Hi All:
This is not really my area of expertise, but........
1. The Russians did get the WC Dodges and to the best I can find out, began receiving them in 1943 after the US Army and Marines got the first batches.
2. Jan has given us a date which is invaluable I think. By that time, the Germans were on their way "home" and conceivably would have had little time and resources to waste on making up special umbau-wagens for high ranking officers.
3. We now also have a location, which would indicate the Dodge came from the East, not the West, on it's way to Czechoslovakia so to say. So, the Tatra possibility may fail the test.
4. On the other hand, the Russians had 100s of thousands of German prisoners on hand to use for whatever purpose and not all were riflemen.
Many were artisans and craftsmen who may have done exactly this type of bodywork both before and during the War. The styling is certainly typical of such German conversions.
5. Therefore, if my logic machine is still functioning, I would say both vehicles could well have been converted somewhere in the Russian sphere of influence and possibly to a German design and maybe even by German POWs.
I hope that makes sense.
Cheers
Bill
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