Austin-Putilov Armoured Car

[David]

The Imperial Russian Army was something of a pioneer when it came to the use of armoured cars during WW1. Already before the war they had made studies regarding this, and when the war broke out, they were quick to employ them. All in all, the Imperial Russian Army fielded over 300 armoured cars during the war. Most of these were made in Russia, often by simply putting an armoured body over different makes of truck chassis. But some were also imported, like the British Austins. The Austin Armoured Car, a heavy but sturdy vehicle, with characteristic twin turrets, was built by the Austin Motor Co. Ltd, to the order of the Russian Goverment in 1914. These Armoured Cars were used in combat, and on basis of this, the russians in 1916 initiated a rebuilt variant of the vehicle. The armoured plating was made thicker and also the turret arrangement was altered, into a special staggered configuration. (They had noticed that the two tandem turrets often tended block the field of fire for each other.) It was also equipped with a duplicate steering arrangement facing towards the rear - which gave it the extended, almost bonnet-like rear. The armour thickness varied between 7.5mm and 4mm. The vehicle had a crew of five, and with fuel, supplies and ammo it weighed a total of 5.2 tons. It's top speed was about 55 km/hr. A total of 60 Austin-Putilovs were produced to the spring of 1920. They were never finished in time to be employed in the Great War, but saw widespread use during the Russian Civil War, especially by the budding Red Army, it's profile a part of the Bolshevik iconography, with Lenin holding speeches from the roof of one - which in fact never happened...