The Ãœberlandwagen ("Over-land vehicle") was a tracked supply carrier built on the chassis of the German
A7V
The A7V was a heavy tank introduced by Germany in 1918 during World War I. One hundred chassis were ordered in early 1917, ten to be finished as fighting vehicles with armoured bodies, and the remainder as ''Ãœberlandwagen'' cargo carriers. Th ...
''Sturmpanzerwagen'' tank. When the A7V was first developed, the design committee made allowance for the chassis to be fitted with an alternative load carrying body.
Description
The ''Ãœberlandwagen'' shared a common chassis with the A7V tank; both having suspension derived from the American
Holt tractor
The Holt tractors were a range of continuous track haulers built by the Holt Manufacturing Company from California (U.S.), which was named after Benjamin Holt.
Between 1908 and 1913, twenty-seven of the first 100 Holt caterpillar track-type t ...
and twin 100 hp
Daimler engines centrally mounted. A driving position was sited on a platform above the engines, with dual sets of controls for driving in either direction to avoid the need to turn the vehicle. A canopy was fitted over the driving position, and wooden
dropsides and ends were fitted at the front and rear of the vehicle. Some examples had rails added to support a
tarpaulin
A tarpaulin ( , ) or tarp is a large sheet of strong, flexible, water-resistant or waterproof material, often cloth such as canvas or polyester coated with polyurethane, or made of plastics such as polyethylene. Tarpaulins often have reinforce ...
over the load spaces. Towing hooks were fitted at both ends of the chassis.
The vehicle had a top speed of and was manned by a driver and an assistant.
Service
A production run of 30 ''Ãœberlandwagen'' was projected but it was not completed before the end of the war. By the end of September 1917, an experimental transport column had been formed equipped with eight Ãœberlandwagens, the ''ArmeeKraftwagen-Kolonne-Raupe Nr 1111''. It was despatched to Northern France in November 1917, and initial reports indicated that the vehicles worked well. They were used up until the end of the war, chiefly to transport general stores and ammunition up to front line positions.
Two vehicles closely resembling the A7V tank (one of them named "Hedi") were constructed after the war and used by government troops, or ''
Freikorps
(, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regar ...
'', to quell civil unrest in Berlin in 1919. It is thought that they were constructed using Ãœberlandwagen chassis. They were armed with machine guns, but it is not known whether the bodies were of armour plate or mild steel.
See also
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Tanks in the German Army
This article deals with the tanks (german: panzer) serving in the German Army (''Deutsches Heer'') throughout history, such as the World War I tanks of the Imperial German Army, the interwar and World War II tanks of the Nazi German Wehrmacht, ...
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Uberlandwagen
World War I armoured fighting vehicles of Germany
History of the tank