This publication was kindly corrected by Mr Jaroslav Spitalski through the help of Mr Dusan Klavik from rotanazdar.cz (see Czech sources).
It must first be understood that the subject of « independent » Czech armored cars is quite quick to study because it covers in all and for all the period 1918 -1939, that is to say the period between the two wars . Indeed, before 1918, this country did not exist and from March 15, 1939, the country was completely invaded by Germany (after the annexation of the Sudetenland) and shared between the protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia under German occupation and Slovakia, an independent state but subservient to Germany. After the communist coup of February 1948, the country was a member of the Warsaw Pact and therefore was equipped with Russian armored cars.
Moreover, this small country benefited from a solid base because it brought together most of the heavy industry companies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire with Tatra, Skoda, the CKD concern with its car company Praga, all of which, with well-trained engineers and innovators, created models that were often ahead of their time: think of the fact that Ferdinand Porsche found the idea of the beetle well advanced among the Czechs, the LT vz.38 tank continued a career in the Wehrmacht until 1945 in a number of variations , or that the series of sdkfz 234 were motorized by excellent Tatra engines, etc etc … At the beginning of the Thirties, Czechoslovakia was besides one of the first suppliers of weapons in the world.
1 – The first armored cars :
The Lancia 1Z :
In October 1918, shortly before the end of the First World War, Czechoslovakia declared its independence. At the end of the hostilities, the new country had, as only armored vehicles, one armored train from the former Austro-Hungarian Army and two armored cars bought from Italy (a Lancia 1Z and a Bianchi quickly replaced on December 15, 1918 by another Lancia 1Z). These vehicles being attached to the Czechoslovak Legion in Italy, raised from Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war. These vehicles returned home on December 23, 1918. In 1919, they came into action in Slovakia during the troubles with Hungary. They had numbers 1 and 2 painted on the sides and in 1921 police registration plates N VII-751 for the No.1 and N VII-752 for the No.2. Lancia No.1 was a first serie and No.2 a second one (see lancia 1Z in this site). Shortly before 1934, they received new police registration plates 13.004 for the No.1 and 13.005 for the No.2. They remained in active service until the arrival of the Skoda PA II. They were dismantled in july 1935 and their chassis were then used for school purposes.
The Skoda-Fiat Torino :
At the end of the hostilities in Europe, the new Czechoslovak state was the target of border conflicts with its neighbors (Hungary and Poland), each trying to grab as much territory as possible before the definitive fixing of the borders. After this stabilization, one of the first concerns of the new state was of course its defence, the government took advantage of its significant industrial possibilities, Bohemia Moravia being the main industrial lung of Austria-Hungary with the Skoda factories (in Pilsen ), Praga and CKD among others, and decided to develop an armored vehicle as soon as possible. The first test was carried out on the basis of the widely available Fiat 18 BL truck with an armored body built by Skoda and gave rise to the Skoda-Fiat « Torino ». A prototype was made and successfully tested in January 1920, then 11 other examples were produced and delivered in mid and then late 1920. With a crew of five, this vehicle had two turrets offset to the right and left with respect to the longitudinal axis. and each armed with a 7.92 mm Maxim MG.08 machine gun. The chassis was a 4X2 with dual rear wheels to support the additional load. The wheels are solid tyres. The body was made of 5 to 6 mm steel plates riveted to a steel frame. Realized in a hurry, the Fiat Torino was unfortunately not free from defects, among others an anemic speed of 15 km/h due to a weight much too heavy (6.25 t) for the engine (64 CV), a chassis overloaded, numerous construction faults, inability to leave the roads because of too narrow wheels, etc… Put into service in 1920, 8 were quickly withdrawn from service in 1925 and the 4 others in 1929 as soon as more models modern were available.
The Skoda-Praga L :
The high-quality Czech engineers went back to work to build a new machine, this time better thought out. A prototype still on a Praga L truck chassis was made in 1921, still with an armored body supplied by Skoda and taken into account by the army without official production under the name of Praga L in 1922. The armor consisted of steel plates 5 mm riveted to a steel frame. The crew was 3 men. It was armed in the turret with a 7.92 mm Maxim MG.08 machine gun and a small 37 mm infantry gun on the rear. It has two driver’s stations, front and back, but only the front axle was always controlled, this solution later turned out to be wrong. It was only used for training and was withdrawn from service in 1925 when the armored car was converted into a vehicle for transporting 12 people and remained in Milovice in the condition of an assault vehiclesuperstructure was removed and the vehicle returned to civilian life.
These armored cars, designed in an emergency on civilian chassis did not meet the criteria issued by the army, which is why they were quickly withdrawn from active service but they allowed Czech engineers to acquire competence for their future projects.
2- The Skoda PA series :
The Skoda PA I :
In 1923, based on a chassis this time specially designed, Czech engineers produced the Skoda PA I, so well thought out that it incorporated features never before seen such as the two driving positions which made it possible to drive in one direction and in the other indifferently and at the same speed (the vehicle was not 4X4 but one of the axles was locked and became driving while the other was unlocked and became steering without being driven), this also gave a profile particularly symmetrical so that it was hard to tell where the front and back was. The armament consisted of two 7.92 mm Maxim MG.08 machine guns and then in 1924 two vz.24 heavy machine guns in the turret. This experimental armored car was only produced in two copies because it was designed more as a test vehicle to validate several innovative solutions and lead to the construction of the more elaborate series model: the Skoda PA II. The two specimens were nevertheless accepted by the army in August 1923, used episodically in particular during shows then reassigned to the formation where one of the vehicles (13 240) breaks down engine in 1933 and is not used any more.
The Skoda PA II :
The usually observed designation « Obrneny Automobil vzor 1923 » or OA vz.23 (Armored Automobile Model 23) was not an official designation because these cars were not approved by the armaments commission, the purchase of these armored cars only happened because it was urgent to replace the skoda-Fiat Torino. The new vehicle entered service in late 1924/early 1925 retaining the chassis of the PA I but with a new engine, armed with four vz heavy machine guns. 24 in superstructure mounted on ball joints and presented a rather unique rounded profile which quickly earned him the nickname « tortoise ». The idea was to improve the resistance to projectiles but the work to be provided was complicated because it was carried out with a hammer, a real artisanal work identical to that provided by the workers who at the time manufactured luxury cars for the rich, tradition which already existed at Skoda since the armor makers of the Middle Ages. The worked plates were then riveted to a frame. The symmetrical design was also retained. With only a wooden model and no prototype, the new armored car was evaluated by the Czech army in 1925 and taken into account (for lack of anything better) without being officially accepted for several reasons, in particular a too low ground clearance making driving in all terrain impossible, a cabin too narrow for five men, too heavy a weight which penalized agility. In 1927, Skoda was authorized to sell three copies of the PA II to the Austrian police in Vienna (later another order came for 12 OA vz.27 + 3 OA vz.27 replacement for the PA II), these vehicles saw combat in 1934 during the Nazi coup). In 1930, the Czechoslovak army sold the remaining nine copies to the Czech police. Note that one copie was not armored for driving school purposes. another separate order was placed for an armored car armed with a gun, in this case a Skoda 75 mm L/28 gun, this vehicle was called PA II delovy in 1927 but never came into serial production. The specimens still in condition in 1939 were seized during the German invasion and some transformed into radio vehicles.
The Skoda PA III :
The Army finding the skoda PA II too expensive asked for a better price, Skoda’s engineers therefore simplified the body and this led to the Skoda PA III (OA vz.27). Its main difference was a turret armed with a vz.24 heavy machine gun with a second on the superstructure on a ball joint (another vz.24 heavy machine gun was stored in the hull later replaced by a vz.26 light machine gun). The Skoda 4 cyl engine of 5.7 l and 60 CV allowed a speed of 35 km/h. Many orders arrived from abroad (Yugoslavia, Poland, Belgium, China, Japan) but had to be refused for lack of production tools. Fifteen copies (plus the prototype) were ordered in 1927 and the first entered service in 1929. Appreciated by crews for its sturdiness, ease of maintenance and firing precision assisted by sighting optics, the main faults came from overweight and overpriced. Of the fifteen, Germany recovered 9 in March 1939, 3 were captured by Slovakia upon its declaration of independence and scrapped in September 1943, and 3 were seized by Romania when Czech troops took refuge in Romania during of Hungary’s invasion of Ruthenia and the Sub-Carpathian regions in March 1939. Of the three, two were destroyed in an Allied raid on Ploesti in 1944
3 – The Tatra OA vz.30 :
The Tatra OA vz.30 was the last Czech armored car, it went after the PA III and was ordered in 51 copies on March 6, 1933. The OA vz.30 arose from the need for an armored car to move off-road, contrary to its predecessors. The main argument for its design was that Skodas gave satisfaction to the army but were too expensive to order in large numbers. Delivery was scheduled until December 1933 but delays led to deliveries until July 1934. It was designed on an unusual Tatra 6X4 T-72 truck chassis based on a central tube with oscillating axle shafts giving excellent off-road capabilities. The armament consisted of two ZB vz.26 light machine guns, one of which was in the turret. It was considered to equip it with a gun but its design prevented it. The Tatra 4 cyl 1.91 l and 32 HP engine allowed a speed of 60 km/h. The defects were numerous with too weak shielding (3 to 6 mm), an impossibility for the light machine guns to fire continuously and an engine too anemic for all terrain. The vehicles were used in 1938 against Konrad Henlein’s Freikorps in the Sudetenland and during the conflicts with Hungary in March 1939. Germany captured 24 of them in March 1939 (7 went as radio vehicles to propaganda companies, 10 were used by the OrdnungsPolizei and 3 equipped a platoon of the 14th Polizei Panzer Kompanie in Slovakia in January 1944), Slovakia 18 during its subsequent declaration of independence, and Romania seized 9 when Czech troops took refuge in Romania during Hungary’s invasion of Ruthenia in March 1939.
4 – Organisation of the Czech armored cars :
The rather complex organization of the Czech armored cars was linked first to the increase in the number of vehicles available and then to the threat from Hungary (which claimed part of the slovak territory), Poland (which claimed part of Tesin) and later from Germany from 1933 which triggered a major effort on the part of the Czechoslovakia in terms of equipment and reorganization of units as they grow. With the entry into service of the Fiat Torino, the Czech army began to find itself with a significant number of armored vehicles and the need to group them administratively in a specific unit became essential. It is curious to note that the armored trains are administratively attached to the assault vehicles and therefore to the tanks and armored cars. It should not be forgotten that at that date, the tracked chassis were still very fragile, whereas the wheeled chassis had already proven themselves even with their defects linked to the difficulty of off-roading, which means that each solution had its own supporters, some even offering both like the Kolohousenka light tanks derived from German engineer Joseph Vollmer’s patents. Later, it was possible to produce a high-quality tracked undercarriage for tanks, and this changed the concept of defense. Armored vehicles were to be produced in three categories: for cavalry, for infantry and later for fortification needs.
A – the headquarters of special combat units (VZBU):
In October 1920, the headquarters of the special combat units (VZBU) was therefore created in Milovice, which included one Renault FT, the armored trains (6) and the armored cars (14: 12 Fiat Torino and the two Lancias, the Praga L was not kept in a combat unit) with the aim of training, using and cooperating with these means with other units of the army.
B – The Attack Vehicle Battalion:
On July 7, 1922, the VZBU was transformed into an attack vehicle battalion with all subordinate units: 6 armored train groups, 6 armored car platoons, a replacement company, a training company, technical and military units. ‘supply. Territorially, the battalion was attached to the 3rd Infantry Division in Litomerice. This battalion will be transformed into a regiment of assault vehicles on September 15, 1933.
In 1923, the armored units dispersed until then were regrouped in Milovice, also including the 7 Renault FT tanks purchased from France.
Between 1924 and 1925, the old armored cars were withdrawn from active service to be replaced by new PA I and PA II.
Between May and October 1929, arrived the new 15 armored cars PA III accepted by the army under the name of OA vz.27. The army also evaluated a new OA vz.30 armored car.
In October 1930, within the battalion, two companies were created: the first with all the armored cars and the second with the tanks and training vehicles.
In 1932, the army also bought 50 LT vz.34 tanks of CKD origin.
C – The Assault Vehicle Regiment:
On September 15, 1933, the battalion passed to the regimental stage, the armored cars were grouped together in a company with 2 squadrons assigned to the cavalry and the tanks were grouped together in 3 companies (two with licensed and rebuilt Carden-Loyd tankettes and one with 7 Renault FTs). This regiment will be dissolved on September 15, 1935. At that date, the armored cars were 2 Lancia 1Z, 1 Fiat – Skoda 18BL, 2 Skoda PA-1, 11 Skoda PA-II, 4 OA vz.27, 4 OA vz.30.
D – The Assault Vehicle Brigade:
With Hitler’s rise to power, Czechoslovakia revised its defense plans hitherto directed against Hungary. The rearmament plan called for up to 336 tanks. This is why the regiment of assault vehicles passed to the stage of brigade with 4 regiments of assault vehicles including a company of armored cars. These regiments were supposed to supply equipment to the fast divisions. The tanks were to be in three categories : light tanks for cavalry, light tanks for infantry and medium tanks for fortifications support. Serial production of light infantry and medium fortifications tanks could not be started. Therefore, infantry tanks partially replaced light tanks for cavalry LT vz.35. It was for this purpose that the army bought, in 1933, 51 OA vz.30 with 70 tanks vz.33. In December 1936 the first LT vz.35 tanks arrived. The brigade was disbanded on September 24, 1938.
E- Quick Divisions:
On October 1, 1937, the four rapid divisions RD-1: Prague, RD-2: Brno, RD-3: Bratislava, RD-4: Pardubice) were created with 11,000 men, 2,832 horses, 298 motorcycles, 1,009 cars and trucks, 98 tanks, 12 armored cars 3 OA vz.27 and 9 OA vz.30) and 68 guns whose organization chart was as follows:
• a cavalry brigade (2 dragoon regiments, 1 cyclist battalion, 1 cavalry artillery unit)
• a motorized brigade (2 tank battalions, 2 motorized infantry battalions on trucks, 1 motorized artillery unit)
• 1 motorized reconnaissance unit (1 company of armored vehicles and 1 motorcyclist company)
• 2 anti-tank companies and 2 flak companies.
These rapid divisions were also intended to provide detachments on demand for border troops, it was these detachments that intervened during the partial mobilization of May 20, 1938 and then the general mobilization of September 23, 1938 following the serious unrest in the region. sudetes. It should be noted that between September 12 and October 4, 1938, there were 69 important engagements of the Czechoslovakian armed forces against German Freikorps from the Sudetenland of Konrad Henlein, some of which had crossed the German border.
The first two Lancias were Italian dark green, the 12 Fiat Torinos wore a plain khaki color. It was with the PA I that the five-tone camouflage was adopted with dark green, khaki, red brown, ocher and gray inspired by the diamond camouflage of the German planes of the First World War. For the PA II, the same camouflage was used but with rounded spots separated by a thin black-brown line, note that as the paint was not renewed, it decayed quickly over the years, which makes it possible to differentiate them. The official camouflage scheme was introduced in 1930 with three colors (the references are those of the official Josef Palfy company of Smolenice): dark grass green ref 169, ocher yellow ref 125, and brown red ref 141 in the form of rounded spots, l interior of the vehicles was ivory. Only the PA IIIs were painted in uniform gray (except the prototype which received a tricolor camouflage) because it was considered that they would only be used on the roads and therefore that a tricolor camouflage would be too conspicuous. Note that unarmored vehicles were painted in khaki.
At the declaration of independence, in October 1918, Czechoslovakia kept the old Austro-Hungarian registration system of 1910 until December 1932. This system provided for registration by white plate with black numbers (for the Austria) and red (for Hungary). These numbers started with a Roman numeral corresponding to the district (ex: N for Prague, A for Vienna), then a series always in Roman numerals then a series in Arabic numerals from 1 to 999. Eg. once the NVII 999 series was completed, it was changed to NVIII 1. All the administration vehicles were registered in Prague, therefore with the letter N. For military vehicles, only those driving on roads (thus armored cars but not the FT tanks) were integrated into this numbering as civilian vehicles with the difference that the color of the plates was reversed: black plate and white numbers. In December 1932, the vehicles carried a registration in Arabic numerals. A numbering on the sides in red or black figures was brought up to the stage of the rapid divisions, it was then removed.
Véhicle : number No. police registration (déc 1932) numérotation
Lancia 1 Z 2 NVII 751 – 752 13004 – 13005 1 – 2
Fiat Torino 12 NVII 753 – 764 – 3 – 14
Praga L 1 NVII 969 – 15
Skoda PA I 2 NIX 9 – 10 13239 – 13240 16 – 17
Skoda PA II 12 NIX 58 – 69 13267 – 13275 18 – 30
Skoda PA II del. 1 NIX 222 13358 –
Skoda PA III 15 NIX 201 – 215 13338 – 13352 31 – 45
Skoda PA III prototype NIX 216 13353 –
OA vz.30 51 – 13324 – 1333 / 13376 – 13418 –
OA vz.30 prototype NIV 609 13323 –