Armoured Vehicles

Armoured Car





The first armoured cars armour-plated, open-topped vehicles with machine guns or other light guns or artillery pieces. Most used by the British the more popular form was the Napier produced in 1912. The design had different bodies which which provided the vehicle with multiple functions.


Armoured cars were used on the Western Front but they were limited in trench warfare because they could not handle very uneven terrain. The British army used armoured cars with great success in Palestine and in Mesopotamia.




Mark V Tank





The Mark V tank became available in July 1918. It contained a new Ricardo engine that had been specially designed for the tank. With new transmission and better gears, the tank could travel at nearly 5 mph. To help the tank tackle the wide trenches of the Hindenburg Line, cribbs were carried. This was a braced cylindrical framework which when dropped in the trench acted as a kind of stepping stone.


At Amiens Colonel John Fuller managed to persuade General Henry Rawlinson to use 342 Mark V and 72 Whippet tanks, followed by soldiers and supported by over 1,000 aircraft. The strategy worked and the Allies managed to breakthrough the German frontline.




Schwerer Kampfwagen A7V German Tank





In response to the wave of tanks the German forces immediately demanded their own landships. They brought together the greatest engineering minds of the country and decided Josef Vollmer would be the one to disign it. By 1917 the first of the 100 ordered tanks were ready for use. Though it had thicker armour and sprung tracks make it a better tank than the British tanks, the A7V was less successful as a battle vehicle.