Number of British Military Vehicles

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Der Alte Fritz
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Number of British Military Vehicles

#1

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 18 Sep 2016, 15:24

I am interested in the number and category of Military Vehicles broken down by service and deployment during the war. Likewise how many did each manufacturer produce?

I have a note that the British Armed Forces had 1,250,000 military vehicles in 1944.

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Re: Number of British Military Vehicles

#2

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 20 Sep 2016, 08:06

Wheeled vehicles.jpg


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Re: Number of British Military Vehicles

#3

Post by Inselaffe » 20 Sep 2016, 23:35

Hello,

A great source on British tank numbers and production runs is 'British Tank Production and the War Economy, 1934-1945' (2013) by Benjamin Coombs, published by Bloomsbury. Tons of stuff about numbers of each tank made and by which manufacturers. Very well researched. Dry as old biscuits mind but a great reference work! Can't help with other vehicle types I'm afraid.

Cheers.
"It was like Hungary being between Germany and the Soviet Union. What sort of choice was that? Which language would you like your firing squad to speak?" Tibor Fischer 'Under the Frog'.

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Re: Number of British Military Vehicles

#4

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 21 Sep 2016, 09:08

The Official History series are available here:

British War Production
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/ ... index.html

British War Economy
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/ ... index.html

and your book on Google (limited access but at least some)
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gXl ... 45&f=false

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Re: Number of British Military Vehicles

#5

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 21 Sep 2016, 14:05

Number of carriers produced in UK and in Empire:
carriers.jpg
Number of tanks produced:
tanks.jpg
Alternate number of tanks produced:
tanks2.jpg

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Re: Number of British Military Vehicles

#6

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 21 Sep 2016, 14:21

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_a ... cite_ref-5

Producing a table from the information on this page shows that the Empire produced 32,967 tanks from the Matilda Mk1 to the Centurion I A41
28,699 armoured cars from the Lanchester to the Daimler Dingo and 4,230 SP guns from the Bishop to the Achillies.

The tank number does not include indigenous designs such as the Ram, Grizzy produced in Canada or the Australian production.

Similarly the tanks produced would not all be destined for the British Army but went to equip the armies of Empire and Commonwealth countries as well. Some went to equip other countries most notably the Soviet Union.

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Re: Number of British Military Vehicles

#7

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 28 Sep 2016, 06:27

Is there a list of the number of Lend Lease or USA produced vehicles available

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'British Tank Production and the War Economy, 1934-1945'

#8

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 01 Oct 2016, 21:20

British Tank Production.jpg
British Tank Production by firm.jpg

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Fighting with figures - HMSO

#9

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 01 Oct 2016, 21:29

Fighting with Figures
A Statistical history of the Second World War
Table 7.19 Wheeled Vehicles delivered to British Armed Services
British Production statistics_ (9).JPG

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#10

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 01 Oct 2016, 21:32

7.18 AFVs accepted by the British Armed Services
British Production statistics_ (8).JPG

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#11

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 01 Oct 2016, 21:39

Overall production of both military and civilian vehicles in UK (excludes imports from abroad)
British Production statistics_ (1).JPG

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Re: Number of British Military Vehicles

#12

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 14 Oct 2016, 20:22

Canada produced 815,729 military vehicles of which 45,710 were armoured.
Over 800,000 transport vehicles 50,000 tanks, 40,000 guns (naval, AA and field).
Of the transport vehicles 168,000 were issued to the Canadian forces and 300,000 to British forces (38%)

Britain had 80,000 military vehicles in 1940 but lost 75,000 at Dunkirk

http://www.canadaatwar.ca/content-17/wo ... -industry/

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Re: Number of British Military Vehicles

#13

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 15 Oct 2016, 09:29

George Forty's Companion to the British Army gives the following:

September 1939 British Army had 55,000 vehicles mainly raised from civilian sources and from two large forestry companies.

BY 1945 it had 1.25 million vehicles

Dominion production is given as:
Canada 857,970 soft skins (of which 409,936 were CMPs)and 50,000 AFVs
Australia 60,000 inc AFV
New Zealand 5,000
INdia 124,000 inc AFV
S Africa 35,000

note the difference in the Canada at war figures

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Re: Number of British Military Vehicles

#14

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 29 Oct 2016, 19:25

Possible source for 'on hand' stock of British Army vehicles at:

Reference: WO 193/523
Description:
`A' and `B' vehicles and motor cycle combinations
Date: 1940 Feb.- 1943 Nov.
Held by: The National Archives, Kew

Reference: WO 193/524
Description:
`A' and `B' vehicles
Date: 1943 Dec.- 1945 June
Held by: The National Archives, Kew

The files in this series, maintained in the Office of the Director of Military Operations, give general information on a world-wide basis of military planning, operations, intelligence, statistics, etc.

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Re: Number of British Military Vehicles

#15

Post by Sean N » 09 Nov 2016, 00:04

Out of interest, I've just come across a photo of a Bedford QL in a 1945 victory parade in Luton, carrying signs saying that 209,096 Bedfords were built for British and Commonwealth forces. The official Bedford history says that's likely to have been an underestimate, claiming 250,000+ trucks and 5640 Churchill tanks.

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