Vickers guns on vehicle (1918)

[MAW]

Can anyone explain how the vehicle in this photograph worked?

 

Was is self-propelled or pulled by a lorry or horses?

 

Would the unfortunate casualties have been with  a MGC or RGA anti-aircraft unit?

 

Mark

Edited 3 April , 2020 by MAW

[stripeyman]

It is a Canadian Autocar, photographed after 21 March 1918. I believe one has been preserved in Canada

[ZIL]

very interesting....try Google...plenty of examples plus explanations.Another item I had never heard of.

Thanks for the posts.

Zil

[Robert Dunlop]

Various wealthy Canadian benefactors funded the creation of motorised machine gun units. These were consolidated together into the Canadian Motorised Machine Gun Brigade, which was incorporated into the Canadian Machine Gun Corps. This website has a helpful summary:

 

https://www.canadiansoldiers.com/corpsbranches/machineguncorps.htm

 

The photograph is of a motorised machine gun lorry, purpose-built. It is usually purported to show a vehicle destroyed at some time during the German March offensive in the Spring of 1918. These vehicles were used to support rear guard actions. Here is another view, with German soldiers and an officer looking at the vehicle from a distance:

 

 

Robert

[Robert Dunlop]

And here is a photo of the vehicle in the Canadian War Museum:

 

 

You can just make out the driver on the right. One side has been lowered to enable the gunner to be seen more easily.

Robert

[stripeyman]

It looks like this has seen action, note the dent from a round on the forward plate near the driver

[MAW]

Thank you all for your inputs.

 

Why did the British not adopt this armoured car design? Was it not a success? It appears that the armour, even at the front of the vehicle, was relatively thin, and the open nature of the crew compartment must have made the crew very vulnerable on rough terrain.

 

Mark

 

[MikeMeech]

3 hours ago, MAW said:

Thank you all for your inputs.

 

Why did the British not adopt this armoured car design? Was it not a success? It appears that the armour, even at the front of the vehicle, was relatively thin, and the open nature of the crew compartment must have made the crew very vulnerable on rough terrain.

 

Mark

 

Hi

 

Why would the British adopt this design?  The armoured cars used by the British had basically left the Western Front after the Battle of Arras in 1917 to be used in other theatres as they had not been of great use on the Western Front.  This design always reminds me of the 'armoured cars' used by the RNAS during 1914.  Rolls-Royce armoured cars (single turret) of the MGC had been attached to the Cavalry Corps during 1916.  British Armoured Cars had returned to the Western Front by August 1918 when we see the 17th Armoured Car Battalion in the 5th Tank Brigade operating with the Australian Corps at Amiens.  They were equipped with the Austin Armoured Car which had twin turrets, they led the British Army over the Rhine on 6th December 1918.  However, all these armoured cars had a limited cross country performance and were basically road bound.

Others may be able to supply more detail.

 

Mike

[Marilyne]

interesting... brings me back to the one and only time I ever fired a "KLA" on our 4T trucks... 

 

M.

[david murdoch]

8 hours ago, MAW said:

Thank you all for your inputs.

 

Why did the British not adopt this armoured car design? Was it not a success? It appears that the armour, even at the front of the vehicle, was relatively thin, and the open nature of the crew compartment must have made the crew very vulnerable on rough terrain.

 

Mark

 

No reason to when you have a Rolls Royce! In general the armoured cars and the motorcycle batteries prior to this used the guns dismounted and giving support fire from pre planned positions and fire plans. So the vehicles were more a way to move around close behind the lines. The motorbikes were far more adaptable as they were originally off road machines anyway. The majority of the  bikes were  sacrificed in November 1916 to use the experienced manpower to expand the tank units. By 1917 there were just three Armoured Motor Batteries in France (12 Rolls Royce total) Two of these batteries were merged in late 1917 and sent to Mesopotamia and the last one followed shortly after. War diary shows they were being used for anti aircraft duty as well. The cars were also having issues with armoured piercing ammunition and the additional armour they had to fit was causing a lot of weight problems and made them even more prone to bogging down. The camouflaged one was actually well before Arras as this photo appeared in the newspapers earlier in 1917. From the war diary it was waiting to be pulled out and was recovered. The wrecked one got bogged and the German spotters called artillery in on it.

[robins2]

16 hours ago, Robert Dunlop said:

Various wealthy Canadian benefactors funded the creation of motorised machine gun units. These were consolidated together into the Canadian Motorised Machine Gun Brigade, which was incorporated into the Canadian Machine Gun Corps. This website has a helpful summary:

 

https://www.canadiansoldiers.com/corpsbranches/machineguncorps.htm

 

The photograph is of a motorised machine gun lorry, purpose-built. It is usually purported to show a vehicle destroyed at some time during the German March offensive in the Spring of 1918. These vehicles were used to support rear guard actions. Here is another view, with German soldiers and an officer looking at the vehicle from a distance:

 

 

Robert

I,m inclined to say that the two photos are of the same vehicle only taken at different times???   Post #1  and #4

Edited 4 April , 2020 by robins2

[Robert Dunlop]

Agreed, FWIIW