Tank Armoured Car wz 34, Poland.

 

Eighty-six of these light armoured cars were built in Poland in 1934, using
commercial chassis and the turrets and some of the armour from half-tracked
armoured cars that had been constructed in Poland in 1928 on Citroen-
Kegresse chassis purchased in France.

The layout was conventional for armoured cars of the period, although
with only a two-man crew the wz 34 was more compact than some (if rather
tall in relation to its length), and the car had a good ground clearance. The
suspension consisted of quarter-elliptic leaf springs at the front and semi-
elliptics at the rear, where there were dual wheels. 

The engine was originally a six-cylinder 20-h.p. Citroen with three-
speed gearbox, although in later versions (wz 34—I and wz 34-II ) 23-h.p.
and 25-h.p. Polish Fiat engines with four—speed gearboxes were used instead.

The armament consisted of either one short 37-mm. gun or one 7-92-mm.
machine-gun in the turret. The armour protection was only 6-mm., though this kept the weight down to under 2.5  tons.

The wz 34 armoured cars, together with a smaller number of the older wz 29 pattern, were employed in reconnaissance squadrons in each of the eleven Polish horsed cavalry brigades during the invasion of Poland. The armoured cars were too Weak and too
few in numbers, however, and were no more able to stand up against the well-
equipped German Panzer divisions than were the mounted cavalry.