 |
Main page » Polish armour » armoured cars » Piłsudczyk – Polish artillery – Steel Panthers – what's new |  | |
| © Michal Derela, 2010 | Updated: 1. 7. 2025 | ||
|
Main page » Polish armour » armoured cars » Piłsudczyk – Polish artillery – Steel Panthers – what's new | | |
| © Michal Derela, 2010 | Updated: 1. 7. 2025 | ||
 |
| This most known photo of "Tank Piłsudskiego" in the first snow might be slightly retouched, but also other photos show a front axle behind bottom net skirts. |
The "Józef Piłsudski", also known as "Piłsudczyk" or "Tank Piłsudskiego" (Piłsudski's Tank) was one of the very first armoured cars constructed in Poland, before the officially acknowledged date of Poland's regaining of independence (11 November 1918). In spite of a primitive design and all casemate-mounted armament, its distinctively sloped armoured plates gave it quite modern and unusual appearance. It saw combat service in Polish defence of Lwów (Lviv) against Ukrainians.
Note: links marked this way lead to Wikipedia articles.
 |
| The "Józef Piłsudski" in an unknown location |
 |
| The car in the same location. Note small side doors and a side machine gun. From left, there are standing crewmen: Edward Kustanowicz, Eugeniusz Bernacki, 2nd Lt. Edward Sas-Świstelnicki, Lt. Aleksander Zborzyl-Mirecki, cadet Edward Kozłowski, Bronisław Nizioł, cadet Mieczysław Kretowicz[3] |
In October-November 1918, the Great War was quickly coming to an end, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire was disintegrating, and new countries were born. Both Poland and West Ukrainian People's Republic aimed at gaining control upon eastern Galicia province, inhabited by both nations. The provincial capital was Lviv (Polish: Lwów), in which the Poles constituted a great majority. Early on 1 November the Ukrainian military organization took most of the city, and on this day there started fighting with the Poles, who eventually prevailed. It should be stressed, that Lwów has been one of the most important Polish cultural centres since the Renaissance, but today it is one of major cities of modern, independent Ukraine.
An idea of building an improvised armoured car was put forward by Antoni Markowski, a painter and drawing professor at the 2nd Real School in Lviv, and presented to a commandant of the 2nd Polish Army Group in Lviv, Cpt. Mieczysław Boruta-Spiechowicz. It was quickly accepted and on November 3 its construction began in Lviv railway workshops at the main railway station (according to some reports already on November 2). An unidentified truck, not named in existing documents, was taken as a basis (possibly a 5-ton Praga V)[3]. Armour layout and thickness was also designed by Antoni Markowski. It was named in a honor of the former commandant of the Polish Legions, General Józef Piłsudski, imprisoned by Germans in Magdeburg at that time, with whom hopes for the revival of the Polish state were linked. The car is usually known in literature and accounts as "Józef Piłsudski", however some accounts name it "Piłsudczyk" (Piłudski's man); some sources also call it "Tank Piłsudskiego" (Piłusudski's tank). M. Kuchciak first noted, that there might be a single word name painted on an upper frontal armour, corresponding with the "Piłsudczyk" name – which was a common practice at that time[5]. The work was completed by 7 November. A test drive revealed some faults, which were corrected by the next day. It was probably the second armoured car built in reborn Poland, after little-known "Chwat" from nearby Przemyśl, which was used for patrolling already on 7 November.
The "Piłsudski's tank" weighted some 5 tons, its length is estimated at some 620 cm, and height some 220 cm[1]. It was armed with four casemate-mounted machine guns in embrasures in all sides, almost certainly Austrian 8 mm Schwarzlose M.7/12. A crew was 7-8 (during action of November 9 there were reported: a commander, a driver, two assistant drivers and four gunners). A reported fault was a lack of ventilation during machine gun fire.
There is no information regarding a thickness of the armor, which was undoubtedly made of thick boiler steel plates, estimated at some 10 mm thick. The armor was built on a frame upon the truck chassis. It was not made of armour steel, which was difficult to obtain, however, it protected against small arms bullets, which was confirmed by a fire test. It is worth emphasizing that despite the designer's lack of technical education, and even a lack of analogous vehicles in armies of the world, the car received an exceptionally "modern" body shape, clearly facilitating ricocheting of bullets, and made of simple flat sheets at the same time. It is doubtful if Markowski had ever seen an armoured vehicle live. The lower part of the chassis below a frame was unarmored, apparently covered with flexible nets on the sides and posibbly on the front and the rear as well. We assume, that its function was to protect against hand grenades thrown under the vehicle. A small door was located on the left side of the body, in a forward part. The driver's station was on the right. The wheels had original massive rubber tyres, less prone to battle damage.
 |
| The car on Mickiewicza Street (now: Lystopadovoho Chynu Street). There might be a name "Piłsudczyk" on an upper plate. |
 |
| The car on Halicki sqaure, probably on 22 November 1918 |
 |
| An unique rear view of the car, probbaly published her for the first time (2025) |
The "Józef Piłsudski" was subordinated to the Technical Department of the Main Headquarters of Lviv defence. It was the only armoured vehicle used by either side during the battle of Lviv. Its commander was 2nd Lt. Edward Sas-Świstelnicki. A combat debut and its only major action was supporting an assault of troops commanded by Lt. Kazimierz Schleyen through the Jesuit Garden on November 9. The attack started at 5 a.m. The car led the infantry extended line, attacking from Saint Yur's Square through Mickiewicza Street (now: Lystopadovoho Chynu St.) to the northeast, along the Jesuit Garden. After passing the Railway Direction, it came under intense machine gun fire from the Goluchowski Palace on the left, newly taken over by the Ukrainians, but after a fight it managed to incapacitate Ukrainian positions in the palace. After passing a mouth of Krasickich street (now Ivana Ohiienka) to the left, the car was stopped by a dug ditch, and there was a barricade made of an overturned furniture wagon behind. It was still under machine gun fire, mostly from Regional Assembly building on the ride side (currently University). Several Ukrainians also managed to get close to the car from Krasickich street and, according to the Ukrainian report, Warrant Officer Osyp Scinskiy successfully fired his rifle at machine gun embrasures. During all the fight, the gunner Stefan Zambelli and assistant driver Władysław Kubala were wounded. After three of its machine guns had jammed, the car backed out in reverse. The attack failed – as a whole it was poorly prepared and not preceded by proper reconnaissance, but the use of the armoured car, which drew most of the machine gun fire, limited large losses of Polish infantry. Ukrainians then counterattacked Polish positions, but were repelled later that day. Retreating up the Mickiewicza street, the car hit a tree and stopped and had to be pulled out with a help of another truck.
The "Józef Piłsudski" was not used in further combat in the city. The Ukrainians were better prepared and created barricades and ditches. It may have been also related to the fact, that according to Polish report, the car "broke down" during the withdrawal. It was planned to use the car on November 21 at Zamarstyniv, but it was undergoing a maintenance and was disassembled that day. On November 22, the car was operational, but at night the Ukrainians withdrew from the city. The car was next directed to Krakowski Square that day, in connection with anti-Jewish riots. There is no closer information, but the car was not used to restore order (due to the ambiguous position of the Supreme Defense Command of Lviv, primarily its head, Capt. Czesław Mączyński, associated with the Nationalist Democractic party, the riots were effectively suppressed only on November 24). Probably in following months the car became part of the Armoured Car Unit with the "Kresowiec" car, built upon a motor plough. Its further fate and possible participation in further defense of Lviv and the fighting for Lviv during the Polish-Soviet War is unknown. Undoubtedly, the car fitted best to paved roads due to its design.
The car's color is not known, but most likely it was grey, like Austro-Hungarian armoured vehicles. One account described it as: a sinister crushing monster going into a battle with its name "Piłsudczyk" written in big letters on cyanic steel[5]. It wore a prominent white crowned eagle on a front plate, certainly upon a red rectangle – a variation upon a historical (and future) Polish coat of arms. The rich, shadowed painting (or a relief), suggests according to us, that its author might have been Antoni Markowski himself. On several photographs the car was seen sporting United States flag – it was explained as a mark of American support for the Polish independence, expressed in Woodrow Wilson's 14 points.
The crew on 9 November 1918[3]:
It is noteworthy, that also on 5 November in Lwów there was commenced the first combat flight of the Polish aircraft. The Poles also directed a captured Austro-Hungarian armoured train to Lviv, divided on two trains: Nr. 1 "Piłsudczyk" and Nr. 2 "Śmiały". The third armoured train Nr. 3 "Lis-Kula" ("Pepetrójka") was built in Lviv workshops.
 |
| A sketch of the car. A bottom should be a skirt. |
| Author: J. Magnuski [1] |
All comments, corrections and additional information or pictures are welcome
Sources:
1. Janusz Magnuski: Samochody pancerne Wojska Polskiego 1918-1939, WiS; Warsaw 1993
2. Jan Tarczyński, K. Barbarski, A. Jońca: Pojazdy w Wojsku Polskim - Polish Army Vehicles - 1918-1939; Ajaks; Pruszków 1995
3. Andrzej Chmielarz, Witold Rawski: Auto pancerne „Józef Piłsudski”. Lwów, listopad 1918; Warsaw, 2015
4. Krzysztof Margasiński: Samochody pancerne odrodzonej Polski 1918-1920; seria Wielki Leksykon Uzbrojenia - wydanie specjalne - tom 2; Warsaw: Edipresse Polska, 2014
5. Michał Kuchciak: Improwizowane samochody pancerne obrońców Lwowa 1918-1920 in "Technika Wojskowa Historia" Nr. 04/2024
Update history:
Main page – Polish armour – Polish artillery – Steel Panthers – Links – Contact
All photos and pictures remain the property of their owners. They are published in non-commercial educational and research purpose.
Text copyright to Michal Derela, © 2010-2025