TRANSPORT MOTORS OF CONTINENTAL ARMIES.
The French Scheme--Notes on French Vehicles--Benzol and Alcohol
Fuels--The German Scheme, Difficulties and Results--Austria,
Italy, and Russia.
The French subvention scheme, for reasons already explained, has to be
more comprehensive in its financial clauses than that in force in Great
Britain. Without going into details, it may be summed up in the general
statement that the subsidy paid in respect of a lorry of about 3 tons
capacity aggregates about £300, spread over a period of four years.
[Illustration: _“The Autocar” photograph._
A GERMAN LORRY FITTED FOR REPLENISHING THE SUPPLY OF GAS IN THE
ENVELOPES OF ZEPPELIN AIRSHIPS.]
The French Government have specialised for many years past in machines
of this and somewhat lighter load-carrying capacity, and more recently
they have made serious and fairly successful efforts to encourage
the employment of powerful vehicles in which the engine power is
arranged to drive all four wheels, and which can be used either as
lorries or as tractors, or as a combination of the two. The genius of
the French motor engineer, in the opinion of the writer, expresses
itself better in the high-speed touring car than in the industrial
vehicle. There are excellent examples of the latter to be found, but
the average quality of the products of well-known manufacturers is
almost certainly not equal to that of corresponding British firms. A
comparison of the relative importance of the two national industries
was possible to those who had opportunities of visiting the Industrial
Vehicle Show in London in 1913, and subsequently of inspecting the
exhibits in the annexe of the Paris Motor Salon later in the same
year. On these occasions, as well as during previous opportunities
of watching French subvention vehicles undergoing trial, the writer
formed the opinion that in many cases the various features of design
in any particular vehicle of French origin are peculiarly unequal. In
some portions of the chassis we find adequate or even unnecessarily
great strength; in others, unduly light construction and a certain
disregard of details making for safety in operation. In many instances
the steering mechanism is unnecessarily exposed, and placed very far
forward so as to be liable to injury in the case of slight collision
or passage over any considerable obstruction. The chain drive is
very popular among French manufacturers. The chains are usually not
protected by cases, and in very many instances an attempt is made to
obtain through the medium of the chain a very large gear reduction,
resulting in the use of absurdly small chain pinions, which will
certainly need frequent renewal under the conditions of rough service.
In some instances again, the chains themselves are too light for
durability. There is also a certain disregard for accessibility of
the engine and clutch, and a tendency to employ pneumatic tyres on
vehicles designed for heavy loads which would be carried with far less
risk of roadside trouble on a rather more substantially constructed
solid-tyred vehicle with a good springing system.
Admitting that the French Government could not stipulate any degree of
standardisation until they had first obtained a numerically adequate
supply of vehicles, one would have thought it possible at least to do
something towards standardising the driving control. In some French
subvention models, the hand-brake lever is nearer to the driver
than the change-speed lever; in others, the opposite arrangement
is adopted. Frequently, both levers are of equal length and almost
indistinguishable to the touch, which must make it far more dangerous
to put a new driver on to a subsidy car when required urgently for
night work.
The French subvention trials have been held annually, usually in the
months of August and September, and have not been as a rule of a
very arduous character. While accompanying the competing vehicles,
the writer has been forced to the conclusion that the object of the
authorities was rather to pass for subvention any reasonably efficient
machine, than to weed out a considerable number and depend only on the
most durable. As a rule, during these trials, the competing lorries
are parked at Versailles, from which centre they run out daily over a
limited number of routes, generally of a very easy character so far
as gradients are concerned. An interesting and potentially valuable
feature of the annual French trials has been the compulsory use on
all the cars of a variety of fuels. On some days petrol has been
used, on others benzol, and on others again a half-and-half mixture
of benzol with denatured alcohol, which latter for practical purposes
may be regarded as the same thing as methylated spirits. In this way,
the French Government have endeavoured to make themselves at least
partially independent of any temporary stoppage in the imports of
petrol, though so far as we can see at present no such stoppage is in
the least degree likely during the present war. Benzol can of course be
produced in limited quantities in this country and in France, and if
the emergency arose, the supplies of benzol could be greatly increased
at the expense of simultaneously laying up stocks of other products not
at the moment marketable.
As regards alcohol, a considerable quantity of beet is grown in
France, from which either sugar or alcohol can be produced. As a
rule, this beet is used mainly for sugar manufacture, since this is
the more profitable method of employing it, but in emergency it could
be utilised for the production of a very fair quantity of commercial
alcohol, thus, roughly speaking, doubling the available stock of
home-produced fuel.
The results of these tests have been, on the whole, very interesting.
In almost every case, benzol has given better results than petrol,
while the benzol-alcohol mixture has given results in some cases rather
better than petrol, and in other cases not quite so good. On the
average, the mixture has shown itself approximately equal to petrol,
so far as consumption is concerned. By visiting Versailles in the
early hours of September mornings when the temperature was fairly
low, the writer satisfied himself that the use either of benzol or of
the mixture did not constitute any serious difficulty in the way of
starting up the engines. Moreover, the general absence of offensive
smell or smoke seemed to indicate satisfactory combustion of the fuels.
As to the results of the French subvention scheme, the fact that
the regulations have recently been made more severe, and certain
restrictions as to horse-power, weight, etc., introduced, seems
to indicate that the number of vehicles available at the time of
the outbreak of war must have been at least approaching the number
estimated as required. The last series of trials were only just over
when war broke out. In these trials some sixty vehicles competed,
representative of a considerable variety of makes and types, including
a small number of Colonial lorries of special design, and one or two
tractors. On the whole, the vehicles went through the trials well, and
the opinions of experts who were present were all to the effect that
great improvement was noticeable in mechanical details as compared
with previous years.
Incidentally, it may be mentioned that the big fleet of the Paris
General Omnibus Co. forms a very useful and conveniently concentrated
supply of substantial cars available either for the rapid carriage
of troops, or--by the substitution or conversion of bodies--for the
transport columns. Numerically, however, the Paris omnibus fleet falls
very far short of that of London, while from the mechanical point of
view the vehicles are of heavier construction, and one would imagine
less easily handled on narrow and winding country roads.
In Germany, a motor transport subvention scheme was inaugurated in
1908. At that time a limited number of German manufacturers were
producing considerable quantities of heavy motor vehicles, more
especially for export, but it was becoming evident that some very
substantial encouragement would be needed to make the home market
sufficiently active to be of any real utility to the War Office.
Consequently, a scheme was got out which was openly stated to be
“a scheme for popularising the use of mechanical transport,” or,
in other words, a scheme for persuading business houses to adopt a
species of transport which, without Government aid, would represent
an uneconomical and consequently undesirable feature of an industrial
concern. The German Government decided in favour of heavy motor
lorries, capable of carrying 4 tons and hauling an additional 2 tons
on a trailer. These trailers, contrary to usual commercial practice,
are fitted with rubber tyres, since this addition is found to ease the
work of hauling by some 25 to 30 per cent. The total subsidy for a
subvention train consisting of a power lorry and rubber-tyred trailer
amounts to something in the neighbourhood of £450 spread over a period
of five years. The choice of a heavy type of vehicle was probably
justified by the need for limiting the length of the transport columns
destined to accompany enormous armies. At the same time consideration
has evidently shown that there are grave disadvantages to the use of
such heavy cars, and recent regulations have provided more stringent
stipulations as to maximum weight.
When the subvention scheme had been in operation for five years,
figures were got out indicative of its results up to the end of March,
1913. During this period 825 army trains were subsidised, namely,
743 in Prussia and the other states whose armies are under Prussian
control, and 82 in Bavaria. In addition, some 400 lorries of very
similar types were sold in Germany outside the scheme, making about
1,200 trains available for use at that time. Allowing for increase in
the interval which has since elapsed, we may perhaps put the total
available at the outbreak of war at about 1,600. Captain Davidson
estimates that the German Army requires for transport purposes about
2,000 of its trains, but this figure presumably does not take into
account the needs of the whole of the Landwehr and Landsturm. It is
admitted that the normal British Expeditionary Force requires about
1,000 3-ton vehicles, which would correspond in capacity to about 500
of the German trains. Consequently, 2,000 of the German trains would
apparently only be about sufficient for an army four times the size
of our Expeditionary Force. Similarly, the estimate that France needs
about 5,000 vehicles of the 3-ton type apparently does not take into
account the complete mobilisation of reserves.
The manufacturing concerns which have figured most largely in the
German scheme are the German Daimler, the Büssing, the N.A.G., and
the Gaggenau. These four have all been participating in the scheme
from the start, and about ten other manufacturers have more recently
fallen into line, while in Bavaria only three manufacturers have been
building to official requirements. The states the industries of which
have enabled the strongest support to be given to the scheme are
Brandenburg, Saxony, the Rhine Province, Würtemberg, Westphalia, Baden,
and Alsace-Lorraine. No less than 41 per cent. of the total machines
enrolled are normally used in the brewing trade. In this connection,
an official report from Bavaria is rather instructive and amusing:
“There are so many breweries in Bavaria, and these are so densely
distributed, that there is no need anywhere to convey beer for long
distances. Hence there are practically no vehicles employed.”
This seriously expressed implication that beer is the only really
essential commodity seems to show that lack of humour which appears to
be a national characteristic of the German race.
Next after the brewing interests, but far behind in their practical
support of the Government scheme, come concerns engaged in the
transport of goods for export, followed by those concerned in brick
transport, flour manufacture, carriage of building materials,
agricultural work, and haulage of iron and steel goods.
In endeavouring to estimate how far the existing fleet meets the
requirements of the Germany Army, we have to remember that it consists,
at least partially, of machines that have been in service for several
years, and that consequently may not be equal to any long strain
under peculiarly difficult conditions. It must be presumed that the
German Government has made provision for the continued manufacture of
considerable numbers of heavy motor lorries throughout the war, and
has not permitted the leading motor works engaged in this class of
production to be too far denuded by the mobilisation of their men.
The Austrian subsidy scheme is along the same lines as that in force
in Germany, but favours a lorry of slightly lower carrying capacity,
probably in view of the mountainous nature of many of the frontier
roads. The total amount of subsidy payable is in the neighbourhood of
£360 spread over a period of five years. The scheme was inaugurated
some time after those of France and Germany, the first trials being
held towards the end of 1911. Certain parts of Austria are well
provided with roads, so that there is a fair field for the commercial
use of motor transport. A large number of vehicles, not of subsidy
type, but no doubt capable of being made useful for light work in time
of war, are used for the carriage of mails in Hungary. In the Austrian
Tyrol, there are numbers of motor services for the carriage of mails
and passengers, but on the whole Austria is probably not very well
provided with mechanical transport. Her manufacturing industry is
limited, and she imports in fair numbers from her neighbour, Germany.
Italy can only find very small use for heavy motor vehicles in
commercial service, and consequently it would be futile as yet for
the Government to depend upon anything in the nature of a subsidy
scheme. During the Tripoli campaign, a considerable number of rather
lightly built lorries were obtained by direct purchase and proved very
serviceable. Probably they are not of a type which would be by any
means ideal in a European war, though they were doubtless the right
thing for work over loose sandy tracks where heavier machines might
well have become inoperative.
Russia also has no subsidy scheme on account of its comparatively
poor industrial development, and also the very inadequate quantity
and quality of its roads. For such vehicles as are used, the country
is dependent upon import, while the army must depend solely on direct
purchase from foreign manufacturers. It is rather interesting to note
that out of about 2,000 industrial motor vehicles exported by Germany
during the year 1913, no less than 25 per cent. went to Russia,
practically the whole of these being known to represent Government
orders. Russia has been buying motor lorries for military use from
British firms for many years past. An engineer who accompanied one of
the first vehicles supplied from this country, describes the roads over
which the car had to work during its official trials as follows:
“The road was covered with fine sand, banked up a few feet above
the level of the surrounding country, in which the wheels of
peasants’ carts had cut ruts about 12 ins. to 14 ins. in depth. The
gauge of these ruts being narrow, it was necessary to drive with
one pair of wheels in the ruts, the other pair meanwhile cutting
ruts of their own. At intervals planked bridges had to be crossed.
These were old and unsafe; therefore, it became necessary to lay
down a temporary track of boards to distribute the weight over as
many planks as possible.”
At first sight it would appear that under such conditions the purchase
of motor lorries by the Russian Government represents a waste of money,
but the facts are explained by a credible story circulated within a few
days of the outbreak of war to the effect that the Austrian military
attaché a day or so before leaving Petrograd expressed surprise that
so many motors were being mobilised. “Your roads are so bad,” he said.
“Yes,” was the reply, “but yours are good.”