Improvised vehicle armour is a form of vehicle armour consisting of protective materials added to a vehicle such as a car, truck, or tank in an irregular and extemporized fashion using available materials. Typically, improvised armour is added in the field and it was not originally part of the design, an official up-armour kit, nor centrally planned and distributed. Improvised armour is used to protect occupants from small arms, crew-served weapons, artillery (or tank gun) fire, and anti-tank mines. Improvised additions have included metal plate, scrap metal, sandbags, concrete, wood, and, since at least the 2000s, Kevlar. These materials vary widely in their ballistic protection.
Improvised vehicle armour has appeared on the battlefield for as long as vehicles have been used in combat. Though usually used in military or conflict contexts, improvised vehicle armour has also been used in non-combat contexts, such as to protect the vehicles of strikebreakers.
History
World War I The first armoured cars to see combat in World War I were entirely improvised, although this soon changed as the war continued. A few were used by the Belgian Army during the German invasion. The British Royal Naval Air Service received reports of this and converted some of their own cars. Improvised conversion continued until December 1914 when the first standardized design entered service. The British Royal Naval Air Service in Dunkirk sent teams in cars to find and rescue downed reconnaissance pilots in the battle areas. They mounted machine guns on themBand of Brigands p 59 and as these excursions became increasingly dangerous, they improvised boiler plate armouring on the vehicles using metal provided by a local shipbuilder.
World War II
Most armies involved in World War II adopted some form of improvised armour at some point. The Home Guard in the United Kingdom equipped itself with a number of vehicles with improvised armour, such as the Bison concrete armoured lorry, intended to be used for defending airfields. Later in 1944, some Cromwell and Churchill tanks had sections of tracks attached to their existing armour to provide yet more extra protection. US M8 Greyhound armoured car crews would sometimes line the floors of their vehicles with sandbags to provide extra protection against landmines, this was also done with most light vehicles, the Jeeps were well known to have many field modifications done; even the M113s would see sandbags piled on the floor for the same reason.
The addition of improvised armour to tanks was performed by both Axis and Allies forces due to the arms race between the designers of antitank weapons and the designers of tank armour. In some cases, a tank that was effectively protected against existing antitank weapons at the time of its manufacture ended up, once finally tested and delivered to the battlefield, being vulnerable to newly designed antitank weapons. As such, tank crews would ask field repair workshops to increase their protection, using a wide range of armouring principles, including welded or bolted on metal "skirts" around treads and turrets (spaced armour) and welded screens (slat armour). Some German improvised armour was designed to protect weak points, such as sandbags added by Afrika Korps tank crews to the turret joint. On the Eastern Front, some tank crews added sandbags due to fears of magnetic mines.
The German military became aware of these improvised armour approaches used by their troops and issued a recommendation against using most of them in 1944 in the Nachrichtenblatt der Panzertruppen (Newsletter for the Armoured Forces).Nachrichtenblatt der Panzertruppen No. 14, August 1944. Berlin : Generalinspekteur der Panzertruppen, 1944. 40 p. Nachrichtenblatt der Panzertruppen No. 15, September 1944. Berlin : Generalinspekteur der Panzertruppen, 1944. 30 p.Reisebericht über die Teilnahme an der Rüstungsbesprechung und Rücksprache beim P.A. 1944. 6 p. General der Artillerie Nr. 240/44 g.Kdos. While the German military was aware that improvised armour boosted tank crews' morale (by giving a sense of increased security) the analysts argued that many improvised armouring techniques were not effective. For example, welding spare tank treads to a turret was not effective, as treads were not armour-grade steel, and concrete was found to offer little protection while also leading to excess fragmentation. Some improvised armour, such as adding concrete or welding on tank treads on an 80 to 90-degree angle, actually made enemy weapons more effective, and both approaches overtaxed the tanks' powertrains from the extra weight.Nachrichtenblatt der Panzertruppen No. 14, August 1944. Berlin : Generalinspekteur der Panzertruppen, 1944. 40 p. Nachrichtenblatt der Panzertruppen No. 15, September 1944. Berlin : Generalinspekteur der Panzertruppen, 1944. 30 p. Reisebericht über die Teilnahme an der Rüstungsbesprechung und Rücksprache beim P.A. 1944. 6 p. General der Artillerie Nr. 240/44 g.Kdos.
Welding on improvised Schürzen (skirting) was not permitted, due to concerns that welding the original factory plate armour could weaken it; however, using brackets to mount turret-side and back skirts or side skirts was permitted.Nachrichtenblatt der Panzertruppen No. 14, August 1944. Berlin : Generalinspekteur der Panzertruppen, 1944. 40 p. Nachrichtenblatt der Panzertruppen No. 15, September 1944. Berlin : Generalinspekteur der Panzertruppen, 1944. 30 p. Reisebericht über die Teilnahme an der Rüstungsbesprechung und Rücksprache beim P.A. 1944. 6 p. General der Artillerie Nr. 240/44 g.Kdos. Side skirts were permitted because the Soviet 14,5 mm antitank rifles could penetrate the less-armoured sides of the Panzer.
Some US tanks had spare tracks attached to their armour. This was done with the M4 Sherman and Stuart tanks. Besides spare track-links, other improvised armour included wooden logs, tree trunks, armour plating from other destroyed or abandoned tanks and even a thick layer of concrete, albeit the lattermost very rarely. Concrete was sometimes added above the driver to protect the thinner roof above a driver from antitank rifle fire coming from above. Sandbags would also be stacked on a Sherman's front plate and arranged on the turret roof to protect the crew from ricochets when looking out the hatches or using the MGs. US tanks in the Pacific theater would also weld nails or cages to their hatches and make improvised track skirts to counter Japanese anti-tank attacks; wood was also common as an anti-magnetic measure.
Soviet tank crews sometimes welded makeshift metal frames to their tanks to protect against shaped charge explosives such as the German Panzerfaust anti-tank weapon. Commonly referred to as "Bed Frames", and while there does exist the possibility some were actual bed frames, it instead refers to the officially issued steel mesh frames, which resembled common bed frames at a glance. The "Bed Frame" was an early version of modern slat armour, which was used in the 2000s to protect tanks against rocket-propelled grenades such as the RPG-7.
During the North African Campaign, the German Afrika Korps attached strips of spare tracks to the front of their Panzer IIIs and Panzer IVs. Elsewhere, such as on the Eastern Front and in Italy, the German military also relied on add-on plates of armour of varying thickness (including the well-known Schürzen add-on side armour plating), cement and timber to increase the armour of their tracked combat vehicles, especially those with weaker armour like the Marder series of self-propelled anti-tank guns and the StuG III (many of these were given either timber, concrete, additional armour plating or spare tracks to increase their battlefield survivability). Most German vehicles exported to their allies in the war also carried such forms of armour, such as StuG IIIs sent to Finland, which carried both log (on the sides) and concrete (frontally) armour.
Vietnam War In the Vietnam War, U.S. gun trucks were armoured with sandbags and locally fabricated steel armour plate.Gardiner, Paul S. "Gun Trucks: Genuine Examples of American Ingenuity," Army Logistician, PB 700-03-4, Vol. 35, No. 4, July–August 2003, Army Combined Arms Support Command, Fort Lee, Virginia. ISSN 0004-2528
Troubles
During The Troubles, the Provisional Irish Republican Army used several types of improvised tactical vehicles.
Strike of 1984 During the 1984 UK miners' strike, buses used for transporting strikebreakers to work were armoured against attacks by strikers by fitting metal bars to their windows. These improvised armoured buses were nicknamed "battle buses".
Iraq War
During the Iraq War, improvised vehicle armour was colloquially referred to as "hillbilly armor", "farmer armor" or "hajji armor" by American troops.Hirsh, Michael; Barry, John and Dehghanpisheh, Babak. "'Hillbilly Armor': Defense sees it's fallen short in securing the troops. The grunts already knew," Newsweek, 20 December 2004.
During the occupation that followed the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime, insurgent forces deployed roadside bombs, RPG teams, and snipers with small arms to attack military vehicles on supply convoys and other known routes.Moran, Michael. "Frantically, the Army tries to armor Humvees: Soft-skinned workhorses turning into death traps," MSNBC, 15 April 2004.
To protect themselves from these threats, American troops began reinforcing their Humvees, LMTVs and other vehicles with whatever was available, including scrap metal, kevlar blankets and vests, compromised ballistic glass and plywood. In some cases they relied on Iraqis to assist them in these efforts, and referred to the result as "hajji" armour. They were also officially advised to line the floors of their Humvees with sandbags to deaden the impact of IED and land mine explosions."Bush: Soldiers' equipment gripes heard: To colleagues' cheers, soldier complained about armor to Rumsfeld," MSNBC, 9 December 2004.
Some officers in Iraq were disciplined over their refusal to carry out missions in what they considered improperly armoured vehicles.Currey, Richard. "Waiting For Justice: The Saga of Army Lt. Julian Goodrum, PTSD, Hillbilly Armor, and Whistle-Blowing," The VVA Veteran, March 2006.
Hungarian troops were said to be covering their non-armoured Mercedes-Benz G-Class vehicles with ballistic vests on the outside.
Military-supplied "up-armour"
The US Army began deploying "up-armour" kits to better protect military vehicles in August 2003, two years before the Marine Corps would. Three levels of "up-armour" were implemented:
Level I: fully integrated armour installed during vehicle production or retrofit (including ballistic windows) Level II: add-on armour (including ballistic windows) Level III: locally fabricated armour (interim solution, lacking ballistic windows)
The process of up-armouring all vehicles was to be complete by mid-2005."Special Defense Department Briefing on Uparmoring HMMWV," U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs), News Transcript, 15 December 2004.
As recently as February 2006, the Army was welding additional armour onto the armoured Humvee variant M1114 and five-ton MTV in Iraq.Hunter, Duncan. "Military is Functioning Well in Iraq," The San Diego Union Tribune, 17 February 2006.
The United States Marines developed their own marine armour kit (MAK), consisting of bolt-on armour for the crew compartment, ballistic glass, suspension upgrades, and air conditioning. However, the kit was not fielded until early 2005, and even then only to certain specified units.Crum, R. USMC Maj. "New Marine Armor Kit to Upgrade 'Hummers'," Transformation, 2 December 2004. Level I armour kits are now phasing out MAKs for MTVRs and M1114 HMMWVs.
Marvin Heemeyer