Two Jeffery-Poplavko Armored Cars- Probably captured by the Germans and later recovered by the Russians in the Tarnopol area during the summer of 1917.
Heve you this picture clean?
-- Edited by Ivan on Friday 30th of March 2012 05:06:43 PM
Having served in the US army wnen I was much younger. The most likely reason why there are all the cars and motorcycles in a Russian armored car platoon is because one of the main functions of a unit like this is reconnaissance. Sending out a section of an armored car, a car and a motorcycle for a look around. If they spot something, they don't have a radio so they can send word back with the motorcycle. If they come to a village or a patch of woods they can dismount and check it out while being covered by the armored car. The single car and motorcycle belong to the Platoon leader for communicating with both his sections and higher headquarters. The trucks are for supply purposes. There weren't awhole lot of places in Eastern Europe or the Caucasus where you could get fuel or spare parts. operating in the field for about a week or so at the time also requires food and drink for the men as well. There were also not a whole lot of mechanics around either so this unit would have had to have done alot of its own maintenace and repairs. During WW II US armored cavalry units usually contained a mixture of armored cars and jeeps. In my day scout platoons in US army Mechanized Infantry Battalions were equiped with a mixture of jeeps and M-113 APCs.