The United Kingdom (UK), officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and sometimes referred to as Britain, is a sovereign country located off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi), the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world. It is also the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.
A military armoredcar is a lightweight wheeled armored fighting vehicle, historically employed for reconnaissance, internal security, armed escort, and other subordinate battlefield tasks. With the gradual decline of mounted cavalry, armored cars were developed for carrying out duties formerly assigned to horsemen. Following the invention of the tank, the armored car remained popular due to its comparatively simplified maintenance and low production cost. It also found favor with several colonial armies as a cheaper weapon for use in underdeveloped regions. During World War II, most armored cars were engineered for reconnaissance and passive observation, while others were devoted to communications tasks. Some equipped with heavier armament could even substitute for tracked combat vehicles in favorable conditions—such as pursuit or flanking maneuvers during the North African Campaign.
The Lanchester Motor Company Limited was a car manufacturer located until early 1931 at Armourer Mills, Montgomery Street, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, and afterwards at Sandy Lane, Coventry England. The marque has been unused since the last Lanchester was produced in 1955. The Lanchester Motor Company Limited is still registered as an active company and accounts are filed each year, although as of 2014 it is marked as "non-trading".
In 1914, the Lanchester was the second most numerous armoured car in service after the Rolls-Royce.[clarification needed] Designed by the Admiralty Air Department for the Royal Naval Air Service Armoured Car Section in France it was intended to support air bases and retrieve downed pilots.[2] A prototype was produced in December 1914 with production following in early 1915.
The Rolls-Royce Armoured Car was a British armoured car developed in 1914 and used during the First World War, Irish Civil War, the inter-war period in Imperial Air Control in Transjordan, Israel and Mesopotamia, and in the early stages of the Second World War in the Middle East and North Africa.
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force, the world's first independent air force.
A number of changes were made; principally strengthening the chassis and suspension, and doubled rear wheels fitted to the rear axle to improve traction, weight distribution. The vehicle had a distinctive circular turret with a narrow horizontal roof with central hatch, steeply sloped at the sides, and continuous sloped bonnet plating. This last, together with a much more compact form than the earlier Rolls Royce Armoured Car achieved by positioning the driver beside the powerful and reliable engine, which featured an epicyclic gearbox) gives the Lancaster a deceptively modern appearance that matches its paper specification when compared with its later inter-war 6x4 version.
Thirty six of the production version were sent to France in May 1915, one twelve-car RNAS squadron served with the Belgian Army. In addition, Belgium received between 10 and 15 cars on loan from the RNAS.
On the Western Front it served its intended purpose despite what were considered advanced features. However, with the rough road conditions and even rougher cross-country treks the 4x2 Lanchester chassis caused difficulties which were never satisfactorily resolved, limiting its usefulness.
In 1915, all thirty six RNAS armoured cars were passed to the British Army. Since the BEF had acquired a variety of armoured cars, and this represented a challenge in terms of maintenance, stores and training it was decided, given trench warfare had severely limited the role that armoured cars could play, that the British Expeditionary Force should standardise on a single type, selecting the Rolls Royce[3] Accordingly, all Lanchester armoured cars were returned to Britain.
The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was the British Army sent to the Western Front during the First World War. Planning for a British Expeditionary Force began with the Haldane reforms of the British Army carried out by the Secretary of State for War Richard Haldane following the Second Boer War (1899–1902).
After being overhauled, 22 vehicles were supplied to the Imperial Russian Army in December 1915. Of these 19 were later rearmed with a 37-mm naval Hotchkiss gun in place of the standard Vickers machine gun. In January 1916 more Lanchesters arrived with the RNAS expeditionary force[4] deployed in the Caucasus, Romania and Galicia in support of the Russians. RNAS detachments were sent as far as Persia and Turkey and the Lanchesters travelled many thousands of miles until, in early 1918, the expedition force departed Russia via Murmansk.
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of more than 900,000 regular soldiers and nearly 250,000 irregulars.
The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch (42 mm) light mountain gun; there were also a navy (47 mm) and a 3-inch (76 mm) Hotchkiss guns. The 42 mm gun was intended to be mounted on a light carriage or packed on two mules to accompany a troop of cavalry or an army travelling in rough country.
The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The machine gun typically required a six to eight-man team to operate: one fired, one fed the ammunition, the rest helped to carry the weapon, its ammunition, and spare parts. It was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied World War I fighter aircraft.
Jack Livesey in Armoured Fighting Vehicles of World War I and II[5] wrote
"Operating in climates ranging from desert to near-Arctic conditions... during their time in Russia these cars covered 85,295km/53,000 miles. [They] were deployed in a manner that would become the standard for AFV warfare in the 20th Century. Acting as scouts and armed raiders, they operated well forward of the infantry following in their armoured trucks. When operating alongside the infantry they would act as fire-support vehicles..."
Their last operation was in support of the Brusilov Offensive in mid 1917.
Following this deployment Russia descended into civil war and the RNAS armoured car division was withdrawn back to Britain, while Lanchesters still in Russian hands were used by the White Russian forces.
During most of its service life, the Lanchester was considered an admirably fast and reliable vehicle, the only caveat being limitations imposed by the chassis.
Variants
Vehicles received by the Russian Army were fitted with a small cupola on the turret and with side shields for the machine gun.
↑ Livesey, Jack (2007). Armoured Fighting Vehicles of World Wars I and II. Hermes Hse 88-89 Blackfriars Rd, London SE1 8HA: Anness Publishing Ltd. p.63. ISBN978-1-84476-370-2.
An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Main battle tanks, armoured cars, armoured self-propelled guns, and armoured personnel carriers are all examples of AFVs.
A tank destroyer, tank hunter, or tank killer is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, armed with a direct-fire artillery gun or missile launcher, with limited operational capacities and designed specifically to engage enemy tanks.
The Leichter Panzerspähwagen was a series of light four-wheel drive armoured cars produced by Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1944.
The Tank, Cruiser, Challenger (A30) was a British tank of World War II. It mounted the QF 17-pounder anti-tank gun on a chassis derived from the Cromwell tank to add anti-tank firepower to the cruiser tank units. The design compromises made in fitting the large gun onto the Cromwell chassis resulted in a tank with a powerful weapon and reduced armour. The extemporised 17-pounder Sherman Firefly conversion of the US-supplied Sherman was easier to produce and, with delays in production, only 200 Challengers were built. The Challenger was able to keep up with the fast Cromwell tank and was used with them.
AEC Armoured Car is the name of a series of British heavy armoured cars built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) during the Second World War.
A Kangaroo was a Canadian armoured personnel carrier (APC) during the Second World War, created by converting a tank chassis. Created as an expedient measure by the Canadian Army, Kangaroos were so successful that they were soon being used by British and Commonwealth forces.
The Marmon-Herrington Armoured Car was a series of armoured vehicles that were produced in South Africa and adopted by the British Army during the Second World War. RAF Armoured Car companies possessed them, but seem never to have used them in action, making greater use of Rolls Royce Armoured Cars and other types.
The BA-64 was a Soviet four-wheeled armoured scout car. Built on the chassis of a GAZ-64 or GAZ-67 jeep, it incorporated a hull loosely modeled after that of the Sd.Kfz. 221. The BA-64 was developed between July and November 1941 to replace the BA-20 then in service with armoured car units of the Red Army. Cheap and exceptionally reliable, it would later become the most common Soviet wheeled armoured fighting vehicle to enter service during World War II, with over 9,000 being manufactured before production ended.
The Lanchester 6x4 armoured car was a British armoured car with a 6x4 drivetrain produced in limited numbers in the late 1920s and early 1930s. A heavier, more rugged development of the earlier Lanchester 4x2 armoured car, it remained in service with Territorial and colonial units until the early 1940s and saw action in the Battle of Malaya.
The Guy Armoured Car was a British armoured car produced in limited numbers during Second World War. The car saw limited action during the Battle of France.
During the First World War, sixteen American Peerless trucks were modified by the British to serve as armoured cars. These were relatively primitive designs with open backs, armed with a Pom-pom gun and a machine gun, and were delivered to the British army in 1915. They were used also by the Tsarist Russian Army as self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.
Tanks of the Second World War
The Peugeot armored car was a four-wheeled armored vehicle based on a commercial Peugeot truck that was quickly developed by the French in 1914 for use in World War I.
Throughout its history, the Irish Army has used a number of armoured fighting vehicles.
The Delaunay-Belleville armoured car was a British armoured car built on the chassis of the luxury French Delaunay-Belleville tourer, it saw service with the Royal Naval Air Service in the early years of the First World War.
The Seabrook armoured lorry was a British heavy armoured car built on the chassis of an American 5-ton truck which saw service with the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War.
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