Ehrhardt E-V/4 1917 Armoured Car

[David]

When it was decided to form further German armoured car units a production order for new cars was given to the Ehrhardt firm alone because both Daimler and Büssing were fully en­gaged with other war work. The first twelve Ehrhardt armoured cars built in 1917 were used to create Panzer Kraftwagen MG Züge 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 - smaller units than the first experimental one, each equipped with two armoured cars and supporting transport. Twenty more Ehrhardt armoured cars were ordered later in 1917. These new cars were very similar to the 1915 prototype, but incorporated some of the lessons learned from operational use of all three makes of experi­mental vehicle. Most important was that the weight was reduced by nearly 1.75 tons. Underneath protection was added, provision was made for the turret to rotate instead of being fixed; and the vision ports were better pro­tected. The radiator armour was revised, with horizontal grilles similar to those of the Daimler 1915 model, adjusted by a lever from the driver's seat, and the headlamps were enclosed in armoured boxes. The rear wheels also were enclosed. Wireless equipment with a tall extensible aerial was included. This apparatus, which could only be used when the car was stationary, was generally unpopular with the crews because it took up valuable space inside. Although large cars, the interior was rather cramped when carrying the normal crew of 8-9 men. Some of the cars were used with success first against Romania in 1917 and then on the Ukranian front in 1918. After the war, with internal unrest and danger on the Eastern frontiers, twenty more cars of this type were con­structed in Germany in 1919. These were almost identical to the 1917 model, with only minor external changes, but the rundown German steel industry could only provide armour of poor quality which offered inferior protection. Ehrhardts were also used by both German and Polish fighters in the so called Silesian Uprisings, which was a series of military insurrections during the years 1919-1921, by Polish people in the Upper Silesia region against the Germans, in order to force them out the region and join it with Poland. (Two of the Polish Ehrhardts were taken in combat, but it is possible that some Ehrhardts also were given to the Polish by the French, either handed over by the Germans following the armistice or actually confiscated by the Allied Military Control Commission.) The majority of Polish Armored Cars were left in the paint scheme of their former owners, i.e. Feldgrau, but renamed, and with a red/white shield added.