Peugeot 1914

The armoured vehicle Peugeot 1914 was built in the course of the First World War on the basis of the Charron model 1905 and was used in large numbers on the western front.

At the beginning of the First World War, the French army had very few armoured vehicles at its disposal, including 4 Charron Modell 1905. As Charron had already stopped production before the war, other companies began to manufacture similar vehicles.

The company Peugeot began to convert the previously civilian used tourism vehicles of the types 146, 148 and mainly 153 and to equip them with appropriate armor. At the end of 1914, these experimental vehicles were discontinued and production of a series vehicle began.

 

 

 

 

There were two versions of the vehicle classified as Peugeot 1914:

Peugeot 1914 AC
This variant was equipped with a 37 mm Schneider field gun. The basis was the Peugeot 18CV vehicle. In the first model the rear platform on which the gun stood was not armoured, only the gun itself had a shield to protect the gunner from enemy fire. Only in the second model a completely armoured turret was put on in which the gun was accommodated.

The engine, the driver's compartment and the sides of the platform were protected by 5.5 mm thick iron plates. The entrance was through a door in the rear part of the vehicle. To compensate for the weight, the rear wheels on each side were doubled so that two pairs of tyres were mounted on each side.

Of this series, both model 1 and 2 were built over 150 pieces.

 

 

 

 

Peugeot 1914 AM
Based on the Peugeot 20CV the Peugeot 1914 AM version was built. Instead of a heavy gun it had a Hotchkiss M1914 6.1 mm machine gun as armament. In terms of construction, these two versions were quite similar, so that spare parts could be exchanged between them.

From the Peugeot 1914 AM version 120 pieces were built.

 

 

 

 

Especially the 7th cavalry division was equipped with the new vehicles after the start of production. When the front line was still mobile, the vehicles could still effectively support the infantry and advance behind enemy lines.

When the war of positions began, however, the vehicles gradually became superfluous and only served for surveillance in remote parts of the front line.

Since the vehicles had no further suitable off-road mobility, these could not support the newly used tanks from 1917 also any longer, thus 1918 were only 23 vehicles at the west front in the employment 1918.

 

After the First World War, the French army had no further use for the remaining Peugeot 1914 vehicles. When the tensions between Poland and Russia increased in 1919, 18 vehicles were sold to Poland in 1920. These arrived, however, only in September and November and could therefore no longer be used for the conflicts.

After some reconstruction measures and modifications these were then combined in the 1st and 2nd armoured car department. Until 1930 the vehicles were then in use and were finally replaced by the new WZ.28 Halftrack vehicles. Until 1935 15 vehicles were scrapped, the remaining three were handed over to the police for training and patrol tasks.

These 3 vehicles had the last employment on 1 September 1939 in Upper Silesia, with battles with German Freikorps.

 

 

 

 

 

Data sheet:

Designation:	Peugeot 1914
Manufacturing country:	France
Introductory year:	1914
Number of pieces:	more than 270
Arming:	1 x Hotchkiss M1914 6,1 mm Machine Gun (Peugeot 1914 AM version)   1 x 37 mm Schneider field gun (Peugeot 1914 AC version)
Maximum speed:	ca. 40 Km/h
Engine:	4 cylinder Peugeot engine with 40 HP (30 kW)
Weight:	4,9 tons

 

 

 

 

 

You can find the right literature here:

 

The Encyclopedia of French Tanks and Armoured Fighting Vehicles: 1914-1940

France, alongside Britain, represents the birthplace of a new weapon that will revolutionize the art of war: the armored tank. And even before the appearance of this new piece of armament, it was in France around the turn of the twentieth century that we see the appearance of the first armored and combat vehicles.

In encyclopedic form, without forgetting any of the principal one hundred autos (tanks and armored cars) and their 200 variants and derivatives (troop transport, bridge layers, anti-mine tanks, etc..), This book offers a panorama absolutely full of all the vehicles that have succeeded or surrounded the Great War until the beginning of World War II.

A detailed though concise text concise, this work offers precise tables presenting all the specifications of the primary vehicles. With abundant illustrations (rare period photographs, sumptuous color profiles) this book an essential reference for both specialists and amateurs.

Click here!

 

 

Armoured Fighting Vehicles of World Wars I & II: Features 90 Landmark Vehicles from 1900-1945 with over 370 Archive Photographs

Features 90 landmark vehicles from 1900-1945 shown in over 370 colour and black-and-white archive photographs

Click here!

 

 

French Tanks of World War I (New Vanguard)

This title examines the emergence of the first modern tank, the Renault FT. It is a little known fact that France fielded more tanks in World War I than any other army. However, France's early tanks suffered from poor mobility and armor compared to their contemporaries. Indeed, their initial use on the Chemin des Dames in 1917 was a bloody fiasco. In spite of initial set-backs, the French army redeemed its reputation with the Renault FT.

The Renault FT pioneered the modern tank design, with armament in a revolutionary central turret and the engine in the rear. More importantly, the Renault was designed to be cheap and easy to manufacture. Discover the history of the early French armor developments and their triumphant new design, the Renault FT, that helped to turn the tide of war in the favor of the Allies.

Click here!

 

 

Armoured Warfare in the First World War (Images Of War)

A hundred years ago, on 15 September 1916, on the Western Front during the Battle of the Somme, the tank made its debut on the battlefield. The first tanks were crude, unreliable, vulnerable weapons, but they changed the character of land warfare forever, and Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history of these pioneering armored vehicles is the ideal introduction to them.

In a selection of over 150 archive photographs he offers a fascinating insight into the difficult early days of this innovative new weapon, describing its technical history and its performance in combat. While the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 is often held up as the first large-scale tank battle, tanks had already served at Flers-Courcelette on the Somme, during the Nivelle offensive and the battles of Messines and Passchendaele.

His book shows that the development of the tank was fraught with technical obstacles and battlefield setbacks. It was invented by the British and the French at almost the same time to help break the deadlock of trench warfare, and the British deployed it first in 1916. Belatedly the Germans followed the British and French example. The initial designs were continuously refined during two years of intense warfare. Finding the right balance between power and weight, getting the armament right, and working out the best tactics for tanks on the battlefield was a tricky, often deadly business.

Click here!

 

 

 

 

 

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