In the First World War armored cars from the manufacturer Lanchester were used on the British side. The vehicles proved to be robust and reliable and so the army commissioned the company to develop an armored car.
From 1928, the Lanchester Motor Company (which was later acquired by Daimler) produced an armored car similar in design to the armored car just mentioned, but much larger and more powerful, on a specially developed chassis. The departure from the practice of simply using the chassis of standard commercial or military trucks or cars naturally brought technical advantages, but also disadvantages of a logistical nature. After two prototypes had been demonstrated and tested, it became clear that the chassis needed to be improved. 22 improved vehicles were ordered. A further 15 vehicles were ordered by 1932.
An armored superstructure with a rotating turret sat on a specially developed chassis (as mentioned) with a 6×4 drive formula. The vehicle weighed approximately seven tons. The first series had twin tires on the rear axles, the following series did not. The armament consisted of a .50 caliber machine gun and another .303 caliber in the turret and a machine gun (.303 caliber) in the hull. The crew consisted of four men. In its configuration, the Lanchester Armored Car was not unlike contemporary German, Swedish or Russian developments. It had a far better reputation in the British Army than the 6×4 Crossley armored cars introduced at the same time. Above all, its off-road capability was better.
As mentioned, the Lanchester Armored Car had reasonably good off-road capability and its six-cylinder petrol engine accelerated it to 72 km/h. It was also reliable and easy to maintain. It was also reliable and easy to maintain. The thickness of the armor was nine millimeters. However, it had one major flaw, which was hardly used by the British Army in the inter-war period: the Lanchester Armored Car was complicated (especially to manufacture) and therefore expensive. High production output and export success were therefore hardly to be expected. The Irish Army showed interest in acquiring a handful of the armored cars for a while, but then abandoned the project.
In 1929, the regiment of the 11th Hussars received Lanchesters and some Rolls-Royces. It was not until 1934 that all the Lanchesters intended for this purpose were handed over to the regiment. When the Hussars left for Egypt (this was towards the end of 1934), the Lanchesters remained in Great Britain. This makes it clear that these armored cars were not intended for police use in colonies and protectorates, as was the case with other developments (such as the Crossley). The 12th Lancers received 16 Lanchesters, which they exchanged for Morris CS 9s when the regiment went to France as part of the B.E.F..
At the beginning of the Second World War 22 Lanchesters (13 Mk I, one Mk IA, five Mk II, three Mk IIA) were sent to various military and paramilitary units in the colony of Malaya, five of which were sent to the 2nd Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, commanded at the time by Lt.-Col. Lindsay Robertson, along with four Marmon-Herrington scout cars.
During a battle (“Battle of the Slim River” on January 7, 1942) with the tanks of the Japanese invasion forces under General Yamashita, all the armored cars of the traditional Scottish unit were lost. Of the 200 or so tanks in Yamashita’s invasion force, a tank company under Major Toyosaku Shimada was deployed against the Highlanders with 17 Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks and three Type 95 Ha-Go light tanks. Shimada carried out a risky night attack with his tanks, which broke through the lines of the Scottish elite regiment. iment broke through.
One of the Lanchesters remaining in England was used to transport members of the British War Cabinet, while two were sent to the Belgian Forces in Exile. Ten went to two units of the Territorials (1st Derbyshire Yeomanry, 3rd County of London Yeomanry) One Lanchester Armored Car has survived, it is a Mk II. It is in the Bovington Tank Museum.
