THE GRAND ALBUM OF ARMOURED CARS OF VICTORY

The idea of mounting a machine gun on a car chassis is as old as the automobile itself. In the very beginning, around 1900, the words used to describe this combination were varied: some spoke of a « mitrailleuse automobile », others used the expression « automobile de guerre ». Often these were simply open tourers fitted with machine gun mountings, like the famous Panhard-Genty sent to Morocco at the end of 1907. Others were already genuine armoured cars, such as the CGV presented to the French army in 1906.

It is the Great War, which began in August 1914, that would give this new combat vehicle its definitive designation, with the word « automitrailleuse » and its derived form « autocanon ». Indeed, from October 1914 onwards, various touring car chassis proved capable of supporting the fire of small 37 mm guns supplied by the navy, crews included. Thus was born in France a singular new branch of arms, with red-pompon sailors criss-crossing the roads of the front.

More logically transferred to the cavalry in 1916, these new vehicles, principally on Peugeot and Renault chassis, would await their hour of glory at each attempted breakthrough of the front.

In this extensively illustrated work, no model designed up to 1918 — production or prototype — is omitted; each is treated with illustration given pride of place, structured throughout by the rigorous analysis and synthesis characteristic of the author. In 172 pages, 400 illustrations of which 70 are in colour.

The author

François Vauvillier, born in 1951, founder in 1984 of the publishing house Histoire & Collections, today editor-in-chief of the quarterly GBM, has established himself over the decades as the foremost specialist in French military vehicles of the first half of the 20th century. A tireless worker, he divides his time between his Paris home and Brittany. Author of countless articles, he published, in the 1980s, two reference works on the uniforms of the French army in 1940 before tackling motorisation with L'Automobile sous l'uniforme, published in 1992. Since then, he has signed Les AMR and Tous les blindés de l'armée française des origines à 1940 before launching, still with H&C, two collections: Tous les… (Berliet, Laffly, Panhard, Renault) militaires and Le Grand Album which, after Citroën-Kégresse sous l'uniforme, opens with the present subject.