Garford-Putilov Armoured Car


Garford-Putilov armoured cars were a type of armoured fighting vehicle produced in Russia during the First World War era. They were built on the frames of Garford Motor Truck Co. lorries imported from the United States.
Although considered to be a rugged and reliable machine by its users, the Garford-Putilov was severely underpowered. With a total weight of about 11 tons, and only a 30 hp engine, the vehicles had a top speed of approximately. The design was also overloaded, and therefore had very limited off-road capability.
Armament consisted of a single 76.2 mm cannon in a turret with 270 degrees of traverse at the rear of the vehicle, and two or three 7.62 mm machine guns. Two of these machines guns were in casemate-like mounts towards the front of the vehicle, but the guns could not provide full frontal cover at short range.

Former operators

Besides the countries that emerged from the ruins of the old Russian Empire, Garford-Putilov armoured cars were also deployed by German forces. The Germans captured several of the vehicles, and put them to some use towards the end of World War I, and post-Armistice in the "Freikorps".
Putilov-Garford was often categorized with more heavily armored vehicles such as British Austin Armoured Car. Bolsheviks used these armored cars against the British tanks during the Russian Civil War. It was the only World War I armored machine that could face the tanks. In the Soviet army, Putilov-Garford remained until the end of the World War II when they were used against attacking German troops.