Excerpt from:
Armored Chevys in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944

By Al Mroz, Menlo Park, California

The uprising in Warsaw during World War II does not immediately cause automotive historians to think about 1938 Chevrolet trucks. In fact, the thought of a Chevy truck outfitted with homemade armor being used to attack the German army sounds, at the very least, futile. Yet that is exactly what happened in Poland in 1944.

Three years before World War II began in Europe, General Motors signed an agreement with Lilpop, Rau and Loewenstein Company in Warsaw to assemble Chevrolet cars and trucks, and Buick 90 limousines. This company had specialized in building railroad cars for many years, but after the invasion and occupation of Poland by the Nazis at the end of 1939, they ceased operations, as did many other factories and enterprises in Poland. In this state of war it was impossible to continue manufacturing, however, numerous vehicles had been built and imported in the previous years.

When the Warsaw Uprising started in early August 1944, the idea of creating an improvised armored vehicle came up immediately in an effort to offset the otherwise insurmountable odds that the partisans faced. Chevrolet trucks that had been assembled by Lilpop, Rau and Loewnstein were the first choice for such a tall order. . . .

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