Burstyn-Motorgeschütz

The Burstyn-Motorgeschütz was a proposed armored fighting vehicle, what would become known as a “tank” designed by Austro-Hungarian engineer Gunther Burstyn in 1911.

The vehicle was a pioneering design in the development of the tank, and had it been built, would have been the first tank to carry a revolving turret. The proposed vehicle had a length of 3.5 meters, a diameter of 1.9 meters and a height of 1.9 meters. The vehicle was powered by a 60 horsepower engine, giving at a cross-country speed of 8 kilometers per hour, but a road speed of a 28 k/h, faster than any WWI tank. In order to further aid in crossing trenches, the tank carried a pair of a retractible arms with a length of about 1.5 meters on both the front and rear of the tank, with wheels mounted on the end. These would be lowered across a trench to aid in crossing.

The Burstyn carried a 47mm Skoda light cannon as a primary armament mounted in a turret that could revolve about 250 degrees from the front position. The turret rotation was obstructed by the rear machine gun turret. The vehicle also carried two 8mm machine guns, one co-axial to the main gun, and one in the rear turret.

Battle vs. Garford-Putilov armoured car (by SPARTAN 119)
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