Samochód półgąsienicowy wz. 34 (literally "Half-track car, year 1934 model") was a Polish

halftrack A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels at the front for steering and continuous tracks at the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cro ...

lorry A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructio ...

. It was produced in a variety of variants, the best-known of them being the C4P

artillery tractor An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be wheeled, tracked, or half-tracked. Traction There are two ...

used by the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...

in the period before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The vehicle was based on a 2.5 tonne

Fiat 621 Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiar ...

truck, licence-built by

Polski Fiat Polski Fiat (literally in English: ''the Polish Fiat'') was a Polish car brand. Under this brand, cars under licence of the Italian manufacturer FIAT were manufactured or assembled in Poland. Before World War II The brand was created in 193 ...

in Poland at the time. In 1934

Edward Habich Edward Jan Habich ( es, Eduardo de Habich) (31 January 1835, Warsaw – 31 October 1909, Lima, Peru) was a Polish engineer and mathematician. In 1876, he founded the National University of Engineering ( es, Universidad Nacional de Ingenier� ...

of the Bureau for Technical Studies of the Armoured Arms (BBT BP) designed a half-track version of the Fiat 621 lorry, initially dubbed the Mark 1934 halftrack cargo lorry ( pl, Półgąsienicowy samochód ciężarowy wz. 34). Both Fiat 621 and wz. 34 shared the majority of parts, notably the slightly modified frame, the engine and the crew compartment. There were many notable differences as well though. The front axle was reinforced, a reduction drive was added and the gearbox was modified to better suit the new vehicle. Most notably, the rear axles were replaced with a continuous track system modelled after the

Vickers E The Vickers 6-ton tank or Vickers Mark E, also known as the "Six-tonner" was a British light tank designed as a private project at Vickers. It was not adopted by the British Army, but was picked up by many foreign armed forces. It was licens ...

tank and French Citroën-

Kégresse track A Kégresse track is a kind of rubber or canvas continuous track which uses a flexible belt rather than interlocking metal segments. It can be fitted to a conventional car or truck to turn it into a half-track, suitable for use over rough or soft ...

s. Heaviest towed pieces were 3143 kg 120 mm wz.1878/09/31 guns. The vehicle entered production at the PZInż Czechowice factory in 1935 and the production run lasted until 1938. Altogether some 400 were built in all variants, including roughly 80 artillery tractors.

Variants

The wz. 34 / C4P was delivered in at least 8 different variants: ;C4P for heavy artillery :Intended for 120 mm wz.1878/09/31 guns (experimentally also for 155 mm howitzers and 105 mm wz.29 Schneider guns). Their frame was slightly shorter and was equipped with a special catch for the gun carriage. Initially the crew compartment was open-topped and covered only with a tarpaulin roof, later production models had a compartment enclosed in a steel and wooden box. Both variants had a bench for four artillerymen just behind the driver's compartment. ;C4P for light artillery : Intended for 75 mm Schneider guns and 100 mm Škoda howitzers, as well as for transporting ammo and towing caissons. They were basically identical to the later heavy artillery variant, except that the cargo hold was equipped with two benches for three soldiers each. ;C4P for anti-aircraft artillery : Intended as the basic tractor for Polish 75 mm wz.36 Star AA guns. They had a lengthened cargo hold with two benches for two soldiers each. ; Samochód ciężarowy wz. 34 ("cargo car, Mark 1934") : Had a long frame and long cargo hold. ; Samochód warsztatowy wz. 34 ("workshop car, Mark 1934") : Had an open steel chassis with a tarpaulin roof and sides of the crew compartment. The sides were equipped with hinges and could be opened separately to allow for easier access to workshop equipment. In addition to their primary usage, similar cars were also used to tow anti-air searchlights. ;Ambulans wz.34 (ambulance) : Had an enclosed box compartment in the rear with space for up to eight seated soldiers (or four on stretchers). Approximately 50 lorries of this variant were built. ; Wóz strażacki wz.34 (fire engine) : A couple were built for the municipal fire brigades of Lwów ; "lot" : Designated as either C4P "lot" or Samochód wz. 34 "lot", this variant was basically a typical wz. 34 cargo car, with a shortened frame and equipment for towing aeroplanes at the airfields.

References

External links

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Polish artillery tractor C4P / halftrack car wz. 34
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100214092004/http://derela.republika.pl/c4p.htm , date=2010-02-14 Artillery tractors World War II vehicles of Poland Half-tracks of the interwar period Military vehicles introduced in the 1930s

Variants

See also

References

External links