity
to the producon
of the standardised
Liberty B of which
they built 1,000.
HEAVY AVIATIONOn May 24 1918 the Aviaon Secon of the United States Signal Corps
became the Air Service, the precursor to the United States Air Force.
To achieve an element of standardisaon the Air Service designed their
own 3-ton truck, which
they named the Heavy
Aviaon. It was built
to this standard design
by the Companies of
Velie, Kelly Springfield,
United, Standard and
Federal with the engine
being manufactured by
Connental.
HOLTThe caterpillar tractors
manufactured by Holt
were widely used by
the Brish, French and
American forces for
towing heavy arllery.
The Holt Company
dates back to 1883
and manufactured agricultural machinery but it was their model 75
tractor, which gained the approval of their first military customer
the Austrian Army! The allied naons were quick to follow and Holt
produced a range of different size tractors for their military customers,
with the US Army preferring the armoured 5-ton and 10-ton tractors.This parcular machine is a Holt 75 that has been transferred from
Brish Army service to the United States Army. You can just make out
the Brish WD symbol above the front wheel and US on the side of
the fuel tank.
INTERNATIONALHARVESTERInternaonal Harvester
of Akron Ohio (not to be
mistaken for Internaonal Motors of New York who owned Mack)
received a contract to make 1,125 of their 1.5-ton trucks for the US Army.
By 1 December 1918 just 485 had been delivered, none of which arrived
in France before the end of the war. Not much informaon is recorded
about this truck but it is interesng to see that it has the Renault-type
coal scule bonnet with the radiator being directly in front of the driver.
JEFFERYIn April 1915 the Thomas B
Jeffery Company announced
that they had provided the
French Army with 833 of
their four-wheel drive and
four-wheel steer Quad trucks
from their Wisconsin factory.
The French found that the
Quad met their requirements
for a gun tractor and converted 60 of them (including this one) into a
portee configuraon whereby the gun was carried on the back of the
truck. The Quad was designed to act as a competor to the FWD Model
B, which was being tested by the US Army. The first prototypes were
delivered to them in 1913 and by 1915 160 of them were in service on
the Mexican border. In July 1916 the Company was sold to Charles Nash
who connued producon but they were now known as Nash Quads.
KELLY SPRINGFIELDShortly aer the outbreak
of war the Canadian, Brish
and French Governmentspurchased trucks built by the
Kelly Springfield Motor Truck
Company of Springfield Ohio.
The French purchased the 2.5-
ton 22.5hp Model K35 while the Brish and Canadians went for the
3.5-ton 32.4hp model K40. The United States Army ordered 356 of the
worm drive 1.5-ton model K31 of which just 16 arrived in France by
November 1918. This photograph shows a K31 in US Army service but
on the body can be seen the leers WD showing that it had previously
served with the Brish. Kelly Springfields greatest contribuon to
the war effort was the construcon of 391 Liberty B and 1,725 Heavy
Aviaon trucks which did arrive in France before the end of the war.
LIBERTYDespite the US Army purchasing
vehicles for service on the
Mexican border, by the me
they entered the war they
were sll very short of trucks
and purchased whatever they
could get their hands on. In
order to develop a standardised
design a commiee was formed comprising representaves from the
Quartermaster Corps and fieen truck manufacturers, the first example
being designed and built in just 10 weeks. The end result was the 3.5-ton
Liberty B truck. Orders for 43,005 trucks by 29 different manufacturers
were placed before the end of the war of which 9,452 built by 15 of themanufacturers were actually delivered before orders were cancelled.
This photograph shows an early paern Liberty being tested. The
wooden wheels were replaced on later models with steel spokes and
the electric headlights would be replaced with kerosene lamps.
NOVEMBER 2014MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL 19
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
9/58
LOCOMOBILEThe Locomobile Company
of America was the
manufacturer of Americas
most luxurious cars, but
in 1912 built their first
truck the A Type (which
was of a cab-over-engine
design) was followed three years later by a more convenonal
appearing truck in the 3, 4, 5 or 6-ton models. A Brish buying
mission bought the 3-ton model with the US Army purchasing
67 for use on the Mexican border, followed by an addional
order for 3,690 when the United States declared war on Germany
in 1917. Although Locomobile had the reputaon for being the
best-built cars in America, the trucks had a number of problems
with cracking radiators and breaking half shas. Locomobile went
in to receivership in 1919 with truck producon ending three
years later.
MACKBuilt from 1916 to 1939
the Mack AC Bulldog has
the record for the longest
producon run of any of
the warme trucks. TheUS Army purchased 2,563
of the 5.5-ton and 368 of
the 3.5-ton versions for
use by the Corps of Engineers with the Brish War Department
purchased 150 of the 5.5-ton version. Like many other heavy
trucks of this me the 40hp engine transmied power to the back
wheels via chains running from jack shas to sprockets on the
inside of the rear wheels. The symbol on the front of the hood
is oen mistakenly thought to stand for Mack but the symbol is
actually IM for Internaonal Motor Company.
MORELANDOne of the more obscureUS Army trucks used
during the war were those
built by Moreland. This
company was established
in Los Angeles California
and marketed under the
slogan built in the West for Western work. The US Army placed
an order for 60 of the 4-ton chassis and 85 of the 1.5-ton chassis of
which 40 and 76 were delivered by December 1918, none of which
le the United States. This photograph shows the 4-ton version,
which has been fied with the standard B Type body.
NASHWith the purchase of
the Thomas B Jeffery
Company in 1916 by
Charles Nash, the Jeffery
Quad was renamed the
Nash Quad (which was
cast in to the top tank of
the radiator) although it
was planned to bring truck producon to an end once the current
military contracts were fulfilled. With the United States entering
the war the following year producon was stepped up and 14,684
being ordered by November 1918. Orders for an addional 3,000
each were placed with Hudson Motor car Co, Naonal Motor
Co and Paige Motor Company although very few of these weredelivered before the end of the war. Photographed in a US Army
workshop on the Western Front, a Nash Quad is receiving a fresh
coat of paint. The Quad has an unusual appearance, as the driving
posion is approximately one third of the way back.
PACKARDOne of the most famous American
luxury car manufacturers was Packard.
Established in 1899 to build cars, their first
commercial vehicle was built in 1905. In
1914 Packard was well posioned to meet
the urgent demand for trucks from the
Britain, France and Russia who used them.
The US Army trialled the Packard in 1909
but did not have any in service unl a train load of 27 arrived on the Mexican
border on 27 March 1916, followed by a further 94, to join the expedion
hunng for the bandit Pancho Villa. Packard contributed to the development
of the Liberty B truck but manufactured only five examples. The US Army
were very pleased with the Packard and by the end of the war they had taken
526 1.5-ton, 3479 3-ton and 17 of the chain drive 5-ton trucks overseas.
PEERLESSWith over 10,000 examples in Brish
Army service, the American-built
Peerless TC4 was the most numerous of
all Brish trucks during the war. Peerless
was primarily a luxury car manufacturer,
which in 1911 diversified into making
trucks in the 2, 3, 4 and 5-ton range. The
US Army was quick to purchase some Peerless trucks and used them on theMexican border. During the war the Brish War Department cornered the
market and purchased every Peerless truck they could get except for 385 that
were ordered by the US Army and were taken to Europe. To help make up the
shorall in trucks used by the US Army, the Brish War Department supplied
them with some Brish Army Peerless trucks. The Brish markings were
quickly painted out and over painted with US markings.
PIERCE ARROWWith the assistance of two Brish engineers
(who had previously worked for Hallford
and Dennis) the New York based Company
of Pierce Arrow built their first 5-ton R
Type truck in 1911. The truck proved to bea great success and two years later Pierce
Arrow produced a scaled down 2-ton
version the X Type. The Pierce Arrow proved to be a reliable truck built at the
right me and found a ready market. They were purchased in large numbers
by the Brish, French and American forces with the Russians also taking them.
Between April 1914 and December 1918 Pierce Arrow built 11,350 R Types
and 7,051 X Types, and also built 975 of the Liberty B trucks for the US Army.
WHITEDuring the course of the Great War the
White Motor Company supplied in the
region of 18,000 trucks to the American,
Russian, French, Canadian and to a lesserextent the Brish forces. The largest
customer was the US Army followed by
the French who received White trucks
of all models. The 3-ton Model TC and larger trucks were chain drive with the
lighter trucks being worm drive. Here are a group of TC Whites (with Packard
trucks behind them) being prepared for transportaon to Russia.
WILLYSWillys is beer known for the producon
of the ubiquitous MB Jeep during WW2,
but during WW1 they supplied the
1-ton Model 65XT to the Brish War
Department. Fied with pneumac tyreson the front, solid tyres on the back and
powered by a 25.6hp engine the Willys could carry a useful load of 800lb. The
exact number they supplied is not known, but photographs of them are quite
rare and only show them in service within the United Kingdom.
20 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
10/58
ATLASOne of the more obscure types of trucks
used by the Americans in the war was the
Atlas. Although Atlas was also an American
truck company, the Atlas trucks used in
France by the Americans were built by
the French manufacturer. A small number
of these French trucks were obtained by
the American Expedionary Force, desperately short of trucks when it arrived.
They appear to have been predominantly used by the American engineers when
preparing the French ports for the arrival of the American Expedionary Force.
Unfortunately informaon on Atlas trucks is minimal, although there is one
surviving example at the Maurice Dufresne museum near Tours.
BERLIETWith many thousands of examples
purchased by the French Army, the Berliet
CBA was one of the most numerous trucks
in French Army service, although these
two were loaned to the United States
Medical Corps. This chain drive work-
horse had a 5,300cc engine that generated
30bhp and could carry a load of four tons. In common with many other French
truck manufacturers they painted the company name on the side of the canvas as
can just be made out here. Berliet went into administraon in 1921, but managed
to recover only to be taken over by Citroen in 1967 and then sold to Renault in
1974 with the Berliet name being dropped not much later.
CROCHATThe designers of Crochat must have
thought that having good visibility for the
driver was a neccessity as he appears to
be about six feet off the ground. Si ng
above the engine and behind the radiator
would have made the drivers posion
pleasantly warm in cold weather, but perhaps not so comfortable on hot days.
Many of these Crochats were purchased by the French Air Force (Aviaon
Militaire) who used them for special purposes such as this one, which has been
fied with a radio communicaons body.
DE DION-BOUTONThe disncve round radiator
on this French Army De Dion-
Bouton was manufactured by the
Company of Solex and appeared
as a proprietary part on a number
of trucks, including those made by
Crochat and Schneider. In 1900 De
Dion-Bouton was the worlds largest
automobile Company producing
400 cars a year and 3,200 engines, which they supplied to other automobile
manufacturers. De Dion Bouton supplied a range of trucks throughout the war
most commonly the 3.5-ton model FR but perhaps most interesng was thesix-cylinder autos-cannon de75 mobile an-aircra gun, which was used by the
French, the Americans and in small numbers by the Brish for the defence of
London from Zeppelins. To The right of the DeDion-Bouton is an American built
Pierce-Arrow in French Army service.
DELAHAYEThe French luxury
car manufacturer
Societe des
Automobiles
Delahaye is
beer known for
its racing cars
than its military
vehicles, but
throughout the war it built a range of cars, trucks and vans for
military service of which a handful survive. One of the most
interesng survivors is the balloon winch truck which resides
at the French air and space museum at Le Bourget in Paris.
It is rather easy to idenfy this truck as a Delahaye, but the
uniforms of the men alongside show that it is in Russian Army
service. Delahaye was taken over by Hotchkiss in 1954 and by
1956 the name had disappeared.
LATILThe Company
Avant Train
Lal built their
first four-wheel
drive truck
in Paris in
1911 and two
years later the
French Army
purchased an example, the TAR 01 (Tracteur dArllerie
Roulante) arllery tractor. This enormous truck weighed
nearly six tons and was used (alongside the Renault EG) for
towing the heavy Schneider 155mm gun. The TAR 01 was not
the only truck from the Lal stable as they also produced
the four-wheel drive TP, which when fied with a winch, was
adopted by the French and American balloon services for use
with observaon balloons. Aer the war Lal built trucks for
agriculture and forestry work before merging with Renault
and Somua to form Saviem.
MORSThis rather odd
looking machine
is a 20hp Mors.
A French-built
luxury car that
has been fied
with a rather
crude wooden
body, making a
rather useful light delivery truck. Photographs of the cars
appear in French Army service and it seems strange that the
French, who were desperate for vehicles of all kind, would
supply such a chassis to their allies. They were for a mebuilt under licence in the USA and were sold in the UK in
the lead up to the war so it is possible that it was either an
American import or came from a stock of chassis that had
already been imported into the UK when war broke out.
FRANCE
Much like Britain, France had a
minimal number of motor vehicles
(approximately 230) in military service
at the start of the war, but was able to
call up those that had enrolled within the subsidy
scheme and impress others. For the bale of the
Marne, 600 Paris taxis were mobilised to transport
French reserves to the bale. In addion to this
approximately 1,100 Parisian busses were pressed
into service, and to boost the number of trucks
in service the French purchased large numbers
of Fiats from Italy, Packard, Pierce Arrow, Jeffery
Quads and White trucks from the United States
and 1,171 trucks from Britain (predominantly built
by Star and Tilling Stevens).
NOVEMBER 2014MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL 21
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
11/58
ITALY
A
mongst all the belligerent naons
Italy was almost unique in being
able to meet all of their mechanical
transport requirements without
resorng to more than a handful of foreign
imports. In fact Italy supplied vehicles to
many of their allies such as Great Britain,
France and the United States. The Italian
motor industry was based around two
cies, Milan and Turin, the home of such
famous names as Fiat, Lancia, Spa and Isoa
Fraschini.
FIATOne of the most prolific truck manufacturers throughout the war
supplying trucks to the French, American, Brish and their own
Army was Fiat. Appearing in French army service is this chain drive
2.5-ton 18BL model, the chains being enclosed in a case much
like the Brish-built Commer. The French automobile secons
painted quite
elaborate
markings on
their trucks
and this is a
parcularly
fine examplewith what
appears to be
a clock painted
on the side.
LANCIACommencing producon
in 1906, Lancia was a
high quality Italian car
manufacturer, which took up
the manufacture of trucks
shortly before WW1. The
1.5-ton model Z was used
by both the Italians and the
Brish, but the name Lancia
is more oen than not associated with the armoured car version, which was
constructed by Ansaldo on the Lancia truck chassis. The Lancia was used in
a variety of roles by the Brish War Department during the war, but at theend of the conflict a large number were used in Ireland where they were
fied with steel plate and used as armoured troop carriers. This Lancia has
been fied with fairly crude armour and a turret, which no doubt did lile to
improve its road handling characteriscs!
PANHARDNot easy to recognise in this posion but the
photographer recorded on the back of the
photograph that this is a Panhard that has
suffered the indignity of slipping off the edge of
the road, a fairly common hazard at this me.
This photograph gives a clear view of the chain
drive system. Just inside the rear wheels is a
chain that runs to jack shas protruding from the side of the centrally mounted gearbox
from which runs a prop sha to the engine. Panhards main contribuon to the war
effort was the enormous four-wheel drive Challon-Panhard heavy gun tractor.
SAURERThe now
defunct Swiss
Company of
Saurer has an
interesng
claim to
fame that of
being used
by both the
allies and central powers during the war. Saurer
trucks were built in the 2, 4 and 5-ton capacity(in both chain and worm drive) and were not only
manufactured in Switzerland, but also under licence
in the USA, France, Germany and Austria. The Brish
War Department purchased Saurers made under
licence in the USA while the French purchased those
built in Suresnes in France as well as those built in
Switzerland to stop them from being sold to the
Germans. This four ton Model B worm drive Saurer is
in French Army service.
SCHNEIDERIt is well known
that the LGOC
London buses
were taken off the
streets of London
for use on the
Western front, but
exactly the same
thing happened in Paris with the handsome single deck
buses made by De Dion, Brillie and Schneider being
taken for military service. All three manufacturers
produced very similar chassis (even using the same
round radiator manufactured by Solex) of which this,
a Schneider PB2, was the most numerous of the Paris
buses taken into service. The body on this Schneider
is not that of a bus, but that of a much simpler troop
carrier although the cab roof is idencal to that of a
Paris bus suggesng that it had been re-bodied.
PEUGEOTWith a background in building coffee grinders and bicycles
Peugeot diversified, and with an engine supplied by
Daimler, built their first internal combuson engine car
in 1891. Just five years later they were making their own
engines and a range of cars and motorcycles. Throughout
WW1 Peugeot supplied the French Army with motorcycles,
cars and trucks. This photograph shows a 4-ton Model
1525 being driven past an American MP. The 1525 Model
was introduced in 1917 with 4,084 being manufactured by
1920. The octagonal radiator is quite disncve with the
Peugeot badge just visible riveted to the top.
RENAULTProbably the most famous of all French
automove manufacturers was Renault, who
supplied the French Army with cars, vans, trucks
and tank transporters (the model FU, capable of
carrying the FT17 tank). This photograph shows a
four-wheel drive model EG gun tractor, which in
this instance has been lent to the US Army Corps
of Engineers for truck recovery work. It appears
that this Renault is being anchored into posion
so that it can pull another truck out of the mud
using the winch mounted at the rear. Almost the
enre width of the cab is the radiator, which is
located behind the engine. Renault gave their name to this style of bonnet, which was
copied on American built Mack, Kelly Springfield and Internaonal Harvester trucks.
22 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
12/58
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
13/58
The development of the first motorcycle
was completely dependent on the
creaon of the Safety Bicycle in the
late 1880s. The safety bicycle was so
called as it offered a safe and very welcome
alternave to the manly and quite hazardous
Penny Farthing and at a stroke, the world had
what we would, even now over 130 years later,
recognise as a modern bicycle. The design of
the original safety bicycle incorporated equally
sized wheels and a strong diamond shaped
frame, which made it perfect as a plaorm for
the creaon of the motorcycle.
It wasnt long before invenve people
started to marry small petrol and steam
engines with bicycles and in 1885 Golieb
Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach created their
Reitwagon or Riding Wagon, usually sited by
most people as being the worlds first true
motorcycle, although as with many such
claims, this is open to interpretaon. The
further development of the Safety Bicycle was
very slow as the machine had been such a
terrific creaon that it was just about right first
me and any modificaon or changes for the
beer were almost unnecessary. However, its
powered offspring, the motorcycle, had huge
24 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
Historian and author Richard Pullentakesa look at the development of two-wheeled
transport in the First World War
Bicycles and
Motorcyclesin the Great War
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
14/58
NOVEMBER 2014MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL 25
ABOVE...
The BSA Folding Bicycle ready for acon.
LEFT...
A Great War period Douglas adversing card
showing an ASC rider with his machine.
BELOW LEFT...
A mixed patrol of Belgian cyclists and
motorcyclists in early 1915. The motorcycle
is a Brish made Douglas.
BOTTOM LEFT...
The standard BSA Non-Folding Mk IV
Military Bicycle.
BELOW...
A member of the South African Motorcycle
Corps pictured here on his over-loaded BSA.
ABOVE...
A wonderfully restored Motor Machine
Gun Corps Matchless twin photographed at
Belton House in 2010 as part of a WW1 living
history display.
TOP RIGHT...
In an effort to boost the numbers ofmotorcycles available to the military, hundreds
of motorcycles were given away free to the
military in 1914 by their patrioc owners.
ABOVE RIGHT...
A despatch Rider pictured here on a Douglas
2.75hp motorcycle. Note the muff to keep the
hands warm fied to the end of the handlebars.
BELOW...
A motley looking crew of Dispatch Riders
photographed si ng astride their Triumph
motorcycles in mid 1917.
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
15/58
room for development and by the
outbreak of the First World War in
1914 the machine was unrecognisable
when compared to the early efforts
such as the Reitwagon.
The motorcycle was now an
established and relavely advanced
piece of machinery. There had
been a thriving racing scene in
the early 20th Century, which had
given impetus to the machines
development, and although to the
modern eye they may look primive
and fragile, this was very far from
the truth. Just before the war there
were well over one hundred different
motorcycle manufacturers and
assemblers in Great Britain alone
and although many of these did not
survive the economic rigours of the
war, the motorcycle as a vehicle
did very well out of the constant
need for stronger, faster or larger
machines. As a piece of military
hardware, the motorcycle became
invaluable for many different roles
such as message dispatch, convoy
work or even as mobile machine gun
or radio ouits.
In much the same way as early
motorcycles obviously owe their
existence to the Safety Bicycle,
the early army motorcyclist owed
his existence to the various Army
Cyclists Corps. In 1914, the Brish
army had over 14,000 men who were
experienced cyclists, fully equipped
with the latest military specificaon
bicycles. Although the idea of
soldiers riding into bale on bicycles
may seem quaint or even absurd to
us today, these men were actually
the fast moving Shock-Troops of
the me as they could be quickly
dispatched to engage with the
enemy and when needed, they could
jump onto their bicycles and fall back
just as quickly as they had advanced.
In August 1914 at Mons, these men
proved their worth, with French and
Brish cyclist baalions fighng a
26 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
ABOVE...
A Great War Despatch
Rider serving with the
Army Service Corps.
CENTRE...
A view showing the
BSA Folding MilitaryBicycle as part of a
mans marching kit.
ABOVE RIGHT...
10th Baalion
Signal Secon Royal
Engineers pictured in
France flanked by two
of their motorcycles.
Ge ng lost was a very serious business
for a Dispatch Rider, so constant study
of trench maps was essenal.
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
16/58
vital rearguard acon that helped slow the
advance of the German Army and giving the
Allies breathing room.
The First World War was to become a
mechanised war and many companies such
as Triumph, Sunbeam, Zenith, Rover, AJS,
Sunbeam, Premier, Raleigh, P&M, New
Hudson and Norton produced items for the
military, including bicycles and motorcycles,
but there is perhaps one maker that will
always be quite rightly associated with their
warme producon, Birmingham Small Arms,
beer known by their inials, B.S.A. The
company built all manner of items during
the war including the legendary .303 Lee
Enfield rifle, locks for Maxim Machine Guns,
Interrupter Mechanisms for fighter aircra,
high explosive shells and complete Lewis
Machine Guns, but it is for their two wheeled
transport that they are perhaps most famous.
The B.S.A. logo of three rifles, known as the
Piled Arms trademark, became one of those
rare, internaonally recognised symbols
that stood for quality and innovaon in any
language and the company sold their products
to every country imaginable.
OUTBREAK OF WARUnl not too long ago, it was quite common for
many companies to have a summer shut down
so that general maintenance and stock taking
could be done. B.S.A. always chose to have
their shut down in the early weeks of August,
which was usually just fine, but in August 1914
Great Britain went to war and all forms of
transport, both motorised and pedal powered
were urgently needed. B.S.A. were operang
on a skeleton staff and busy with general
upkeep of their machinery when the order
came through for 500 Military Specificaon
Bicycles, fully assembled with lamps front andrear, carriers front and rear, bells, rifle clips etc,
ready for riding and to be delivered within 24
hours. Messengers were sent to the homes
of the holidaying workers and gradually the
factory came up to strength and aer working
through the night and eang meals whilst
they stood at their machines, the company
managed to fill the order.
Later in the war, contracts of 500 units
would become commonplace and their
warme producon figures usually ran to
more bicycles being built in a single day than
would have been produced in a week prior
to 1914. The B.S.A. folding bicycle is usually
more associated with the Second World War,
when the company made them for airborne
troops, but the company actually started to
produce a collapsible machine in mid WW1.
With the release of two bolts, the folding
B.S.A. could be transformed from bicycle tobackpack in less than 90 seconds leaving the
soldier free to operate his rifle unhindered.
The other two-wheeled wonder that the
company had great success in supplying to
the Army was the B.S.A. 4 HP Motorcycle.
Many were bought by the Brish, French
and Russian military and 400 were sent to
the South African Motorcyclist Corps for use
in the inhospitable terrain of East Africa. In
their aempts to locate and engage with
the elusive German General von Leow-
Vorbeck, the South African Motorcyclist
Corps undertook an expedion of 2,800
miles through swamps, across rivers and
along rough bush tracks. Each motorcycle
carried 140lbs of equipment, plus the rider
and according to post war adversing from
the company, every single one of the B.S.A.
machines completed the journey successfully.
Another manufacturer who became vital in
supplying motorcycles to the war effort was
Douglas. In 1906, the Douglas Engineering
Company of Kingswood, Bristol bought the
research, drawings and prototypes for an
engine designed by Mr. W. Barter. He had
tried to produce the engine himself, but his
company had not been a great success and
Douglas hoped they could do beer. Unl
now, Douglas had been producing casngs
for drain covers, lampposts and so on, but in
1907 their motorcycle entered the market and
soon became a much sought aer machine.The Douglas 2 3/4hp was an excellent creaon
and was renowned for being Vibraonless
due to the horizontal twin arrangement.
With the outbreak of war in 1914, the Brish
Army needed thousands of motorcycles,
cars, lorries and other vehicles. Many were
commandeered and many were simply given
to the army by patrioc owners. Douglas
became one of the main suppliers to the War
Offi ce and they eventually produced around
70,000 2hp and 4hp motorcycles for the
military. The Douglas 4hp was especially
useful and, with the addion of a sidecar,
saw acon as mobile machine gun units andeven as fully kied out Marconi radio ouits.
NOVEMBER 2014MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL 27
ABOVE LEFT...
A soldier of the South African Motorcycle Corps
on his BSA with full kit.
ABOVE...
Despatch Riders of the Royal Sussex Regiment.
ABOVE RIGHT...
ot much is known about this image except that
it shows Captain Harvey on his Sunbeam.
BELOW LEFT...
A late war Douglas motorcycle, very nicely
restored to its military trim.
BELOW RIGHT...
This would have been familiar sight in WW1;
the motorcycles had a hard life and would
have needed constant upkeep.
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
17/58
28 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
The smaller 350cc Douglas 2 leant itself
perfectly to other motorcycle dues such as
dispatch and convoy work in every theatre of
the war, from France and Belgium to Salonika
and East Africa.
Aer the war, Douglas bought many of
their old worn out and bale weary WD
machines back from the army. The old
motorcycles were recondioned and sold on
again, this me to civilian buyers. This may
sound like a bit of a scam as the new owners
would have thought that they were ge ng
a brand new machine, but these machines
were completely refurbished and it was
standard procedure aer the war, with most
motorcycle, lorry and other vehicle makers
doing exactly the same thing.
The Douglas must be one of the most
well-known and prolifically photographed
motorcycles to see service during the Great
War, but a very close second must be the
Trusty Triumph. The company was one of
those, like Daimler, with a very complex history
intertwined with a German factory. Despite
this, their 550cc Model H was chosen to be
one of the motorcycles deemed suitable for
military use and was therefore supplied to the
War Offi ce in large numbers. At the outbreak
of war in 1914, Triumph was producing
around 4000 of their Type A single-cylinder
motorcycles every year and by 1915 the
company was almost completely dedicated to
military producon. By the end of the war they
had made over 30,000 motorcycles for the
Allied forces.
The Model H was a very comfortable,
very well built motorcycle which could be
worked on by just about anyone and could be
stripped using very rudimentary tools. The
Type H is oen described as the first modern
motorcycle as it had a chain driven primary
drive, three speed gearbox, a clutch and a
kick-starter. The kick starter and clutch may
sound like they should have been standard
equipment on every motorcycle, but this was
not the case and many motorcycles of the
me had to be run off to get them started and
were fied with a crash box and no clutch.
Two-wheeled transport in war rarely
receives the aenon it deserves, oen being
overlooked by historians in favour of aircra,
tanks or baleships, but it is undeniable that
many men owed their lives to the trusty Don-R
racing through shot and shell or guiding their
convoy through the pitch black of night.
ABOVE LEFT...
This is not a mobile Machine Gun ouit,
the sidecar is just being used to move a
Lewis Gun and boxes of magazines around.
ABOVE RIGHT...
Men of the Automobile Associaon march
through London with their bicycles beforebeing formed up into an acve service.
Lile is known about this image except
that it was taken early in the war
somewhere in England.
ABOVE...
No 4 Platoon H.C. Divisional Cyclists Corps line
up outside the Church in Hildenborough in Kent
prior to being sent to France.
LEFT...
This photograph is signed from Frank and shows
him and his pals with their military bicycles in
November 1914.
RIGHT...
Whilst training these troops use their V Twin
Zenith sidecar ouit as an improvised rest for
a Lewis Gun.
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
18/58
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
19/58
The struggle to build a
viable tracked armoured
fighng vehicle was one ofthe most vitally important
arms races ever to face the military
world, due in no small part to the
stalemate on the balefields of
Europe. The Brish were the first
to create a tank and the rapid pace
of development resulted in such a
speedy evoluon that by the end
of the war, just two years later, it
was a quite different machine to
the first lumbering monster that
struggled with the terrain. Not only
did the tank change and adapt to meet new
challenges and encompass new technology,but the idea of the tracked AFV was taken
onboard and given a twist by other countries,
with France, Germany, Russia, America and
Italy all producing tanks. Despite the fact that
some were too late to see acon and others
would have been useless if they had ever
been put into bale, the tank as a balefieldweapon had nevertheless made its mark and
as a balefield weapon was here to stay. In
hindsight, it is easy to pile scorn on efforts
like the American Steam Tank or the giant
Great Warhistorian and authorRichard Pullendelves into someof the facts and
figures surroundingsome of the most
important and most
interesting tanksof the Great War
30 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
TANKS OF THE
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
20/58
Brish Flying Elephant, but they all go to
show how the designers were vying for
a workable design, oen using untriedtechnology to create an answer to a
problem that many thought unsolvable
and as a result the variety of tank designs
in those early days offer a fascinang
insight into those early days of mechanised
warfare, so while the tank wasnt an
immediate success, and some experiments
were perhaps less than praccal, it did shape
the weapon that has become universally
known as the Tank and so far at least, haslasted nearly 100 years. As to whether it lasts
another 100 years is anybodys guess, but
for the me being it shows no signs of being
dropped from the balefield.
NOVEMBER 2014MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL 31
GREAT WAR
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
21/58
GREAT BRITAIN
MK I HEAVY TANK & MK II - III TRAINING TANKSA crew of 8 men, Male tanks equipped with 6-pounder cannon and
three Hotchkiss .303 machine guns, Female tanks equipped with five
Vickers .303 machine guns with armoured jackets. Mk III Female armed
with five .303 Lewis Guns. Fully loaded weight was 28-tons (Male), 27-
tons (Female). Maximum armour thickness of 12mm, Mk II and III weretraining tanks constructed from unarmoured Boilerplate. The radius
of acon was just 23 miles, at a maximum speed of 3.7mph. Powered
by Daimler sleeve valve petrol engine giving 105hp at 1000rpm.
Total of 150 Mk I tanks produced, 37 Male by Wm Foster and Co.
of Lincoln and 113 Male and Female machines by the Metropolitan
Wagon and Finance of Birmingham.
Total of 50 Mk II tanks produced, 25 Males by Fosters of Lincoln and25 Females by Metropolitan in Birmingham. One Mk I and one Mk II
survive, both at the Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset.
MK IV HEAVY TANKCrew of 8, Male tanks equipped with shortened 6-pounder
cannon and three .303 Lewis machine guns, Female tanks
equipped with five .303 Lewis Guns. Unditching gear
fied, probably only at Central Workshops in France.
Fully loaded weight was 28-tons (Male), 27-tons (Female).
Maximum armour thickness of 12mm. The radius of
acon was just 35 miles at a maximum speed of 3.7mph.
Powered by a Daimler sleeve valve petrol engine giving
105hp at 1000rpm. Some late producon tanks had125hp engines.
A total of 1245 Mk IV tanks were produced, 640 by
Metropolitan as tanks and 180 as Supply Tanks, 100 by
Wm Fosters, 100 by Armstrong Whitworth and Co. Ltd
of Gateshead, with the remaining 225 built in Glasgow
by the Coventry Ordnance Works, Mirrlees
Watson Co. and William Beardmore Co.
Just seven Mk IV tanks survive in variousmuseums around the world, including
Bovington, Museum of Lincolnshire Life,
Ashford in Kent, as well as Belgium, France,
Australia and USA.
32 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
22/58
THE MK V HEAVY TANKLike the previous tanks, the Mk V had a crew
of 8 men. Male tanks equipped with shortened
6-pounder cannon and four .303 Hotchkiss
machine guns, Female tanks equipped with
six .303 Hotchkiss machine guns. Fully loaded
weight was 29-tons (Male) 28-tons (Female)
with a maximum armour thickness of 14mm.
Radius of acon 45 miles with a maximum
speed 4.6mph. The Mk V was powered by aRicardo 6-cylinder petrol engine developing
150hp at 1000rpm. A total of 700 Mk V
tanks were produced, all by Metropolitan in
Birmingham and a total of eight Mk V tanks
currently survive in various museums around
the world, including the example at Bovington,
which is sll in running order.
MEDIUM A WHIPPETThe Whippet had a crew of 3 or 4 men and was equipped with four
.303 Hotchkiss machine guns. The fully loaded weight was 14-tons,
with a maximum armour thickness of 14mm. The radius of acon was
45 miles with a heady top speed of 8.3 mph courtesy of twin Tylor JB4Petrol Engines, each developing 45hp. Some 200 Medium A tanks were
produced, all by Wm Fosters of Lincoln. Five Medium A tanks survive in
various museums around the world.
NOVEMBER 2014MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL 33
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
23/58
MEDIUM B AND CBoth had a crew of 4 men and both were equipped with four .303
Hotchkiss machine guns. Male variants were planned, but never
produced. The Medium B weighed 18-tons fully loaded while the
Medium C weighed 19.5-tons fully loaded. Both had a maximum
armour thickness of 14mm. The radius of acon for the Medium
B was 45 miles, while the radius of acon for the Medium C was
approximately 75 miles, though Wm Foster and Co. quoted 120 miles.
The Medium Bs maximum speed was 8.5 mph, while the Medium Cs
maximum speed was 8 mph. The Medium B was powered by a Ricardo
4-cylinder petrol engine developing 100hp at 1200rpm, while the
Medium C used a Ricardo 6-cylinder petrol engine, which developed
150hp at 1200rpm.
Just 60 Medium B tanks were produced by Metropolitan in
Birmingham, Coventry Ordnance of Glasgow and North Brish
Locomove in Glasgow, while 36 Medium C tanks were produced by
William Foster and Co of Lincoln. Neither tank saw acon in WW1 and
of the two machines, the Medium C is regarded as the superior of the
two. No Medium B or C tanks survive.
34 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
24/58
MK I AND IIGUN CARRIERSA crew of 4 plus gun crew of another 4
men. Equipped with one .303 Hotchkiss
machine gun for defence. They carried
either a 6-inch Howitzer + ammunion or
a 60-pounder Field Gun + Ammunion.
Loaded weight with a 6-inch gun was
31-tons, and with a 60-pounder gun
34-tons. The unloaded weight was 27-tons. Maximum armour thickness was
12mm, and the radius of acon was
approximately 35 miles with a maximum
speed of 3.7 mph. The Gun Carriers
were powered by a Daimler 6-cylinder
petrol engine that developed 105hp at
1000rpm. The gun carriers were not true
Tanks, being used instead to transport
large calibre guns. A total of 48 Gun
Carriers were produced as well as two
salvage variants, all by Kitson and Co. of
Leeds. None survive today.
ANGLO-AMERICANMK VIII LIBERTY
HEAVY TANKThe massive Mk VIII had a crew of
12 men, the Brish version was
equipped with a pair of 6-pounder
cannon and six .303 Hotchkiss
machine guns, while the American
version was equipped with a pair of
6-pounder cannon and six .30 Cal
Browning machine guns.
The fully loaded weight was
approximately 37-tons with a
maximum armour thickness of
16mm. The radius of acon was 52 miles, with a maximum speed 5.7
mph. The Brish version of the Mk VIII was powered by a Ricardo
V12 300hp petrol engine, while the American Version was powered
by a Liberty V12 300 hp petrol engine. A total of eleven Mk VIII were
produced in Great Britain by North Brish Loco Works in Glasgow, withseveral more produced aer the war from parts. One hundred were
produced by the Rock Island Arsenal between 1918 and 1920. Two
American Mk VIII tanks are known to survive, both in the USA. One
Brish-made Mk VIII survives at the Tank Museum at Bovington.
NOVEMBER 2014MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL 35
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
25/58
36 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
RENAULT FT-17The diminuve Renault FT-17 had a crew of just 2 men. Male tanks were
equipped with a 37mm Cannon in a fully rotang turret, while Female
tanks were equipped with a single 8mm Hotchkiss machine gun in a fully
rotang turret. Fully loaded the Male and Female weighed 6.5-tons with a
maximum armour thickness of 22mm. The radius of acon was 22 miles, with
a maximum speed of 5mph. The tank was powered by a Renault 4-cylinder
35 hp petrol engine. A total of 3694 Renaults were produced by various
factories with Renault as the primary manufacturer, but were also produced
or used by many other countries including America, Russia, Great Britain,
Norway and even Nazi Germany. Around 20 FT-17s or variants thereof,
survive in various
museums around
the world.
SAINT-CHAMONDThe French St Chamond tank had
a crew of 8 or 9 men and was
equipped with a 75mm main
gun and four 7.62mm Hotchkiss
machine guns. Fully loaded the
tank weighed 23-tons and had
a maximum armour thickness
of 17mm. The radius of aconwas approximately 36 miles with
a maximum speed of 7.5mph.
The tank used coil sprung Holt
type tracks and was powered
by a Panhard-Levassor 4-cylinder 90hp petrol engine. A total of 400 Saint
Chamond tanks were produced by Compagnie des Forges at Acieries de la
Marine at dHomecourt, today only one Saint-Chamond survives at the
Muse des Blinds in Saumur.
FRANCE
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
26/58
SCHNEIDER CA1The Schneider had a crew of 6 men and was equipped with a 75mm Blockhaus
Schneider cannon and two 8mm Hotchkiss M1914 machine guns. Fully loaded it
weighed 13.6-tons and had a maximum armour thickness of 11mm. Like the St
Chamond, the Schneider also used coil sprung Holt type tracks. It had a radius
of acon of approximately 50 miles with a maximum speed of 8.1mph. The tank
was powered by a Schneider 4-cylinder 60 hp petrol engine. 400 Schneiders were
built by Socit doullage mcanique et dusinage darllerie otherwise known as
SOMUA, only one Schneider CA-1 survives at the Muse des Blinds in Saumur.
A7V STURMPANZERWAGONThe German A7V had a crew of 18 men and was equipped with a 57mm
Maxim Nordenfelt cannon as its main armament and six, 8mm Maxim
machine guns. Fully loaded it weighed in at 31-tons and had a maximum
armour thickness of 30mm. Like the French Schneider and St Chamond
tanks it used coil sprung Holt type tracks. Operaonally
it had a radius of acon of around 40 miles and a
maximum speed of 9mph. The A7V was powered by a
pair of German Daimler-Benz 4-cylinder petrol engines
with a combined output of 200hp. Just 20 A7V tanks
were built by Daimler-Moteren-Gesellscha, Daimler-Benz, at Marienfelde, and today only one A7V survives at
the Queensland Museum in Australia, however, in 2013,
another possible surviving A7V was found in the Wieprz
River in Poland.
NOVEMBER 2014MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL 37
GERMANY
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
27/58
38 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
LITTLE WILLIETANK PROTOTYPERegarded as the forerunner to the tanks that
took to the balefield, Lile Willie was projected
to have a crew of 6 men with a proposed
armament of a 2-pounder cannon and up tofour .303 Hotchkiss machine guns. In terms of
weight, sources differ with quoted fully loaded
weights of between 16 and 28-tons. The vehicle
was constructed from unarmoured Boilerplate
of a maximum thickness of 6mm. Radius of
acon was ancipated to be approximately 25
miles with a maximum speed of 3.5mph. Lile
Willie was powered by a Daimler sleeve valve
petrol engine developing 105hp at 1000rpm.
Only one example was ever built by Wm Foster
and Co. of Lincoln in 1915, which sll survives at
the Tank Museum Bovington, Dorset.
AMERICAN STEAM TANKThe American Steam Tank had a crew of 8 men and was equipped with a
forward mounted flame-thrower and four .30 Cal Browning machine guns.
Fully loaded it weighed approximately 51-tons and was constructed from
unarmoured Boilerplate of a maximum thickness of 13mm. The radius
of acon is unknown, but it did have a maximum speed of 4mph and was
powered by a pair of Kerosene burning 2-cylinder steam engines
producing 500bhp. One example was built by the US Army Corpsof Engineers and the Stanley Motor Carriage Co. of Massachuses
in 1918, with the tank being sent to France in mid to late 1918
for tesng, however, it never went into producon nor did it see
acon. The Steam Tank does not survive.
FLYING ELEPHANT TANKThe Flying Elephant was to have a crew of 8 men and be equipped
with a either a 6-pounder or more probably a 12-pounder cannon
depending on sources, and six .303 Hotchkiss machine guns.
Fully loaded the weight was to be approximately 100-tons with
a maximum armour thickness of 75mm. The radius of acon is
unknown, as is the maximum speed. The tank was to be powered
by a special version of the Daimler 105hp petrol engine, consisngof two units running from a common crank and producing around
200hp. The prototype was almost finished by Wm Foster and Co.
of Lincoln in December 1916, but later scrapped in favour of
Mk I producon.
CARRO FIAT TIPO 2000Italys contribuon to the tank world in WW1 was the Carro Fiat Tipo
2000, which had a crew of 10 men and was equipped with a 65mm
cannon and seven 8mm Revelli machine guns. Fully loaded it weighed 40-
tons and had a maximum armour thickness of 20mm. The radius of acon
was 47miles and the maximum speed 4.5mph. The tank was powered
by a Fiat 6-cylinder petrol engine producing 240hp. Two examples of this
decepvely good tank built by Fiat in late 1918 (some sources say a total
of 6 had been built by 1920) and while the tank never saw acon in the
Great War, it stayed in service unl 1934. None survive today.
PROTOTYPES, ONE OFFS AND SPLENDID ODDITIES
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
28/58
Despite the raging ware,
which threatened Frances
very existence, the design
and producon of Frances
tanks of the First World War was
subject to a great deal of in-fighng
and polical controversy. Wrangling
between those associated with the
projects, together with disputes as
to how the projects were apparently
railroaded through the design
and acceptance process, wouldeventually result in two of the most
famous French tank designs of the
war, but the path from design to
producon was far from smooth, and
fighng in the boardrooms between
the two rival design teams would
match the fierce fighng the tanks
would encounter on the balefield!
It all started in January 1916
when a commiee was set up with
the backing of General Joffre to
decide how best to design and build
the machinery necessary to try and
break the stalemate of the trenches
on the balefields of France, more
specifically tanks. The commieewas composed of Lieutenant
Colonel Cordier, Squadron Leader
Ferrus, Captain Delaunay Belleville
and Lieutenant Fouch and from
the outset, the American Baby Holt
tractor, which used tracked running
gear, was earmarked as a suitable
basis for the designs.
Two different projects evolved,
which eventually became the
Schneider and Saint-Chamond
tanks. The designs of the two tanks
differed in their approach, not least
the size of the machines, with theSt Chamond becoming the larger
of the two designs, however, both
ulized modified variaons of the
Holt tractor running gear.
Having been pushed through
the design process in favour of the
Saint-Chamond, the Schneider tank
was tested at Vincennes on February
21, 1916, in the presence of General
Mourret, director of automove
service. The tests were found to be
sasfactory, with the tank crossing
wide trenches, but it was discovered
that the steel pins and barbed wire
used on the balefield could get
tangled in the running gear, however,the defect was seen as being easy to
fix and the Schneider was approved
for producon, which could have
sealed the fate of the larger Saint-
Chamond, however, the authories
sll had a preference for heavy
tanks and following a great deal of
bureaucrac wrangling regarding
the way the Schneider was pushed
through the approval process, it was
eventually decided that work on the
Saint-Chamond should connue.
NEW THINKINGThe way in which the Schneider had
been pushed through the design and
approval process annoyed many of
those involved, and Colonel Emile
40 MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2014
Pascal Danjoulooks at the First World War French St Chamond Heavy Tank
Saint-ChamondABOVE...
This Saint-Chamond
tank is one of the very
first models, and isnt
even fied with the
later cylindrical outlet to
evacuate the fumes from
the 75mm gun, which was
later posioned between
the two observaon
cupolas.
BELOW...This example of the French
Saint-Chamond HeavyTank (Number 62 593) has
the later pitched roof, but
sll lacks viewing ports
and retains its model 1912,
75 mm gun.
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
29/58
Rimailho, who directed the design
of the Saint-Chamond, vowed that
the new tank would be bigger and
beer than the Schneider in every
way. As a result of this the Saint-
Chamond used an undercarriage that
was much longer than the standard
Holt tractor chassis and comprised of
three suspension unit elements in an
effort to increase the trench crossing
capacity of the vehicle.
The massive machine had a crew
of nine men, which comprised of
a commander, a Sergeant gunner,
two main gunners, four machine
gunners and a mechanic. Compared
with smaller Schneider, the Saint-
Chamond had much more room
inside and was therefore a lile
more comfortable for the crew.
The armoured box-like hull was
huge in comparison with Schneider,
with an elongated front end that
extended forward of the tracks to
accommodate the larger 75 mm
main gun posioned at the front of
the tank. This extra length inially
caused some problems on the
balefield, with the gun digging in,
but a small roller was eventually
fied to allow it to glide over the
ground more easily.
The design of the Saint-Chamond
hull evolved many mes over
the years it was in service, with
changes to the angle of the roof, the
vision cupolas and the addion of
extra armour plate to combat the
increased calibre of the German
weapons, the end result saw the
original design weight of just under
20-tonnes increasing to more than
24-tonnes by the end of the war!
In an effort to make the
increasingly cumbersome tank more
drivable on the balefield, changes
were made to the running gear,
increasing the track width and adding
skids to help it cope with addional
weight, but none really made any
great difference and the massive
Saint-Chamond, which measured 8.9
metres in length 2.7 metres wide and
2.4 metres high, was never an agile
vehicle on the balefield. Despite
these drawbacks an order for 400
units was placed in April 1916.
The Schneider was deemed to be
diffi cult to drive so it was decided
to fit the Saint-Chamond with a
petrol-electric transmission made
by Crochat Collardeau to give tank
greater flexibility. Propulsion was
provided by a Panhard 100hp petrol
engine, which provided power to the
generator that supplied current to
each of the two electric motors, one
for each track. Although the system
was complex, it was the only one
NOVEMBER 2014MILITARY MACHINES INTERNATIONAL 41
ABOVE...
Faced with delays in the producon
and development of the tank gun, a
number of Saint-Chamond tanks wereproduced as supply vehicles instead,
without the main gun fied, as shown
here, however, they did parcipate in
the first French tank bale at Berry au
Bac together with the Schneider.
BELOW LEFT...
Photograph of a Saint-Chamond taken during training. The angle of the photo shows off well the two
observaon cupolas between which is the cylindrical outlet to evacuate the fumes from the 75 mm main gun.
BELOW RIGHT...
Saint-Chamond tank number 62 792 was one of the last models tanks to be received and included some of the
later addions such as beer vision for the tank commander and the model 1897 version of the 75 mm gun.
8/10/2019 Great War Military Vehicles
30/58
exisng at the me that allowed the complete
transmission of the power and torque
required without the need for heavy and
physically demanding driver controls normallyassociated with the first tanks. Despite this,
the driver controls were sll complex, but did
at least allow the tank to turn on the spot and
duplicate controls were also provided at the
rear of the tank to allow the driver to reverse
the huge vehicle more easily.
Unfortunately right from the outset it
appears that the Saint-Chamond was not very
good on rough terrain, with the shedding of
tracks and breakages in the undercarriage
a frequent occurrence, and as a result was
rarely able to cross trenches wider than
1.8 metres, despite being designed to cross
much wider trenches. In terms of weapons,it was decided to increase the size of the
main gun for the Saint-Chamond to a 75 mm
model 1912 cavalry gun with a higher muzzle
velocity, which was more powerful than that
of Schneider. This gun was used
for the first 165 vehicles built,
with the 75 mm gun model 1897
replacing it for the remainder of
producon. In addion to the main
gun the Saint-Chamond was fied
with four Hotchkiss Model 1914
machine guns.
Addional changes to the tank
included a modificaons to the
original flat roof to an angled roof
because it was found that the flat roof was a
trap for grenades! Unfortunately what should
have been an improvement actually created
producon delays,and the decision to
simplify the roof
construcon by
removing the raised
cupolas turned
out to be a serious
error, not least
because it reduced
the visibility for
the crew! The first
tanks with pitched
roof were delivered
ten days aer the
bale of Berry auBac, with the new
developme