Armored Cars

The reconnaissance forces of any army have the most dangerous job to do. They must be equipped to probe forward until they encounter enemy fire and then return to tell the story. For this reason, the reconnaissance forces need a vehicle which can retire quickly. To some extent, the motorcycle was suited to this task, and each panzer division’s reconnaissance battalion had a motorcycle company. Far more suited to the task were the armored cars that gave some protection to the crew. Because country lanes are narrow, such cars usually have driving positions at both front and back, with two drivers in position and gears that can give them fast speeds in either direction.

The armored car’s history predates the invention of the tank. Development of British and German cars was influenced by the fact that the British chose to armor the chassis of their touring cars, such as the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, while the Germans preferred to armor the chassis of larger commercial vehicles, such as those made by Bussing, Daimler, and Ehrhardt.

The British and French used their armored cars for colonial policing work, while the Germans (forbidden to have tanks) used them as the start of a modern army. They built four-wheel, six-wheel, and even eight-wheel cars, and the Germans were the first to move away from adapting old vehicles and build a completely new armored car, starting with the chassis.

By 1940 the Germans had about 600 armored cars, enough to give the reconnaissance force of each armored division about 50 of them.