From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Marmon-Herrington Armoured Car Mk IV / Mk IVF |
Marmon-Herrington Mk IVF ha-Namer ha-Norai (The Terrible Tiger) in Yad la-Shiryon museum, Israel. |
| Production history |
| Number built |
5,746 |
| Specifications |
| Weight |
6.4 tonnes |
| Length |
15 ft (5.51 m) |
| Width |
6 ft (1.83 m) |
| Height |
7 ft (2.29 m) |
| Crew |
3 |
|
| Armour |
up to 20 mm |
Primary
armament |
QF 2 pounder gun. |
Secondary
armament |
1 or 2 x 7.62 mm Browning machine gun. |
| Engine |
Ford V-8 petrol.
95 hp (71 kW) |
| Power/weight |
14.2 hp/tonne |
| Suspension |
wheeled; 4 x 4 drive |
Operational
range |
200 miles (322 km) |
| Speed |
50 mph (80 km/h) |
South African Reconnaissance Car, better known under its British designation Marmon-Herrington Armoured Car, was an armoured vehicle produced in South Africa and adopted by the British Army during the World War II.
[edit] History
In 1938 the South African government initiated development of an armoured car. The resulting vehicle was based on a Ford 3-ton truck. As the country did not have an automotive industry to speak of, many components of the vehicle had to be imported. Chassis components were bought from Ford Canada and fitted with a four-wheel drive train produced by the American company Marmon-Herrington (hence the designation), UK-made armament (with the exception of the U.S.-made Browning machine gun) and armour plates produced by the South African Iron & Steel Industrial Corporation. Final assembly was done by the local branch of the Dorman Long company among others
The first version, the "South African Reconnaissance Vehicle" Mk I, entered service in 1940. It was a long wheelbase with 4x2 drive it was armed with two Vickers machine guns, one of them in a cylindrical turret. It saw a brief action against the Italians in the Western Desert and thereafter relegated to training use. Some were given to Greece and fought during the German invasion of Greece, but proved inadequate against the Germans.
The Mk II had a shorter wheelbase than the Mark I and 4x4 drive and was know in British service as Armoured Car, Marmon-Herrington Mk II. It and the Mk III were extensively used during the North African Campaign, mostly for reconnaissance being the only armoured car available in sufficient numbers, and had a reputation as a reliable, but underarmoured vehicle. Their normal armament, consisting of a 0.55 inch Boys anti-tank rifle in a turret, a coaxial Bren machine gun and one or two additional machine guns for anti-aircraft defence, was also considered insufficient. British service units modified some of the vehicles to carry various guns, including the Italian 20 mm and 47 mm Breda, the German 37 mm PaK 35/36 and the 2.8 cm sPzB 41 taper bore gun, the French 25 mm gun, the 20 mm Oerlikon cannon and the British QF 2 pounder anti-tank gun. As there was no place for a gun in the small turret, the latter had to be removed and the crew had to rely on the gun shield for protection. Some other vehicles were adapted to serve as artillery observation post vehicles, ambulances, command cars, recovery vehicles, and Royal Air Force liaison cars. The Mark III was Slightly shorter than the Mark II without its double doors.
In March 1943 a completely redesigned Mk IV/Mk IVF entered production. It was a monocoque with rear mounted engine and a turret-mounted 2 pounder with coaxial 0.3 in Browning machine gun as the standard armament. The F used a Canadian Ford drive train. Further versions were designed but never got beyond the prototype stage. By that time, the North African Campaign had ended and the mountainous geography of the Italian campaign did not suit armoured cars and in late 1943 the British and Commonwealth armies were receiving enough armoured cars from other sources.
In total, 5,746 Marmon-Herrington Armoured Cars were built. About 4,500 were used by South African units, while others were employed by British, Greek, Free French, Indian, New Zealand and Polish forces. After the World War II, a few were given to the Transjordan and saw combat with the Arab Legion in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Mk IVF saw combat as late as July-August 1974, during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, when it was used by the Cypriot National Guard. The Greek army used Marmon-Herringtons in the islands of the Aegean well into the 1990s, in mechanized infantry battalions of special composition, alongside Jeeps, M-113s and Leonidas AFVs. They were finally phased out of service with the introduction of VBL AFV, six decades after their introduction.
[edit] Variants
Mk II with an Italian Breda 20 mm gun near Tobruk, 8 May 1941.
Marmon-Herrington armoured cars on patrol in the Western Desert, 28 November 1941.
- Mk I (1940) - two wheel drive only, armed with two .303 Vickers machine guns, one in a cylindrical turret, other in the left rear of the hull. 113 units built.
- Mk II (1941) - lengthened chassis, all-wheel drive. Early vehicles carried the same armament as Mk I. Late production vehicles received an octagonal turret with Boys anti-tank rifle and Bren MG. There were pintle mountings for Vickers MG and Bren MG (the latter was rarely carried). Hull was riveted in early vehicles and welded in late production ones. 887 units built.
- Mk III (1941) - similar to late production Mk II, with a slightly shorter wheelbase. Late production vehicles had single rear door, no radiator grille and no headlight covers. 2,630 units built.
- Mk IIIA - turret replaced by a ring mount for two .303 Vickers K machine guns protected by a steel skirt.
- Mk IV (1943) - completely redesigned vehicle. The rear-mounted engine and the transmission were bolted directly to the welded hull. A QF 2 pounder anti-tank gun was mounted in a two-man turret, late production vehicles had a coaxial Browning MG. An anti-aircraft Vickers or Browning MG was mounted on the turret roof. Over 2,000 units built.
- Mk IVF (1943) - due to a difficulty in obtaining the Marmon-Herrington kit, a version very similar to the Mk IV but based on the Canadian Ford F60L four wheel drive 3 ton truck chassis was developed.
- Mk V (1942) - an 8-wheeled design armed with the QF 6 pounder gun. One prototype was built.
- Mk VI (1943) - an 8-wheeled design inspired by the German 8-wheeled armoured cars (Schwerer Panzerspähwagen). Two prototypes were built, one with a 2 pounder and other with a 6 pounder gun in an open-topped three-man turret with electric powered traverse and protected by 10 to 30 mm of sloped armor. Additional armament consisted of 2 or 3 machine guns.
- Mk VII - similar to the Mk IIIA.
- Mk VIII - similar to the Mk III but with a 2 pounder gun in a bigger turret.
[edit] References
- George Forty - World War Two Armoured Fighting Vehicles and Self-Propelled Artillery, Osprey Publishing 1996, ISBN 1-85532-582-9.
[edit] See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
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