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.