Editing Armoured fighting vehicle (section)

===== Troop transport =====
[[File:The Tank Museum (2012).jpg|thumb|[[Mark IX tank]], the first Armoured Personnel Carrier at the Tank Museum, Bovington]]
The tank eventually proved highly successful and, as technology improved, it became a weapon that could cross large distances at much higher speeds than supporting [[infantry]] and [[artillery]]. The need to provide the units that would fight alongside the tank led to the development of a wide range of specialised AFVs, especially during the [[Second World War]] (1939–1945).

The armoured personnel carrier, designed to transport infantry troops to the frontline, emerged towards the end of World War I. During the first actions with [[tank]]s, it had become clear that close contact with infantry was essential in order to secure ground won by the tanks. Troops on foot were vulnerable to enemy fire, but they could not be transported in the tank because of the intense heat and noxious atmosphere.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}} In 1917, Lieutenant G. J. Rackham was ordered to design an armoured vehicle that could fight and carry troops or supplies. The [[Mark IX tank]] was built by [[Armstrong Whitworth|Armstrong, Whitworth & Co.]], although just three vehicles had been finished at the time of the [[Armistice]] in November 1918, and only 34 were built in total.