Monday, September 26, 2011

German Military Vehicle Rarities (3)


In accordance to the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 the post WWI German Army was forbidden to own any armoured vehicles. Those still in existence were to be handed over to the victorious allies or to be scrapped. On the same measure the German Police had been granted 150 armoured cars for use on roads only. In 1920, 50 such vehicles were handed over from the army into service with the different)' counties. To be able to fill the requirement for the missing 100 from 1921 the German Ministry of the Interior developed another type of Polizei-Panzerwagen on the specifications of all-wheel drive, wheels of identical size, two machine-gun turrets, 11-ton in total weight and prepared for a crew of nine. The armour for this new type was heavier than with the previous army versions and had a dead spot of no more then one metre, permitting excellent urban-area combat capabilities. The new armoured car type was to be built until 1928 by three manufacturers with a total output of 89 delivered to the police units. By 1935 altogether 125 armoured cars are recorded to be in active police service, by 1938 this figure had dropped to 40. In Spring 1939 all others had been scrapped. In 1945, confirmed information revealed that at least one vehicle, a Daimler DZVR, has been found badly damaged in the Reichskanzlei in Berlin.