[5] Military use quickly demonstrated the high demand for, and effectiveness of, armoured vehicles in battle, although it became clear at the same time that the "Mannessmann" was not yet sufficiently developed.

The initiator and ideological inspirer of the whole process for the creation of armoured cars was Major-General N. M. Filatov, who, at this time occupied the post of head of the Officers Rifle School.

[10] Garford trucks attracted the attention of Filatov and other military leaders because of their high load capacity, which allowed the use of thicker armour and larger guns,[11] but also because these trucks were already "in hand"; by the middle of December 33 Garfords, purchased by General Sekreteva's commission, had already arrived in Petrograd and were ready and waiting in the garage of the Military Automobile School.

In essence the Maxim cannon was a larger version of the Maxim machine gun, it did not possess high explosive shells and because of its high rate of fire resulted in a large expenditure of ammunition, explosive shells for the 47mm cannon proved ineffective and the 57mm was not much better than the 47mm and produced too much recoil for the Garford chassis.

The front wall of the mounting had a flat, rectangular flange to which was fastened an armoured cowl (which protected the barrel of the gun in the stowed position.

[8][25] In order to see while driving backwards the driver used a device similar to a periscope mounted on the right side of the cabin (in battle this proved to be ineffectual).

A communication tube was provided "for the transmission of commands..changing speed, operating the clutch, breaking and accelerating from the rear driver to the front" [27] During 1916 this work was gradually completed.

The Garfords came into service with the Автомобильный Пулемётный Взвод - АПВ, Avtomobilnii Pulemotnii Vzvod - APV ("machine gun auto-mobile platoons" in accordance with government order No.

[30][15] The naval Garfords were attached to the armoured artillery division as part of the land front of the Peter the Great sea fortress.

[15] Starting in 1915 the Garford–Putilov armoured vehicles were used by units of the Imperial Russian Army on practically all parts of the Russian-German front during the First World War.

Despite the somewhat weak speed and control characteristics, particularly off-road and on soft ground, the Garfords were popular amongst the troops, mainly because of the powerful 76mm gun.

""With the occupation of the village of Teofipolki the armoured car "Pushkar" under the command of Staff Captain Shultz and Lieutenant Pleshkova arrived at the western outskirts.

"Naval Garfords took an active part in fighting at Reval (modern day Tallinn) during the final stages of the First World War.

[11] Despite having only a small force, rebels in the form of volunteers and detachments of the local police managed to establish control over Yaroslavl for a few days, completely clearing the town of Bolsheviks.

Many of the vehicles were renamed in accordance with the preferences of their new owners so that armoured cars with the names "Karl Marx" and "Trotsky" might be fighting against "Kornilovets" or "Drozdovets".

[34] In tight defensive conditions, which were generally uncharacteristic of the Russian Civil War, the Reds used the Garfords of the 42nd armoured detachment as a mobile anti-tank reserve against British-made tanks which at that time were part of the make up of the White forces.

In view of this the decision was taken in 1923 to completely change the chassis of the vehicles to ones suitable for use on train tracks thus turning them into armoured rail cars.

[22] One way or another during the 1930s all the Garfords were dismantled, usable armour and chassis were transferred for use by the Red Army and unsuitable ones were sent to the Military Funds Bureau.

A number of publications suggest the use of Garford–Putilovs by the Red Army during the Second World War, this is only indirectly indicated by a few German photographs showing captured "trophy" Garfords both serviceable and damaged.

Most likely it was this same Garford that took part in the hunt for a Red Army Austin which broke into the area of Zhitomir and single-handedly fought against superior Polish forces.

Moreover, according to Polish records, during the infantry attack they managed to destroy a Red Army Fiat and a Lanchester armoured car as well as damage one other of unknown type.

In the early stages the Latvians were helped by the Germans and by June 1919 Landeswehr and volunteer units had managed to clear Latvia of Reds and penetrated into the territory of Estonia.

Soon in the region of the city Cēsis a united Latvian-Estonian force succeeded in destroying part of the Landeswehr under the command of Major Fletcher.

Taking advantage of the low speed of the machine one of the Bavarian-German officers jumped aboard and with a few shots from his pistol through the viewing slots killed the driver and commander.

Further information about the Garford diverges, according to some reports the armoured car was sent to Germany where it was used against the rebellious Spartacus League and finally was dismantled for scrap.

According to other data (supported by photographs) after the defeat of the Western Volunteer army in November 1919 all of the Freikorps's armoured vehicles, including the former "Lacplesis", went to the Latvians.

[11] Subsequently, this armoured car was used by the Latvian army and at the start of the 1930s due to heavy wear and tear was put into temporary storage.

[37] Although the armour, which was quite adequate for the time, and the powerful 76mm anti-assault cannon were good enough that the military forgave the Garford its poor handling and speed.

[8] This is attested to by the fact that even during the conditions of the war and revolution when foreign spare parts and trained mechanics were virtually unobtainable, the Garfords continued to be actively used and suffered almost no losses to technical faults.

[39][40] Apart from this there is a 1910 pattern 76mm cannon on a static mount of the same type as that used in the Garford in the Military History Museum of Artillery, Engineers and Communications troops in Saint Petersburg.