Saturday, March 12, 2005

British armoured cars in 1939 to early 1941

The 12th Lancers, an armoured car regiment stationed in France was equipped with the Morris CS9/LAC. Some of these also served with the 11th Hussars in Egypt. The 11th Hussars also had larger numbers of Roll-Royce 1924-pattern cars updated with an open-topped turret, armed with the Boys anti-tank rifle, a Bren gun, and a smoke discharger. One of the classic pictures of the war in North Africa shows a 1924 pattern car, in camoflage paint, "at the wire", on the border between Egypt and Libya. Starting in late 1940, the Marmon-Herrington Mk.II car appeared in the attack on Italian Abyssynia. There were also small numbers of the Mk.I car, which appeared as early as May 1940. The first modern car, the Guy Mk.I was produced in small numbers, there being 101 produced. The Humber Mk.I was a slightly larger version of the Guy, as it had the same layout and hull shape. The later Mk.II as a good vehicle that saw service in the Western desert.

2 comments:

1244 said...

Jim,

Also understand there were a few Guy AC's in France in 1940, but they were apparently used for special security duties vice reconnaissance. WiKi has a good series of articles on British armored cars, scout cars, etc.

Cheers

1244 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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