Landships II

Well, that was a bit startling at first, but I think I've got an explanation.

Before we start, we have to address Watchdream's statement that Austria-Hungary produced Holt tractors under licence in Budapest. It didn't. That's a claim that crops up from time to time. I've even seen one statement that Holts were built in Bucharest. But there was no manufacturing plant in A-H. Leo Steiner tried to set one up, but Holt pulled out at the start of the War. The USA even impounded a Holt that had been bought to work on the Emperor's estates.

Yet the drawing shows a Holt suspension with something very like an A7V hull superimposed. I don't't know any Hungarian, and all internet translations I've tried have been clumsy and unclear. However, this is what I suspect has happened here:

The Holts used by the Germans were privately owned vehicles commandeered by the A-H army. After inspecting them, Vollmer copied them, with the participation of several firms. Hundleby & Strasheim (1990} give a list of the firms involved; they are German, with one exception. "Vollmer could not successfully imitate the track. Therefore it was necessaryto involve the firm of Caterpillar-Holt [in Budapest]." But there was no such thing. C-H didn't open a plant outside the USA until 1952, and that was in Leicester, UK.

What I think happened (and what H & S must have misunderstood) is that the firm that developed the tracks was the engineering company Ganz of Budapest. I think that's what the illustration is saying. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganz_Works They were tram manufacturers and must have been called in for their expertise.

One translation of the caption is "It's called Blind tank plan, which the Ganz factory in 1917 should have been built by the German A7V." Not very clear, but I think the gist of it is that "Ganz designed this, which went on to be incorporated by the Germans in the A7V."

Vakond translates as "blind" or "mole". I'm not sure of the significance of that. Is it a link to some other A-H AFV of the same period? Does it lead us anywhere else?

Of course, in the USA, several artists drew illustrations of Holt tractors with armoured superstructures and declared them to be the tanks being used on the Western Front, accidentally or deliberately misleading the punters so that America or Holt could take the credit. Maybe that's what the creator of this illustration was doing for Ganz.

Feel free to discuss.

Many thanks for the answer, you confirmed my doubts. I believe that the details of such Austro-Hungarian projects can be found in the articles, which were published in the hungarian Haditechnika magazine by authors of my source. I can buy those only next year. Until that time, we can only speculate and think.
However, from the same source there is an even more mysterious thing - Liptak tank.



If I correctly understood the text, it was the initiative project of Dr. Liptack, who was an important and wealthy specialist in Austria-Hungary of those years. As stated in the source, it was a banal attempt to install armor and armed turret in Holt tractor chassis. The story of Burstyn Motorgeschuetz was repeated, this project is also not interested in the army before the war. However, already during the war, Liptak proposed a second variant of own tank design and, apparently with his own money, created a model. But the project again did not interest the military. Photos of this model have been preserved.



By the way, the moment that made me think about the competence of the authors is that as an illustration in the sorce - a murky photo of Holt G9. Could this be a mistake? Maybe the other tractor was actually used, not Holt? For example Clayton & Shuttleworth tractor, he is quite similar.

There are more interesting things from the same source - a "Hora Holt tractor" and a half-track armored car on its base.



Any ideas, info? Maybe Austro-Hungarians were trying to copy Holt's tractor or convert captured vehicles?

Sorry, photo.

Yes, as I wrote earlier, only twelve tractors were purchased.
It is possible that it was planned at the Ganz plant in Budapest, to produce a Holt tractor without an American license (because the Great War lasted). There is no confirmation in archival documents.
Attached is a photo of a half-truck from "Raba" company (Hora-Holt).

Yours sincelery Chris.