Editing Armored car (military) (section)

==History==

===Precursors===
During the Middle Ages, [[war wagon]]s covered with steel plate, and crewed by men armed with primitive [[hand cannon]], [[Flail (weapon)|flail]]s and [[musket]]s, were used by the [[Hussite]] rebels in Bohemia. These were deployed in formations where the horses and oxen were at the centre, and the surrounding wagons were chained together as protection from enemy cavalry.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.warhistoryonline.com/medieval/circling-15th-century-wagons-hussite-wars.html|title=Circling the 15th Century Wagons: The Hussite Wars|first=Andrew|last=Knighton|date=12 July 2016|website=warhistoryonline.com|access-date=6 May 2018|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506171943/https://www.warhistoryonline.com/medieval/circling-15th-century-wagons-hussite-wars.html|archive-date=6 May 2018}}</ref> 
With the invention of the [[steam engine]], Victorian inventors designed prototype self-propelled armored vehicles for use in sieges, although none were deployed in combat. [[H. G. Wells]]' short story "[[The Land Ironclads]]" provides a fictionalized account of their use.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0604041h.html|title=The Land Ironclads|website=gutenberg.net.au|access-date=6 May 2018|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819130534/http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0604041h.html|archive-date=19 August 2017}}</ref>

===Armed car===
[[File:Simms Motor Scout from Autocar.jpg|thumb|[[Frederick Richard Simms|F.R. Simms]]' [[Motor Scout]], built in 1898 as an armed car]]
The [[Motor Scout]] was designed and built by British inventor [[Frederick Richard Simms|F.R. Simms]] in 1898. It was the first armed petrol engine-powered vehicle ever built. The vehicle was a [[De Dion-Bouton]] [[quadricycle]] with a mounted [[Maxim gun|Maxim machine gun]] on the front bar. An iron shield in front of the car protected the driver.<ref>Macksey, Kenneth (1980). The Guinness Book of Tank Facts and Feats. Guinness Superlatives Limited, {{ISBN|0-85112-204-3}}.</ref>

Another early armed car was invented by [[Royal Page Davidson]] at [[Northwestern Military and Naval Academy]] in 1898 with the [[Davidson-Duryea gun carriage]] and the later [[Davidson Automobile Battery armored car]].

However, these were not "armored cars" as the term is understood today, as they provided little protection for their crews from enemy fire.

===First armoured cars===
At the beginning of the 20th century, the first military armored vehicles were manufactured by adding armor and weapons to existing vehicles.
[[File:Simms Motor War Car 1902.jpg|thumb|left|[[Frederick Richard Simms|F.R. Simms]]' 1902 [[Motor War Car]], the first armored car to be built]]
The first armored car was the [[Motor War Car|Simms' Motor War Car]], designed by [[Frederick Richard Simms|F.R. Simms]] and built by [[Vickers#Vickers, Sons & Maxim|Vickers, Sons & Maxim]] of [[Barrow-in-Furness|Barrow]] on a special [[Coventry]]-built [[Daimler Company|Daimler]] chassis<ref name=DCMB /> with a [[Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft|German-built Daimler]] motor in 1899.<ref name=DCMB /> and a single prototype was ordered in April 1899<ref name="DCMB">{{cite book| author = Edward John Barrington Douglas-Scott-Montagu Baron Montagu of Beaulieu|author2=Lord Montagu|author3=David Burgess Wise| title = Daimler Century: The Full History of Britain's Oldest Car Maker| year = 1995| publisher = Haynes Publications| isbn = 978-1-85260-494-3 }}</ref> The prototype was finished in 1902,<ref name=DCMB /> too late to be used during the [[Boer War]].

The vehicle had Vickers armor, {{convert|6|mm|in|abbr=on}} thick, and was powered by a four-cylinder {{convert|3.3|L|cuin|abbr=on}}<ref name=DCMB /> {{convert|16|hp|abbr=on}} Cannstatt Daimler engine, giving it a maximum speed of around {{convert|9|mph|abbr=on}}. The armament, consisting of two [[Maxim gun]]s, was carried in two turrets with 360° traverse.<ref>{{cite book|last=Macksey|first=Kenneth|title=The Guinness Book of Tank Facts and Feats|year=1980|publisher=Guinness Superlatives Limited|isbn=0-85112-204-3|pages=256}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Tucker|first=Spencer|title=The European Powers in the First World War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gv3GEyB19wIC&pg=PA65|year=1999|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-8153-3351-X|pages=816}}</ref> It had a crew of four. Simms' Motor War Car was presented at [[the Crystal Palace]], [[London]], in April 1902.<ref>''Armoured Fighting Vehicles of the World'', Duncan, p.3</ref>

Another early armored car of the period was the French [[Charron, Girardot et Voigt 1902]], presented at the ''Salon de l'Automobile et du cycle'' in [[Brussels]], on 8 March 1902.<ref>{{cite book| last = Gougaud| first = Alain| title = L'aube de la gloire: les autos mitrailleuses et les chars français pendant la Grande Guerre, histoire technique et militaire, arme blindée, cavalerie, chars, Musée des blindés| year = 1987| isbn = 978-2-904255-02-1| page = 11 | publisher = Société OCEBUR}}</ref> The vehicle was equipped with a [[Hotchkiss machine gun]], and with {{convert|7|mm|in|abbr=on}} armour for the gunner.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PknxxLTNhU8C&pg=PA5|title=Early Armoured Cars|first=E.|last=Bartholomew|date=1 January 1988|publisher=Bloomsbury USA|isbn=9780852639085|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>Gougaud, p.11-12</ref>

One of the first operational armored cars with four wheel (4x4) drive and partly enclosed rotating turret, was the Austro-Daimler Panzerwagen built by [[Austro-Daimler]] in 1904. It was armored with {{convert|3-3.5|mm|in|abbr=on}} thick curved plates over the body (drive space and engine) and had a {{convert|4|mm|in|abbr=on}} thick dome-shaped rotating turret that housed one or two machine-guns. It had a four-cylinder {{convert|35|hp|abbr=on}} {{convert|4.4|L|cuin|abbr=on}} engine giving it average cross country performance. Both the driver and co-driver had adjustable seats enabling them to raise them to see out of the roof of the drive compartment as needed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww1/austria-hungary/Austro-Daimler_Panzerwagen.php|title=Austro-Daimler Panzerwagen (1904)|website=www.tanks-encyclopedia.com|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170429123454/http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww1/austria-hungary/Austro-Daimler_Panzerwagen.php|archive-date=2017-04-29}}</ref> 

The Spanish [[Schneider-Brillié model 1909|Schneider-Brillié]] was the first armored vehicle to be used in combat, being first used in the [[Kert campaign|Kert Campaign]]. The vehicle was equipped with two machineguns and built from a bus chassis.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Montes |first=Gareth Lynn |date=2018-12-20 |title=Blindado Schneider-Brillié |url=https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww1-spain-blindado-schneider-brillie/ |access-date=2023-04-18 |website=Tank Encyclopedia |language=en-US}}</ref> 

An  armored car known as the <nowiki>''Death Special''</nowiki> was built at the CFI plant in [[Pueblo, Colorado|Pueblo]] and used by the Badlwin-Felts detective agency during the [[Colorado Coalfield War]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Program |first=Colorado Digitization |title=Colorado Coal Field War Project |url=https://www.du.edu/ludlow/gallery2.html |access-date=2023-04-18 |website=www.du.edu |language=EN}}</ref> [[File:Austro-daimler-AFV.jpg|thumb|right|Austro-Daimler four-wheel-drive Armoured Car (1904)]]

=== World War I ===
A great variety of armored cars appeared on both sides during [[World War I]] and these were used in various ways. Generally, armored cars were used by more or less independent car commanders. However, sometimes they were used in larger units up to [[Squadron (army)|squadron]] size. The cars were primarily armed with light machine guns, but larger units usually employed a few cars with heavier guns. As air power became a factor, armored cars offered a mobile platform for antiaircraft guns.<ref>Crow, ''Encyclopedia of Armored Cars'', pg. 25</ref>
[[File:Minerva armored car, model 1914 near Antwerp WW1..jpg|thumb|left|Belgium Minerva Armored car 1914]]

The first effective use of an armored vehicle in combat was achieved by the [[Belgian Army]] in August–September 1914. They had placed [[John Cockerill (company)|Cockerill]] armour plating and a [[Hotchkiss machine gun]] on [[Minerva (automobile)|Minerva]] touring cars, creating the [[Minerva Armored Car]]. Their successes in the early days of the war convinced the Belgian GHQ to create a [[Belgian Expeditionary Corps in Russia|Corps of Armoured Cars]], who would be sent to fight on the Eastern front once the western front immobilized after the [[Battle of the Yser]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.philatelicdatabase.com/postal-history/wwi-belgium-armoured-car-division-in-russia/|title=WWI - Belgium Armoured Car Division in Russia|date=16 April 2011|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002191808/http://www.philatelicdatabase.com/postal-history/wwi-belgium-armoured-car-division-in-russia/|archive-date=2013-10-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wio.ru/tank/for-rus.htm|title=Foreign armoured units at Russian front during WWI|website=www.wio.ru|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612102602/http://wio.ru/tank/for-rus.htm|archive-date=2012-06-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Russia/Russia_00.htm |title=Belgian Armoured Cars in Russia |access-date=2011-02-17 |url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519025726/http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Russia/Russia_00.htm |archive-date=2011-05-19 }}</ref>

The British [[Royal Naval Air Service]] dispatched aircraft to Dunkirk to defend the UK from Zeppelins. The officers' cars followed them and these began to be used to rescue downed reconnaissance pilots in the battle areas. They mounted machine guns on them<ref>''Band of Brigands'' p 59</ref> and as these excursions became increasingly dangerous, they improvised boiler plate armoring on the vehicles provided by a local shipbuilder. In London [[Murray Sueter]] ordered "fighting cars" based on Rolls-Royce, [[Clément-Talbot|Talbot]] and [[Wolseley Motors|Wolseley]] chassis. By the time [[Rolls-Royce Armoured Car]]s arrived in December 1914, the mobile period on the Western Front was already over.<ref>''First World War'' - Willmott, H.P., [[Dorling Kindersley]], 2003, Pg. 59</ref>

More tactically important was the development of formed units of armored cars, such as the [[Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade]], which was the first fully mechanized unit in the history. The brigade was established on September 2, 1914, in [[Ottawa]], as Automobile Machine Gun Brigade No. 1 by [[Raymond Brutinel|Brigadier-General Raymond Brutinel]]. The brigade was originally equipped with eight [[Armoured Autocar]]s mounting two machine guns. By 1918 Brutinel's force consisted of two motor machine gun brigades (each of five gun batteries containing eight weapons apiece).<ref>P. Griffith p 129 "Battle Tactics on the Western Front - The British Army's art of attack 1916–18 Yale university Press quoting the Official History 1918 vol.4, p42</ref> The brigade, and its armored cars, provided yeoman service in many battles, notably at Amiens.<ref>Cameron Pulsifer (2007). ' 'The Armoured Autocar in Canadian Service' ', [[Service Publications]]</ref> The RNAS section became the [[Royal Naval Armoured Car Division]] reaching a strength of 20 squadrons before disbanded in 1915. and the armoured cars passing to the army as part of the Machine Gun Corps. Only NO.1 Squadron was retained; it was sent to Russia. As the Western Front turned to trench warfare unsuitable to wheeled vehicles, the armoured cars were moved to other areas.

The [[Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster|2nd Duke of Westminster]] took No. 2 Squadron of the RNAS to France in March 1915 in time to make a noted contribution to the [[Second Battle of Ypres]], and thereafter the cars with their master were sent to the Middle East to play a part in the British campaign in [[Sinai and Palestine Campaign|Palestine]] and elsewhere<ref>{{cite book |last=Verdin |first=Lt.-Col. Sir Richard |title=The Cheshire (Earl of Chester's) Yeomanry |publisher=Willmer Bros. Ltd |year=1971 |location=Birkenhead |pages=50–51}}</ref>  The Duke led a motorised convoy including nine armoured cars across the Western Desert in North Africa to rescue the survivors of the sinking of the SS Tara which had been kidnapped and taken to Bir Hakiem. 

In Africa, Rolls Royce armoured cars were active in [[German South West Africa]] and [[Lanchester armoured car|Lanchester Armoured Cars]] in [[East Africa Protectorate|British East Africa]] against German forces to the south.

Armored cars also saw action on the Eastern Front.  From 18 February - 26 March 1915, the German army under General [[Max von Gallwitz]] attempted to break through the Russian lines in and around the town of [[Przasnysz]], Poland, (about 110&nbsp;km / 68 miles north of Warsaw) during the Battle of Przasnysz (Polish: [[:pl: Bitwa przasnyska|''Bitwa przasnyska'']]). Near the end of the battle, the Russians used four [[Russo-Balt]] armored cars and a {{Interlanguage link|Mannesmann-MULAG|de}} armored car to break through the Germans' lines and force the Germans to retreat.<ref>[http://przasnysz1915.dobroni.pl/media/grh,14-pulk-strzelcow-syberyjskich,1503,1519,429.html ''Do broni : Bitwa Przasnyska (luty 1915)'' (To arms: the Battle of Przasnysz (February 1915))] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107120041/http://przasnysz1915.dobroni.pl/media/grh,14-pulk-strzelcow-syberyjskich,1503,1519,429.html |date=2018-01-07 }} (in Polish)</ref>

=== World War II ===
The British [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) in the [[Middle East]] was equipped with [[Rolls-Royce Armoured Car]]s<!-- "Armoured Car" is a proper noun here. Do not change this capitalisation. --> and Morris tenders. Some of these vehicles were among the last of a consignment of ex-[[Royal Navy]] armored cars that had been serving in the [[Middle East]] since 1915.<ref>Lyman, ''Iraq 1941'', pg. 40</ref>  In September 1940 a section of the No. 2 Squadron RAF Regiment Company was detached to [[Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell|General Wavell's]] ground forces during the first offensive against the Italians in Egypt. During the actions in the October of that year the company was employed on convoy escort tasks, airfield defense, fighting reconnaissance patrols and screening operations.

[[Image:UStankParis-edit1.jpg|thumb|upright|American troops in an [[M8 Greyhound]] passing the [[Arc de Triomphe]] after the [[liberation of Paris]]]]

During the 1941 [[Anglo-Iraqi War]], some of the units located in the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]]<ref>Lyman, p. 57</ref> were sent to Iraq and drove Fordson armored cars.<ref>Lyman, ''Iraq 1941'', pg. 25</ref> "Fordson" armored cars were Rolls-Royce armored cars which received new chassis from a [[Fordson]] truck in [[Egypt]].

By the start of the new war, the German army possessed some highly effective reconnaissance vehicles, such as the ''[[Schwerer Panzerspähwagen]]''. The Soviet [[BA-64]] was influenced by a captured ''[[Leichter Panzerspähwagen]]'' before it was first tested in January 1942.

In the second half of the war, the American [[M8 Greyhound]] and the British [[Daimler Armoured Car]]s featured turrets mounting light guns (40 mm or less). As with other wartime armored cars, their reconnaissance roles emphasized greater speed and stealth than a tracked vehicle could provide, so their limited armor, armament and off-road capabilities were seen as acceptable compromises.