IRON KNIGHTS OF WARSAW

In the months prior to the German invasion of Poland, the Polish Army secured delivery of a single MVIIIA walker prototype from the British Army, along with technical schematics for the manufacture of more. This was in exchange for the Polish secret service's invaluable help in building working models of the German Enigma machine.

Despite its relatively small size and limited budget, the Polish Army never lacked for skilled mechanics, and an enthusiastic crew worked on the prototype walker in secret throughout the summer of 1939. They managed to cobble two additional machines together using the schematics, although the three machines that left the workshop for field tests in August, 1939 were quite unlike the original design.

Most importantly, the Polish engineers had found the dual control structures needed for transformation to car mode to be an irritating hindrance, necessitating continual maintenance time that they felt would have been better spent experimenting with weapons and armor. As a result, the "Lancer" (as it was dubbed, though it never received an official nomenclature) was the first combat-capable walker to have no alternate vehicle form. The engineers working on the project reasoned that the "Lancer" could be deployed to the battle area via rail.

Removing the transformation and control gear for the secondary mode greatly simplified the walker's controls, making it more efficient to operate than anything then in service. As the Poles saw little use for an offensive design given the then-current political climate, they decided to deviate from walker orthodoxy in another fashion by putting the "Lancer" into a "defensive" role. Some of the space and weight formerly taken up by transformation gear was modified to contain a relatively large supply of ammunition for a Hotchkiss heavy machinegun mounted beside the driver's position.

The "Lancer" was given a relatively heavy layer of welded steel armor, and the nose of the main body was further reinforced. The exposed crew cabin was seen as something of a problem, but the Polish engineers were never to get a chance to fix it, as the three "Lancers" were just finishing their first round of field tests near Warsaw when the Germans attacked.

After September 1, it became apparent that the "Lancer," if it saw service at all, was going to face a heavy German armored threat. The stop-gap solution improvised between September 6 and 8 by the design team was to mount an infantry anti-tank rifle in a welded shock harness, which would be fired by the co-pilot of each "Lancer."

These three vehicles entered combat on September 12 and performed fairly well, surprising a small column of German armored cars at close range and destroying four before withdrawing. After that, the "Lancers" were packed off to Warsaw by rail, and all three were lost after giving a good accounting of themselves in the battle for that city. The Germans were continually surprised to find walkers in the hands of the Poles, but soon discovered that the heavier armor carried by the Polish machines was a hindrance to their mobility. Swifter Kampfercould circle the "Lancers" and attack them from the flank or the rear. Presumably, this is how all three were put out of action.