Gun truck
Both were conventional trucks fitted with improvised armour, in the case of the Bison, a concrete fighting-compartment was carried, essentially making a mobile pillbox.
In 1942 the 90/53 on Lancia 3Ro entered service, still based on the same truck as the previous one, but equipped with the excellent Cannone da 90/53, dual role high velocity gun; 30 were produced in 1942, another 90 were built on a different chassis as 90/53 on Breda 52.
The 75/27 CK on Ceirano 50 CMA was instead already produced during the late 1920s to provide anti-aircraft support to the divisions, but by 1939 it was completely outdated, both in terms of mobility and firepower.
[3] In general these gun trucks proved to be quicker to position and open fire than normal artillery and they were valid if well hidden and protected, but the excessive height and mediocre mobility always remained major limitations.
[5] During the Vietnam War, it was the mission of the US Army Transportation Corps to ferry supplies from the coastal ports of Qui Nhon and Cam Ranh Bay to inland bases located at Bong Son, An Khe, Pleiku, Da Lat and Buon Ma Thuot.
At first, they did this with armed jeeps, but these rapidly proved inadequate in the face of improved VC and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam weaponry and tactics.
They were given colourful nicknames such as "Ace of Spades", "Deuce is Wild", "Cold Sweat", "Iron Butterfly" or "Pandemonium" that were often painted on the sides in large letters.
Because of the shortage of steel kits, the M113 armoured personnel carrier hulls were mounted on the bed of a five-ton truck, thus providing all-round protection for the crew.
The added weight of armour, weapons and ammunition increased fuel consumption, as well as creating maintenance problems and reducing the durability of the truck frames.
One truck, an M54 named by its crew "Eve of Destruction," was brought back intact and is on display at the Army Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis, Virginia.
During the Iraq War, the vulnerability of American supply convoys became apparent as soon as March 2003, when a maintenance unit was ambushed in Nasiriyah, with eleven soldiers killed and five taken prisoner, including Pfc.
[11] Not until June 2003 during the post-invasion phase of the war, did the Iraqi insurgents begin attacking convoys with regularity, which led to the re-invention of the gun truck.
[12] On April 5, 2004, the cleric Muqtadā al-Ṣadr called for a jihad against coalition forces and beginning on Thursday night, April 8, his Mahdi Militia destroyed eight bridges and overpasses around the Convoy Support Center Scania, the last truck stop before entering the Sunni Triangle, thus severing the supply line from the south, and then began large scale ambushes.
The next day the Militia ambushed any convoy heading into or out of Baghdad International Airport with kill zones several hundred meters long.
Based in Camp Navistar (located on the Kuwait side of the border Near Safwan, Iraq), this company acquired 35 humvees and five M939 five-ton trucks, and modified them with improvised armor and .50 calibre machine-guns.
[15] The idea of producing a standardised gun truck was instigated by Representative Duncan Hunter (R.-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, despite the reluctance of some Army superior officers.
Priority of the M1114s went to Iraq-based escort units while the Kuwait-based truck companies that had to drive all across Iraq received the add-on-armor kits until more M1114s arrived.
The soldiers appreciated the much needed armored protection but the extra weight of the add-on-armor kits reduced the Humvee's acceleration and speed substantially.
By the Palm Sunday Ambush (see Lee Ann Hester) on March 20, 2005, all vehicles on the road had some form of armor whether improvised or factory built.
[19] The appearance of the explosively formed projectile required additional fragmentary armor added to the M1114s, which over-taxed their power trains and suspension systems.
The Heavy Equipment Transporter proved to be the most survivable vehicle on the road because of its height, so Kuwait-based units began sending them out ahead of the convoy looking for IEDs.
