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AAC-1937 (Autoametralladora-cañón Chevrolet modelo 1937) | |
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![]() A ACC-1937 drawing, with a 37mm Puteaux cannon | |
Type | Armoured car |
Place of origin | Spanish Republic |
Service history | |
Used by | Second Spanish Republic Francoist Spain French Third Republic Nazi Germany |
Wars | Spanish Civil War World War II |
Production history | |
Designer | War Industry Commission in Catalonia |
Designed | 1937 |
Manufacturer | Hispano-Suiza |
Produced | 1937–1938 |
No. built | 60-90 |
Specifications | |
Mass | 4,354 t[1] |
Length | 4.4 m |
Width | 2.25 m |
Height | 2.4 m |
Crew | 4 (gunner, driver, machine gunner and commandant) |
Armor | 8 mm |
Main armament | 1x37mm Puteaux SA 18 cannon, a T-26B or BA-6 turret, a HMG |
Secondary armament | 1×7.92 hull machine gun |
Engine | Chevrolet OHV 216.5-ci (gasoline motor of 6 cylinder) 78 hp at 3,200 revolutions per minute |
Suspension | wheeled 6x4 |
Operational range | 250 km in road |
Maximum speed | 62 km/h |
The AAC-1937, which means Autoametralladora-cañón Chevrolet modelo 1937, also known as Chevrolet 1937, was an armoured car developed and built by loyalist forces during the Spanish Civil War in Catalonia. After the dismantling of the War Industry Commission of Catalonia, the Subsecretary of Weapons and Ammunitions of Spain contracted Soviet engineers to build a new armoured vehicle. They took the BA-6 as a basis for the new vehicle, and built a very similar vehicle, the AAC-1937 in the Hispano-Suiza factory in Barcelona, using a chassis from General Motors Peninsular.[1]
With a total run of between 60 and 90 units, the AAC-1937 fought in the Spanish Civil War in the east: in the Aragon offensive and in the Catalonia offensive.
After the fall of Catalonia (also known as La retirada), the AAC-1937 went to the armies of France and Spain. With the start of WW2 these vehicles saw use in the Battle of France and the Germans captured some of them. Later they used them in the Eastern Front, where they were destroyed by the Soviets during the first months of the conflict.[2]