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Description of  Armor Number 2: Schutzenpanzerwagen in Action

Attempts to provide an armored vehicle capable of carrying men and their weapons into combat can be traced back to as early as 1918, when the British introduced the "Mark IX", a vehicle able to carry 54 men including a crew of four. It was again left to the British to employ motorized infantry in combat and to prove the effectiveness of a com­bined force of AFV's closely supported by mobile infantry. However, this successful campaign in Iraq in 1923, conducted under Lindsay, did little to alter the generally accepted French theory of the Twenties and early Thirties, thot the tank is an infantry-support weapon and as such has to odjust his speed to the walking pace of the attacking troops. The tank once again was placed in a secondary role as an infantry-support weapon. This doctrine applied during the First World War, proved to be sufficient then, however, it would prove fatal for the French and British in 1940.