Vickers-Carden-Loyd A4E12: Chinese 8th. Route Army

     In 1932, the Chinese military purchased a number of the Vickers-Carden-Loyd A4E12 light amphibious tank. See an earlier post (from June 4) for more details about this tank. These would see action against the Japanese at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The photograph depicts a column of A4E12 tanks of the 1st. Platoon, 8th. Route Army which was based near Canton circa 1933.

     The nearest vehicle is the last tank of the platoon as denoted by the number “6” on the side of the hull. The 1st. Platoon tanks were numbered 1 through 6 while 2nd. Platoon had tanks 7 through 12. The Nationalist insignia on the tank’s turret may have been added to the photograph as normally, these tanks did not carry any insignia on them. The 8th. Route Army was a Chinese Communist Party force which prior to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, fought against Nationalist Chinese (Kuomintang) forces under Chiang Kai-shek as part of the Chinese Civil War which began on August 1, 1927. The Japanese invasion of China in 1937 would see the Communists and Nationalists put aside their differences and combine forces to repel the Japanese as the Second United Front. However, the alliance was weak at best and neither side ceased vying for power to the point they were ineffective in stopping the Japanese. The 8th. Route Army was commanded by Communist leader Mao Zedong and General Zhu De. 

     Following the exit of Japan in World War Two, Chiang Kai-shek attempted to broker peace with Zedong but this failed and the Chinese Civil War resumed in 1946 with the Communist forces emerging victorious. On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong established the People’s Republic of China and would remain the Chairman of the Communist Party until his death on September 9, 1976.

Homemade Chinese AFV: Liu Shijie's U.N. 4X4 "Armored" Car

Liu Shijie taking his homemade "armored" car out for a spin in Huaibei, Anhui. (Photograph via Reuters)

      It is a bit difficult to tell what actual armored car(s) inspired farmer Liu Shijie to construct this homemade "armored" car, let alone why he decided to make it in the first place. Likely, he took ideas from several armored cars to design his. Assuming he took some inspiration from Chinese produced armored cars, Shijie's vehicle has a very passing resemblance to the Qingdoa Dawnshine Model VN3 4X4 export armored car.

     In China, it is illegal for citizens to build weapons of any form so I suspect he was paid a visit by government officials to inspect his vehicle just to be sure all was well. Certainly the "armor" is mild steel and neither the cannon or turret machine gun are real or even capable of firing. The greenish paint and the yellow U.N. insignia would not be too accurate. Typical U.N. armored vehicle coloration was all white with black lettering. Also interesting is that the front wheelbase is wider than the back. The vehicle has a weight of 3 tons. Little else is known about the "armored" car concerning what chassis it was built upon or how large it is.

     All told, Shijie spent 30,000 Chinese Yuan, equivalent to a little over 4,600 U.S. dollars, and six months of construction time to create his vehicle. To illustrate his commitment to building his vehicle, the typical Chinese farmer between 2015 to 2019 had between 8,000 to 12,000 Yuan of disposable income (1,234 to 1,852 U.S. dollars) to use after meeting all other financial spending. Thus, to collect the needed funds to build the vehicle, Shijie had to save for several years. Of course, this is not to say others did not contribute to the funding.