Armoured Cars

The Great War

The Inter-War Period

This period saw the mechanisation of the British Army and the increased use of armoured cars in companies and regiments.

The Second World War

In August 1940 (notified in Army Council Instruction 1002) Light Tanks (Wheeled) were renamed and considered Armoured Cars.

The Arab Legion of Transjordan used Marmon-Harrington armoured cars within their Mechanized Regiment. Each car was equipped with one Vickers machine gun and 3,500 rounds of ammunition, as well as a light machine gun, Boys anti-tank rifle, machine carbine and signal pistol.

A copy of the training pamphlet for the Marmon-Harrington armoured car, including the use of the Vickers, is available here.

By the end of the Second World War, the armoured cars in British Service were equipped with Browning or Besa machine guns, with the occasional Vickers Gas-Operated machine gun fitted as an anti-aircraft light machine gun.

Post-Second World War

Sources

  • The National Archives, WO 24/943, War Establishments 1942 January to June.
  • The National Archives, WO 293/25, Army Council Instructions 1940.