Ehrhardt EV / 4 road armored car
| Ehrhardt EV / 4 road armored car | |
|---|---|
Ehrhardt EV / 4 with German national emblem and open hatches |
|
| General properties | |
| crew | 8-9 |
| length | 5.3 m |
| width | 2 m |
| height | 2.9 m |
| Dimensions | 7.75 t |
| Armor and armament | |
| Armor | 6-9 mm |
| Main armament | 2 × 7.92 mm MG (plus 1 reserve) |
| agility | |
| drive |
59 kW (80 PS) |
| Top speed | 60 km / h (road only) |
| Power / weight | 10.3 hp / t |
| Range | 250 km |
The Ehrhardt EV / 4 street armored car was a German armored car from the First World War .
history
After the rejected design of an anti-balloon vehicle equipped with a 50 mm cannon by the engineer Heinrich Ehrhardt and that of a partially armored car from Opel , the German army began the First World War completely without armored vehicles, which became more difficult after the encounter with Belgian, British and Russian armored reconnaissance vehicles Disadvantage turned out to be. As a result, the Supreme Army Command (OHL) placed an order with the three companies ( Büssing , Daimler and Ehrhardt) in October 1914 to build an armored scout vehicle.
Büssing designed the A5P , Daimler the Type 15 and Ehrhardt in Düsseldorf the EV / 4. However, the few copies built could not do much on the western front , as they were no longer of great use in the trench warfare that broke out there and, moreover, were only designed for paved and unpaved roads.
In autumn 1916 it was decided to group the remaining vehicles in the "Panzerkraftwagen MG-Zug 1" and to send them to the Romanian front with the Schmettow Cavalry Corps . Wherever war of movement was still possible, they proved their worth in combat and convinced the OHL to order a larger number of armored vehicles. Since Büssing and Daimler were already busy with other war-important tasks, the contract was only awarded to Ehrhardt. The road armored car was armed with three or more MG 08s and a rigid machine-gun turret. Although it was designed for use on the road, it had a reversible six-speed gearbox (six forward and reverse gears), four-wheel drive, double tires on the rear axle and armored fenders. A radio device initially planned did not prove itself and was removed again.
The experience gained in the field flowed into the newly built models. Among other things:
- the weight reduced by 1.75 tons,
- an underbody protection attached,
- the tower made rotatable,
- and armored the headlights.
The first twelve pieces formed the armored vehicle machine gun platoons 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. One platoon consisted of two EV / 4s and the necessary support vehicles. Another 20 copies were ordered towards the end of 1917.
The newly formed units were deployed with great success on the Romanian and Ukrainian fronts, later also in Alsace and on the Italian front. Some units also support the German spring offensive of 1918 on the western front , albeit with considerably greater losses.
After the war a further 20 units were built by 1919, some of which went to Freikorps units and others to the Entente powers.
During the Silesian uprisings from 1919 to 1921, armored vehicles were used on both sides, including some EV / 4s. A vehicle was used by the Gerstenberg division in the Reich execution against the Bremen Soviet Republic in February 1919 . It remained in Oldenburg after the operation was over and was taken over by the security police founded in 1919. When the latter, now renamed the Oldenburg Order Police , wanted to use it in the summer of 1920 during food riots in Delmenhorst , it turned out that the vehicle could only cross a few bridges in the Free State due to its weight and therefore could not be used in large parts of the country. Due to continuous defects it was in 1925 against a 21 Daimler DZVR - Sonderwagen exchanged and apparently in Berlin scrapped.
Further development
Presumably on the basis of the EV / 4, the Ehrhardt / 21 was constructed in 1920/21 , of which 30 copies were delivered to the protection and order police of the federal states by 1925. The prototype of the Ehrhardt / 21 armored car produced in Zella-Mehlis was first used when the Kapp Putsch was suppressed.
See also
literature
- Udo Elerd (ed.): From the vigilante to the armed forces . On the history of the garrison and the military in the city of Oldenburg , Oldenburg (Isensee) 2006. ISBN 3-89995-353-3
Web links
- MGM's 1/76 Ehrhardt EV / 4 1917. In: Landships - A site for WW1 Military Modeling. Archived from the original on December 18, 2009 ; accessed on June 30, 2018 (pictures from Ehrhardt EV / 4).
- Description at Frontline 18