Improvised fighting vehicle

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Improvised fighting vehicle" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

In the 1930s and 1940s, despite the advent of arms industries producing armored fighting vehicles in many countries, several armies still resorted to using ad hoc contraptions, often in response to unexpected military situations, or as a result of the development of new tactics for which no available vehicle was suitable.

The construction of improvised fighting vehicles may also reflect a lack of means for the force that uses them. This is especially true in

An early improvised fighting vehicle was constructed for the British Army in Dublin during the Easter Rising in 1916. It was made from a three-ton Daimler truck commandeered from the Dublin Guinness brewery. An armoured body was mounted on the truck, built from the smokeboxes of several steam locomotives. The body had loopholes cut in it for riflemen to fire through and was painted with black spots that acted as dummy loopholes to confuse snipers. A steel box protected the truck driver and steel plating covered the truck radiator. Construction took less than one day at the Great Southern Railways workshop. After the rising, the locomotive parts were returned to the railway and the truck returned to its owners.

Piłsudski's Tank

World War II

SAS jeeps

Created during the

The SAS jeeps were used during the whole North African Campaign, and later in Europe, where they were used for sabotage missions behind enemy lines.

British home guard

The Home Guard, an armed citizen militia of the British Army as a form of invasion defense, was often inadequately equipped throughout its existence, as the more valuable and modern equipment were issued to the regular British Army. As such, the Home Guard was often outfitted with obsolete or makeshift weapons and vehicles of dubious effectiveness. Among the improvised fighting vehicle developed for use by the Home Guard include the Armadillo, the Bison, the OXA, and the Standard Beaverette.

Soviet tractor tanks

An improvised armoured car built on a Chevrolet 157 truck chassis by the Polish resistance Home Army in 1944.

Modern times

• 
  A Croatian improvised infantry fighting vehicle during the Croatian War of Independence 1991–1995.
• 
  Improvised fighting vehicle from the Croatian War of Independence.
• 
  Browning heavy machine gun or an 82 mm cannon from the Croatian War of Independence

  .

Typically a civilian or military non-combat vehicle, modified to provide an offensive capability. It is usually an open-backed civilian

Among irregular armies, often centered around the perceived strength and charisma of warlords, the prestige power of technicals is strong. According to one article, "The Technical is the most significant symbol of power in southern Somalia. It is a small truck with large tripod machine guns mounted on the back. A warlord's power is measured by how many of these vehicles he has."[3]

Gun trucks

An improvised military armoured vehicle used by units of regular armies or other official government armed forces, based on a conventional military transport truck, that is able to carry a large weight of weapons and armor. They have poor off-road performance, so have mainly been used by regular armies to escort military convoys in regions subject to ambush by guerrilla forces.

Narco tanks

Multiple examples of improvised fighting vehicles have been created from multiple factions in the Syrian Civil war, and the War In Iraq.

Armament, and thickness of armor varies on different examples, along with the chassis they are designed on. They are used as

• Armoured warfare
• Gun truck
• Technical (vehicle)
• Narco tank

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Improvised fighting vehicles.