Inside the Rolls Royce Armoured Car I THE GREAT WAR Special

i'm indy neidell and this is the great war on the road today we are at the Tank Museum Bovington and we're going to talk about armored cars in the British Army during the First World War but by we I actually mean this guy here is gonna talk about it this is David Willy the curator of the museum David say hi to everybody hello everyone now let's just jump right in before we get specifics armored cars First World War go so we've got we've had two armored cars before the First World War don't forget there was something as early as 1903 there's something called the sins war car the idea of putting armor plate on a vehicle ease is not new but again with the First World War we're really seeing that opportunity for armored cars to be used seriously for the first time for the British the story starts in early in the war before Christmas in 1914 in that period when there's a war of maneuver out on the Western Front before the line solidify and what happens Winston Churchill First Lord of the Admiralty he's in charge of the British Navy he sends out the Navy to blockade all the ports he's then itching to get more involved in the fighting on the Western Front that's going on so he sends out to the Flanders Belgium basically sends out the Royal Naval Air Service that's the aeroplanes that are flying for the Royal Navy so he sends him out to France on Belgium he then sends out some troops and naval troops to protect these airfields and don't forget up to this point we haven't got a static front line there's still maneuver going on sent himself to it he goes out as well too and trove of course so what he does is by sending out these troops they in turn the Royal Naval Air Service whistle up back from the UK some vehicles to help patrol and protect the airfields now it just so happens one or two of these guys are fairly wealthy they get the family rolls-royce sent out to them you're talking about guys like the Duke of Westminster etc now the rolls-royce what happens these guys if you see photographs of them they were almost like an Indiana Jones figure they've got the long back on some of them have got naval beard so I've got a nice big belt rakish hat Cutlass in one side pistol in the other get in the car and let's go and have some fun and these guys go off looking for German patrols now as soon as they bump into a few islands as an exchange of shots next moments the guys are going back and getting their cars put a bit of armor plate on they go down to the Naval Dockyard they get the Navy they're down there as a and the Belgium ship workers to put some armor plate on some of these vehicles a couple of weeks later they're adding a machine gun and these guys are going off having fun now Churchill sees that potential of the armoured motorized vehicle when he's helping to think forward in a short time about the tank but those are armored vehicles early in the war very improvised designs they as soon as the front line becomes static in other words the Germans start digging trenches for a wheeled vehicle you need a road right they are pretty useless cross country and at the same time the British now we're actually looking at not just getting improvised Rolls Royces we actually get the rolls-royce company we get the Silver Ghost vehicle and we have a formalized pattern to armor plate it so they start making these in production numbers they don't get out to France and Belgium in time to really make a bit of a difference early in the war but they then send that unit out to Gallipoli and armored cars are actually uses in some of the far-flung battles of empire they go to Africa and they go to the Middle East some was taken out we actually supply some to the Russians as well so armored cars see peripheral action right in the open front in the opening bit as well and it can't they can't really engage successfully on the Western Front till maneuver comes back in the battles in 1918 and then we see the armored car yet again take a role during the exploitation phrases that things like the Battle of a Mian they can go racing ahead up perfectly paved road still because they've got through yeah again this one this is our rolls-royce this is actually a post-war this is called the 1921 pattern very similar to the First World War ones the armored body silver ghost rolls-royce engine under their Vickers machine gun in the turret sometimes two or three man crew and a tall what you have to say is such a stylish looking vehicle and this particular rolls-royce went into service with the British Army just after the first world war saw service in the Far East went to Shanghai and this was still serving the British Army at the beginning of World War two doing airfield defence and coastal protection now how what could this Armour handle you're looking at here you can actually see it again it's a standard sort of first world war just 0.4 7 of an inch one point two centimeters it'll stop bullets yes again they have a problem of course with armored cars generally because as soon as you get a tyre punctured yeah they start introducing run-flat tires so you can still actually proceed even though you've lost most of the air out the tire but the real problem of a vehicle like this and you can see it even though they've strengthened the actuals they've got a fairly long wheelbase as soon as you leave a road you're in a bit of trouble in real time and again if you only have to think of the Western Front boggy ground shelters strewn ground etc churned up you're gonna have an awful lot of trouble trying to get a the mobility that something like a Rolls Royce it's a great advantage which is why you go for a track vehicle which has got that capacity to cross rougher ground now it may be people that there don't know cars back then how fast could this thing go on a decent Road and this is actually quite a speedy vehicle you know we've we've taken this vehicle out this one still drives it's it's used for parades a off record the guys have got it up to about 45 miles an hour on the open road now that's a lot of speed for this guy for a level of armour plate that's on there the problem you've got is the call speed not your real issue is stopping so if we get too fast trying to slow this damn thing down you've got to go through the brakes too late here wait that's another thing that people tend to forget about so mobility just being able to get around that much quicker and again they're looking in 1918 how can we use armoured cars with cavalry other armored vehicles again in 1918 we're seeing this this clever use of the latest technology how can we tactically use it let the tanks make a hole let those armoured cars go ahead and do the damage cause mayhem behind the lines you can actually take a pull a lever inside and it takes the exhaust away from the engine so the idea is if you're in a colonial or policing situation if all the locals are getting a wee bit too close or a little bit too uppity for what you like you pull the leaver this roar comes out the engine and everyone backs off all right so it's a simple way again non non-lethal weapons systems everything definitely oh you got that ok great ok well ok just having that see if we can have a look in the back so um you want to be the young and fit one not in these pants as I discover it on the on them mark one that I want to come round and have a nose in through the back end we can describe what you're looking at so if you want to to peek through there so obviously you can see there the right hand side is a driver and even though he's got a back to his seat he's actually pretty much sitting on the floor ok and at the moment ahead of him his visor there's a lever on the dashboard you pull the visor and that lever drops down there's a starting handle steering controls gear levers on the actual steering wheel you can see through there and above him would be the commander who operates also the Vickers machine gun he's got a hatch in the top different modules slightly different shaped turrets and but really what you're looking at here for the British after the first world war fantastic for policing empire yeah during the first world war it tends to only see action in those battles all the campaign's on the periphery of empire and rather than on that western front well we do see we saw plenty of armored car action on the eastern front with the Belgians and the Russians and Germans and if you're wondering why we're not talking about that today is that because that's going to be covered in episodes of its own later on now what's in here that's padlocked so what you've got you've got lockers here for taking tools and other bits of equipment and down the sides on the running boards they do actually take on ditching beams along with them as well the whole point of those beams is you can lay them over particularly soft to ground to be able to travel over the top and be able to continue forward but you can see it's a it's a stylish looking vehicles there's anything to do with resources and also just the fact they particularly chose a rolls-royce car because of its reliability that power the engines got very smooth ride they strengthened the suspension giving an extra wheel at the back for the armored car version but it's it's a stunningly effective vehicle and so well made they were going on to the beginning of the Second World War those those early 1920s versions so you know a cracking bit of design all right well there you have it the rolls-royce armoured car and the British armored cars in general during the First World War well David thank you very much thanks eh okay if you'd like to see our episode about how when Winston Churchill actually did go to Belgium in the early stages of the war you can click right here for that do not forget to subscribe and check us out on our subreddit out because it's got all kinds of cool stuff and flows scream something so they know you're here and there's flow see you next time

Channel: The Great War

Views: 530,326

Keywords: History, History channel, Documentary, Footage, Great War, First World War, World War I (Military Conflict), WWI, 20th Century, 1914 to 1918, British Pathé, Indy Neidell, Wilhelm II, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Winston Churchill, Mediakraft, Original, Battlefield 1, Rolls Royce, Armoured Car, Rolls Royce Armoured Car, David Willey, The Tank Museum, Western Front, Egypt

Id: 8_4v3FU2tNI

Length: 9min 54sec (594 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 06 2018