Radpanzer (Austria)

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Armored vehicles from Austro-Daimler

Armored wheeled vehicles were already being developed in Austria in the run-up to the First World War . Development of these early tanks continued during World War I and the First Republic .

Austria-Hungary

During the imperial era, the first armored vehicle was developed by Austro-Daimler in 1906 . The prototype of the Austro-Daimler armored car was successfully tested, but could not prevail among the conservative military leadership. Also other plans u. a. for the first tracked armored vehicle were not tracked.

See also: Panzer # Prehistory

First World War

In the First World War, both Austria-Hungary attracted and the German Empire without armored vehicles.

For reasons that are probably no longer comprehensible today, after the start of the war, the design of the pre-war period was not used, even if, like the Austro-Daimler, these were already ten years old.

  • "Romfell" armored car
Romfell armored car
On 30 July 1915, the automotive replacement depot asked in Budapest at Siemens & Halske to the cost of a wireless device for an armored car at.
About three weeks later, a report was made about the conversion of a Mercedes car into an armored car by Captain Romanic and Lieutenant Fellner . The name "Romfell" resulted from the combination of the designers: ROManic and FELLner.
In 1917/1918 a second Romfell armored vehicle was possibly built.
In 1915/1916, according to the plans of Captain Junovicz, a truck chassis was provided with armor and armed with machine guns. There were probably five of this street armor.
  • Loot wheel armored car
In addition to the few armored vehicles built in-house and not in series, there were also a few captured Russian and Italian road tanks.
An Austin-Putilov armored car was captured on the Russian front in Galicia . At the end of 1917, on the front against Italy, a Lancia and a Bianchi street tank fell into the hands of the Austro-Hungarian Army .
The Russian Austin road armored car and an Austro-Hungarian "Romfell" were later also used in the Carinthian defensive battle .
  • Chain mail
After the first use of chain armored vehicles on the Western Front against the German Empire, the Army High Command showed interest in such combat vehicles, but continued to oppose wheeled armored vehicles.
The chain armor developed by the German Empire did not correspond to the Austrian ideas. Own developments and especially their production would have overwhelmed the economic possibilities of the Danube Monarchy and so it remained with the few armored vehicles.

1st republic

Even during the 1st Republic, no chain armor was designed or produced in Austria . There was only one small and unarmored tracked vehicle armed with a machine gun.

The Fiat-Ansaldo CV 33 battle tanks used by the armed forces came from Italy in 1935 . They were armed with machine guns. As early as March 1934, four Lancia-Ansaldo II / M 30 armored vehicles arrived in Austria.

Three armored cars from the Škoda company were purchased in Czechoslovakia for the Vienna police . These were used, for example, during the civil war in Austria .

The company Steyr-Daimler-Puch designed and produced a wheeled armored vehicle of the ADGZ type for the armed forces , which were used for “police operations” after the invasion of the German armed forces and the “connection” to the German Reich .

2nd republic

The first armored car of the Austrian Armed Forces of the 2nd Republic was the armored car M8 Greyhound left behind by the US Army , which was also used to secure borders during the popular uprising in Hungary .

The companies Saurer and Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeuge devoted themselves to the development of chain armored vehicles ( armored personnel carriers, “ Kürassier ” tank destroyers and “Greif” armored vehicles) and unarmored wheeled vehicles.

Around 1980 the company ÖAF from Vienna began to construct a 6 × 6 reconnaissance tank, for which numerous components of the sLKW, also from ÖAF, were used. However, the vehicle was not developed until it was ready for use and marketable.

The armored car “ Pandur ” developed by Steyr is currently in great international demand .

Web links

literature

  • Walter J. Spielberger: Motor vehicles and tanks of the Austrian army 1896 to today , Motorbuchverlag, ISBN 3-87943-455-7 .