All photos source smolbattle, wikipedia, warhistory
The Russo-Balt Type C model is here
The Russo-Balt company :
Formerly Russo-Baltic, it was initially a subsidiary of the Dutch-German Van der Zypen und Charlier company, which produced railway wagons. This company received an important order from Russia for 500 railway cars. In order not to pay customs duties, a factory was built in Riga (Latvia) then in the Russian Empire. Later the factory became a distinct company under the name of Russo-Baltic wagon company, it developed rapidly to the point of covering 20 hectares of workshops and 4,000 employees in 1912. In 1895 a parallel branch was created (« Phoenix ») and the two companies were absorbed by the Prodvagon trade union in 1906. This union was a form of regrouping of companies under state control in order to rationalize and better control needs, prices, supplies, etc … In terms of rolling stock. In 1914, it accounted for 97% of Russian car production.
In 1908, Phoenix became the automobile branch of Russo-Baltic, then the name changed to Russo-Balt by short cut due to the French. Indeed, Russo-Balt’s chief engineer, Julien Potterat, Fancophone Swissman, had already designed a car for the Belgian firm Fondu. It is this car that served as the basis for the first model of Russo-Balt. It was the model C-24/30 (model C with estimated power 24CV and maximum power 30CV with engine of 4500 cm3) released in May 1909 then declined in C24-35 and C24-40. It should be noted that the first use of tracked system kégresse will be on a C24 / 40 in 1913 (the French engineer then working for the tsar).
The Russo-Balt typ C :
After the Charron-Nakashidze adventure, the Russian armored car was stalled. It is the outbreak of war that will revive the idea of an armored and armed vehicle. After the first artisanal experiments in East Prussia, on August 17, 1914, War Minister VA Sukhomlinov ordered the Colonel of the Imperial Guard’s regiment of the Imperial Guard Alexander Nikolayevich Dobrzhansky to create and command a « battery of armored cars , Later renamed company. After a study of the different civilian models suited to the project, the choice was based on the Russo-Balt model C-24/40. Actually, there were no options, the automobile department of the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works in Riga was the only Russian automobile factory and the Russo-Balt Model C passenger car was their only production model.
The production of the Russo-Balt type C passenger car began in Riga in 1909, as C24/30 (24 is the estimated engine power in horsepower, 30 is the real maximum power) with a 4501 cm³ engine. Gradually, as modernization progresses, it became C24 / 35 (1912-1914) and C24 / 40 (1913-1918). 347 copies of the Model C were produced. Later, the C24 / 40 became the basis of all armored and special vehicles with Russo-Balt chassis.
Eight chassis were reserved (№ 530, 532, 533, 534, 535, 538, 539, 542). The transformation into armored vehicles was very fast, just a month and a half. This was carried out in the Izhora (Izhorski) factories in Kolpino under the supervision of Colonel Dobrzhansky himself and naval engineer A. Y. Grauen. To save time, the idea of turrets was abandoned and Maxim machine guns were placed in the body firing through sliding traps. the bottom and roof were 3 mm armored, the forehead and rear of the hull, 5 mm, the sides, 3 mm with chromium-nickel armor plates. the vehicle was armed with three Maxim machine guns.
Eight vehicles were built and on 12 October the first full company was inspected by the Tsar in person before leaving for the front.
Year of production: 1914
Copies: 8
Weight: 3,26 t
Crew: 5
Lenght :4,5 m
Width :1,98 m
Height : 2 m
Armament: 3 x 7.62 mm Maxim machine guns
Armor: 3 – 5 mm
Engine: 4501 cm3 , 40 hp
