World War 2 In Review No. 5: Fighting Vehicles

By Merriam Press

Merriam Press World War 2 In Review Series

2023 eBook Edition

Coverage of these military vehicles and AFVs:

(1) Rommel’s Vehicles

(2) AMC 35: French Medium Cavalry Tank

(3) SdKfz 221 Armored Car Series

(4) SdKfz 221

(5) SdKfz 222

(6) SdKfz 223

(7) SdKfz 260

(8) SdKfz 261

(9) Sturmpanzer IV Brummbär SdKfz 166

(10) Sherman versus Panzerkampfwagen IV

(11) Lend-Lease Sherman Tanks

717 B&W and color photos and illustrations

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387053629

Book preview

Rommel's Vehicles

by John Baumann

After much thought I wondered if it was possible to list all of Rommel's vehicles and any other information to enable one to model them. I have put down my findings for the benefit of other readers. There are many books on Rommel and the DAK, but none give any exact details of the vehicles he used; this prompted me to try and rectify this by producing this article.

The article has been compiled from available material on Rommel's vehicles, a little of the history behind them, and any other known facts.

I don't pretend that this is absolutely correct, and I would be glad to hear of any comments or corrections from other readers. My grateful thanks to Geoff Lacey for his help in collecting this material together.

AEC Armoured Command Vehicle Dorchester

LP and HP Version (Diesel Motor Model 0853)

The early versions were powered by a petrol motor and known as model 853. These vehicles were specially built versions of the standard Matador chassis. There were two types of the short-nosed LP version. The Mark 2 being the same externally as the Mark 1, the differences being internally. In the Mark 2 version there was a partition dividing it into staff and wireless compartments. It carried a No. 19 set and RCA receiver. It carried three aerials, two on the right side and one on the left; all on the rear half of the vehicle.

The HP version carried a No. 19 HP set and was sometimes fitted with a false projecting bonnet. It had curved plates over the sloping corners and aerial mast carried centrally on the roof (front and between the second and last roof hatch). It was used in the same way as the LP version.

There was also an Armoured Demolition Vehicle version. It differed in that the body was not fitted with the wireless ventilators and had only one roof hatch (at the rear). In all 416 Armoured Command Vehicles (LP and HP versions) and Armoured Demolition Vehicles were produced. They were used as mobile headquarters for the commanders of armored formations and their staff. It was also used by the Royal Signals in forward areas for providing wireless links with rear units.

Production started in 1941. The Dorchester chassis differed from the Matador 0853 lorry chassis in that the fuel tank was carried on the nearside instead of the offside of the Matador chassis, a wireless generator was fitted in place of the winch of the Matador and special brackets were fitted to the chassis to carry the 12-mm thick armor plates. The new fuel tank was square in section, 1 foot 3 inches by 9 inches high and 2 feet 11½ inches long. It was mounted level with the top of the chassis. 13.50-20 run-flat tires were fitted as standard. (The Armoured Demolition Vehicle was fitted with 14.00-20 run-flat tires as standard.) On early production versions of the Armoured Command Vehicle a simple rolled canopy was fitted on the side with a folding canopy frame below, but on later production vehicles complete tentage was provided with the tent roof in rolls on the vehicle sides and the remaining tentage carried in packs strapped in other locations. The tent extensions served as living accommodation or extra office space for staff and crew.

History of Rommel's Mammute (Mammoths)

In the Great Retreat to the Wire the 2nd Armoured Division headquarters waited too long at Mechili (Mekili) for the survivors of its armored brigades. The headquarters troops, complete with their vehicles, plus the 7th Indian Motor Brigade, were compressed into Mechili camp where most of them were captured between 7 and 8 April 1941.

After Gen. O'Connor's victory over the original Italian Army, he was recalled to Cairo leaving the Eighth Army Headquarters at Barce. Lieutenant Gen. Neil Methuen Ritchie took over command of the Eighth Army in his absence. Lord Wavell was not happy with the way Lt. Gen. Ritchie was handling the battle and so recalled Gen. O'Connor from leave and sent him to Ritchie's headquarters at Barce. They remained there dangerously long after most of the retreating army had gone through-including their own headquarters vehicle which had left about twenty-four hours before. The two generals accompanied by Lt. Col. John F. B. Combe in their Humber Snipe staff car, motored hard to catch up with their headquarters vehicles. They were held up in a traffic jam in their car on the outskirts of Derna, behind a long convoy of British vehicles trying to get through Derna by road. They were captured by a German motorcycle platoon; men from the Ponath Group, along with other vehicles. Their headquarters vehicles had already passed through, but they were also captured on 8 April near the outskirts of Mechili.

Among the captured vehicles were three ACVs which originally belonged to:

Major Gen. Gambier-Parry, commander of the 2nd Armoured Division (himself captured on 8 April).

Lieutenant Gen. Sir Philip Neams, VC, commander of the Eighth Army.

Lieutenant Gen. Sir Richard O'Connor, assistant commander of the Eighth Army at the time of capture (2 and 3 were both captured on 7 April).

These vehicles carried large (headquarters?) numbers 2, 3 and 5 respectively on their body sides; number 5 carried the British vehicle registration (WD) number L4426428. Rommel used the ACVs with the numbers 2 and 3, and I believe Gen. Streich received number 5.

The ACVs were captured by the 3rd Reconnaissance unit of the DAK and they were presented to Rommel for his own use. They were nicknamed there and then Mammute (Mammoths). From all the equipment that was cleared out from the three Mammute, Rommel took a fancy to a pair of sun/sand glasses and these became part of his distinguishing insignia as from then on. All the photos of him show him wearing them around his cap or his throat.

The two ACVs kept by Rommel were christened Max and Moritz; they were famous characters from a German children's story by Wilhelm Busch. Rommel personally supervised the painting of the vehicles (sometime after April 1941). Moritz became his own vehicle which he often drove himself and Max was given over to his operations staff, originally under Lt. Gen. Westphal as the 1A (Chief of Operations Section) with Maj. Gen. F. W. von Mellenthin as the 1C. Colonel Bayerlin, who was the Chief of Staff, always traveled with Rommel on all his journeys. Max and Moritz were fitted with German number plates, and the diesel engines were modified to run on German tank engine diesel fuel which was of a thicker consistency than the British fuel and also had a distinctive smell.

These vehicles were never re-captured in all the battles that followed, although Gen. Cruwell's Mammut came very close on 23 November (Cruwell was Rommel's successor; whether another ACV was captured or one of Rommel's was passed over to him is not known). The vehicles' German crosses were not recognized and the vehicle being British became surrounded by British tanks, tank crews dismounted to investigate who the occupants were, and one of them being brave as well as polite knocked on the door. General Cruwell opened the door and came face to face with a British soldier. At this moment firing suddenly resumed on all sides; Cruwell and his staff threw themselves to the floor of the Mammut, and the tankman beating a hasty retreat back to his tank. The British did not realize who they nearly captured, the Mammut with Gen. Cruwell on board disappeared in the confusion of the battle.

The Mammute were found deserted in the Cape Bon Peninsula area after the Italian/German armies in Africa had surrendered, along with a vast collection of Italian, German and British vehicles which had been used by the Axis forces.

(Note: Whether No. 2 became Max and No. 3 became Moritz is not exactly known.)

Rommel's ACV Just After Capture

Color: Sand, light blue and dark brown (faded).

Markings: The British vehicle registration (WD) number was painted on the nose sides and the rear over the door. The vehicle also carried a large (headquarters?) number 3 on the sides and on the left of the rear door; these markings were painted white. German crosses were added on the nose, sides and the rear.

Other Information: A metal framed rack had been added to the ACV sometime before its capture. This was a British field modification and it was very usual to be fitted to ACVs. The ACV was used by Rommel for a very short time in its British camouflage after its capture.

Rommel's ACV After First Repaint

Color: Sand with blue or gray mottle over it (hard to tell from black and white photographs).

Markings: Painted on the right hand front mudguard is the Afrika Korps palm, over the top of this is what looks like the letters CH in a box. On the left mudguard is the DAK 21st Panzer Division sign; these are in white paint. German crosses were just over half way up the side, and underneath the last bar of the rack support.

Other Information: The headlights had now gained German slits. On the left hand side of the roof rack there is a neatly stacked row of jerrycans, and a camouflage net on the rear of the roof. (Photo in Kraftfahrzeuge und Panzer by Oswald.)

Rommel's ACV Moritz After Second Repaint

Number Plate: WH 819 834. Brand new number plates placed on the bottom of the nose (and rear?).

Color: Sand faded

Markings: German crosses on the nose, sides and rear. On the left hand mudguard of the vehicle is the corps headquarters sign, this is on a plate which slots into a pocket. To the left of this and lower down is the battalion headquarters sign. Above