WW1 Military Motors - 1916 set x 50 cards

[Lancashire Fusilier]

With reference to post 2268, an enlarged photograph showing a Fiat Model 15 Lorry, leading a convoy of ' Indian Pattern ' Fiat Armoured Cars on patrol in the North West Frontier region.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Scalyback]

More great pictures LF.

regards the loading/unloading of the fiats.............................Not sure I fancy the job.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

More great pictures LF.

regards the loading/unloading of the fiats.............................Not sure I fancy the job.

I agree, and remember those ' Indian Pattern ' Fiat Armoured Cars were constructed using the thicker and heavier ' Beardmore ' armour plating not the thinner boilerplate previously used, so they were very heavy vehicles, and that gang plank looks none too wide, secure or substantial.

Regards,

LF

[Lancashire Fusilier]

As a direct result of the War Office's desire for the British Army in India to acquire motor vehicles locally for their Armoured Motor Units ( AMUs ), and then convert those vehicles into armoured cars using the workshops of the various Indian regional railway companies, we see an array of different types of ' Indian Pattern ' Armoured Cars.

Here is a photograph of another such example, the 1915 ' Indian Pattern ' Minerva Armoured Car, a few of which were constructed using the chassis from locally acquired Minerva Tourer motorcars, with the armoured bodywork conversions being carried out at the workshops of the East Indian Railway Company at Lillooah outside of Calcutta. These ' Indian Pattern ' Minerva Armoured Cars, were armed with a Maxim machine gun.

As with other ' Indian Pattern ' Armoured Cars, the Minerva version was produced both with flat sides to the bodywork and also with semi-circular bulges in the side panels ( as shown ), other variations included single and double rear wheels.

LF

Early Armoured Cars - E. Bartholomew. This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

' Indian Pattern ' Minerva Armoured Cars on patrol.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

An example of a 1911 Minerva Tourer, the chassis of which was used for the ' Indian Pattern ' Minerva Armoured Car.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Two photographs of King George V riding on the light railway which ran through the Forest of Hesdin, on 7th August 1918. The light railway's engine, is a ' Simplex ' 20 hp. Trench Tractor.

The then small village of Hesdin is located in the Nord-Pas-du-Calais region of Northern France mid-way between Montreuil-Sur-Mer to its West, and Arras to its East.

Today, Hesdin is twinned with the London Borough of Havering.

LF

IWM This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

2.

LF

IWM This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[David Filsell]

I remain fascinated by the length, breadth and width of your collection. The thread remains a must read for me. Incidentally can any name the red tab oat the King's side? I wondered if it was Robertson but .....

[Lancashire Fusilier]

I remain fascinated by the length, breadth and width of your collection. The thread remains a must read for me. Incidentally can any name the red tab oat the King's side? I wondered if it was Robertson but .....

David,

I am pleased to hear, that you are continuing to enjoy this Thread.

I have copies of several photographs taken that day during the King's visit to an Army Forestry Company felling trees in the Forest of Hesdin. Unfortunately, the photographs' captions do not detail who was with the King that day.

Attached, is an enlargement of that photograph which gives a better view of the man in question.

Regards,

LF

IWM This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Yet another example of the diversity of the ' Indian Pattern ' Armoured Cars supplied to the British Army's Armoured Motor Brigades ( formerly the Armoured Motor Units ) in India, was the 8th Armoured Motor Brigade's ' Indian Pattern ' Willys - Overland Armoured Car. This armoured car was constructed for the 8th AMB based in Quetta, using the locally acquired chassis from an American chain-drive Willys-Overland motorcar.

Quetta ( now in Pakistan ), also had one of the largest British Army garrisons in India.

Even more interesting was the armament fitted into this armoured car, which was an 1880s vintage 3-barrelled Nordenfelt machine gun. This aged machine gun, was lever-operated using a tall vertical gravity fed magazine similar to that used on a Gatling Gun.

To accommodate the Nordenfelt's tall magazine and the additional height needed to change the magazine, this armoured car was fitted with an exceptionally high domed turret with an opening through which the Nordenfelt's triple barrels were projected. It was also fitted with distinctive dual front fitted barbed wire cutters.

The multi-barrelled ' Nordenfelt ' gun was developed in the early 1870s by Swede Heldge Palmcrantz, however, Palmcrantz did not have the funds to fully develop his invention so he approached Swedish banker Thorsten Nordenfelt for financial backing. Nordenfelt agreed to fund Palmcrantz's gun, but only if his name was put on the weapon.

The Nordenfelt gun had an extremely high rate of fire, and was capable of firing 1,000 rounds per minute.

The Nordenfelt multi-barrelled gun was adopted by the British Royal Navy in the late 1870s, and in a later test firing during which the Royal Navy tested a 10-barrelled Nordenfelt, the gun was fired 3,000 rounds in 3 minutes with no stoppages, and it was this high rate of fire and the gun's endurance and reliability which made it so attractive, and it certainly would have given the 8th AMB's ' Indian Pattern ' Willy-Overland Armoured Car formidable fire power.

LF

IWM This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

A carriage mounted ' Nordenfelt ' triple-barrelled gun.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

The multi-barrelled ' Nordenfelt ' gun was adopted by the British Royal Navy in the late 1870s, with the Royal Navy using various multi-barrel combinations ranging from 3 to 10 barrels.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

A four-barrelled ' Nordenfelt ' gun.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

An advertisement for the 1914 Willys-Overland motorcar, which gives us excellent specifications for the car. The chassis from a Willys-Overland motorcar was used in the construction of the 8th AMB's ' Indian Pattern ' Willys-Overland Armoured Car.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

An advertisement for the American Willys-Overland motorcar.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

A 1915 Willys-Overland Tourer.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

The Nordenfelt - Erith, Kent Connection

Thorsten Nordenfelt (1842-1920), was born in Orby outside Kinna, Sweden, the son of an Army colonel. Thorsten worked for a Swedish company in London from 1862 to 1866 and emigrated to England in 1867, at which time he married Emma Stansfeld Grundy. The 1881 Census shows the Nordenfelt family as living at Leinster Lodge on the Uxbridge Road, Paddington in West London.

In 1887 Thorsten Nordenfelt and his brother-in-law started a small business to trade Swedish steel used for British train rails. Later, he founded the Nordenfelt Guns & Ammunition Company Ltd., to finance and develop a machine-gun designed by fellow Swede Helge Palmcrantz that would known as the ' Nordenfelt ' gun. His company also designed a range of anti-torpedoboat guns in calibres from 37 to 57 mm, which were produced at the Nordenfelt factory in Erith, Kent.

Under pressure from Rothschild and Vickers his company merged with Maxim in 1888 to form TheMaxim Nordenfelt Gun and Ammunition Company.

After a personal bankruptcy, Nordenfelt was forced out of the Nordenfelt-Maxim company in 1890 and left England for France, where his new company, Société Nordenfelt, designed the eccentric screw breech used on the French 75 gun. In 1903, he returned to Sweden and retired.

The public house known as the ' Nordenfelt Tavern ' ( photograph attached ) at 181 Erith Road, Erith, Kent was built in 1902, and is named after the local Nordenfelt factory, whose workers frequented the pub in Edwardian times.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Thorsten Nordenfelt (1842-1920)

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Scalyback]

A four-barrelled ' Nordenfelt ' gun.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

A voulnteer unit but what the duce is going on with the double cap badged gunner and bugler?

[johnboy]

3 men appear to have double cap badges.

[Scalyback]

3 men appear to have double cap badges.

Missed the chap over the shoulder of the one with the tash! They appear to be a diffrent and distinct unit to the other chaps. LF was there a caption included on the photograph? Sorry for the drift to uniforms on a motor thread.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Missed the chap over the shoulder of the one with the tash! They appear to be a diffrent and distinct unit to the other chaps. LF was there a caption included on the photograph? Sorry for the drift to uniforms on a motor thread.

3 men appear to have double cap badges.

Scalyback and johnboy,

Yes, the uniforms and cap badges are very interesting. The photograph is captioned as being taken aboard HMS ' Alexandra ' at some time in the late 1880s, and the ship may have been on its way to Khartoum.

Regards,

LF

[Lancashire Fusilier]

To cope with the enormous 1400 lb weight of a 15 inch Howitzer shell, special steel reinforced wagons with iron wheels were used to transport the shells.

The first photograph dated 1st July 1916, shows a shell wagon in use during the Battle of Albert.

LF

IWM This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

A reinforced shell wagon hauling 15 inch howitzer shells in Englebelmer Wood in September 1916.

Englebelmer Wood is in the Somme Picardy region of Northern France.

LF

IWM This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.