Landships II

Hi Brennan, the Fahrpanzer was widely used in WW1, the curious thing is the patent details use in the field in temporary fortifications, and these were of course used in that way on the western front..... perhaps gruson foresaw the development of trench warfare.....

Cheers

Hi 28juni14, sure a version of the Fahrpanzer was used as you say, Untill I read this Patent I was under the impression that this was its only intended use.... However in the patent Gruson specifically says these are intended "for use in the construction of temporary fortifications or trenches" and provides an illustration of the idea, he does mention reinforcing  the position with "masonry or other means" if its "intended to be of a more permanent character".... 
Maybe this patent predates the idea to use them in permanent fortresses as point defence, however it is a very simple version and lacks the sofistication of the fortress Fahrpanzer, indeed Gruson makes a virtue of its simple construction...
The curious thing is that in the end the fortress Fahrpanzers were used more or less as originally envisaged by this patent... ie as hardpoints in a temporary field defence....



Cheers

This would partly fit with what I gather is the most frequent use of them as supporting border crossing / frontier post positions or paramilitary / rebellion suppression actions by the Balkan states that had them. Here the issue appears to have been mobility & ease / speed of initial implacement when compared with the costs & time of (even light) permanent constructions. The clear implication is that these units would then be "recycled" to another problem point.