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Putilov-Garford Armored Car

1914 WORLD WAR 1

History of the Putilov-Garford armored vehicle

Like most of the other world powers in the First World War (1914-1918), the mechanization of the Russian army during the conflict was largely concentrated on armored vehicles. One such example is the Putilov-Garford armored car, which conformed to the design of the time - an armored body developed on the chassis of an existing vehicle. In this case it's a 5 ton Garford engine truck with 4x2 wheels, originating in the US. Due to its origins in civilian machines, the Putilov-Garford design ended up suffering what most World War I cars suffered - limited performance due to underpowered engines. Off-road performance is also poor, with the wheels tending to sink into soft terrain under the weight of guns, armor and crew.

Power comes from the original 30-horsepower Garford air-cooled 4-cylinder petrol engine, which gets road speeds a little over 10 mph and a range of up to 75 miles.

The Russians experimented with different weapons for the truck during initial testing and opted for a 76mm field gun for maximum power at range. This is a limited lateral and height position at the rear of the truck. The armored hull superstructure was developed by NM Fiatov and made of steel sheets. Some sections are sloped for basic ballistic deflection, while others leave a more fragile vertical surface. Measuring up to 6.5mm thick at some points, it protects against small arms fire and artillery jets.

The five crew members, including the driver and commander, sat next to the engine at the front of the vehicle. The sight port allows for some situational awareness, while the pistol port allows the pair to engage external units. The roof hatch provided the commander with some viewing opportunities, but at the risk of being hit by sniper bullets. The rest of the crew consisted of the main gunner and two machine gunners. A 7.62mm Vickers machine gun is offset to the right of the 76mm machine gun above the stern, with one 7.62mm machine gun each on the side sponsors.

5,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition are available.

The vehicle weighs 8.5 tons, is 5.7 meters long, 2.3 meters wide and 2.8 meters high. Since the armored superstructure was located on the already high truck chassis, this gave the Putilov-Garford model a very high status in combat vehicles - much to the chagrin of the task force.

The Putilov factory produced about 48 units in total during 1916-1918. The Russian Navy has also ordered this type for local defense by ordering several vehicles in batches, which are slightly different from their Army counterparts. It is believed that as many as five Russian cars were captured and recovered by German forces on the Eastern Front, which were still used for local security for some time after the war.

Some also fell into the hands of the Poles. Russian use of the Putilov-Garford system continued into the postwar years, when they served in the Russian Civil War.