Armour on Wheels- The Story of Wheeled Armoured Fighting Vehicles

In this publication we tell the story of Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) on wheels, so tracked AFVs and half-tracks are not described here. Early ‘armed cars’, without armour to protect the occupants, developed to become lightly-armoured reconnaissance cars and Scout Cars, capable of resisting small arms fire. Scout Cars usually had an open top, with vision slots in the armour-plated bodywork. Armoured Cars had all-enveloping armour and a gun, usually fitted into a revolving turret like a tank, but they were smaller and more manoeuvrable than tanks. All major powers developed many designs of armoured cars in the early years, though the USA preferred tracked vehicles. The armoured car all but disappeared in later years, as the IFV took over the role.