Ford/Marmon-Herrington MGT's

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Originally posted by ericnuyt
Hi Hanno,

KNIL had some experience with MGT's, of their own make.
In the late thirties the four Infantry regts on Java (1,2,4,6) all received a motorised Pantser- en Luchtafweer (PLA), or Anti-tank and Anti-aircraft company, that was equipped with 6 Boehler 4,7cm AT guns (with Vickers or other? tractors) and 9 light trucks with watercooled .50 Colt-Browning, fitted on an ex-naval mount.
By January 1942 there was a total of 42 PLA-wagens as these vehicles were called, divided over the 4 regts (15 in PLA-1, 9 in PLA2, PLA4 and PLA6 respectively).
Several pictures of these trucks can be seen in various publications and two main types always appear: one clearly a Chevrolet light truck (1940 model?), the other type looks much older and quite obsolete. I am not sure if this was also a Chevrolet (mid-thirties-model?). Enjoy.
Nuyt

Hello again Nuyt,

The reorganization of the Heavy Weapons Coys in the Inf Regts was carried out in 1938.

I agree that there were probably 42 PLA-wagens --- on Java. I am however not convinced that the ad-hoc AAMG Platoon organized by PLA 1 and deployed at Kemajoran Airfield had trucks. Could also be on normal AAMG mounts. Then we are down to 39.

The 12 PLA-wagens of APLA 1 were sent to Andir AFB - but not the 3 AAMGs at Kemajoran (which I think was closed down at that time).

Some of the AAMG Platoons at the Airbases outside of Java also had PLA-wagens. I don´t know exactly how many.

Stellan