The FV603 Saracen is a six-wheeled

armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

designed and produced by

Alvis Alvis is a given name and a surname (close to the uncommon Scottish surname Alves). Alvis may also refer to: *Alvi, a Muslim community in South Asia, who claims descent from the fourth Rashidun caliph, Ali ibn Abi Talib *Alvis Car and Engineering ...

from 1952 to 1976. It has been used by a variety of operators around the world and is still in use in secondary roles in some countries. The Saracen became a recognisable vehicle as a result of its part in

the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

Operation Banner Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2007, as part of the Troubles. It was the longest continuous deployment in British military history. The British Army was initia ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, as well as for its role in the

South African government The Government of South Africa, or South African Government, is the national government of the Republic of South Africa, a parliamentary republic with a three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a parliamentary ...

's enforcement of

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

History

The FV603

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...

was the armoured personnel carrier of Alvis's FV600 series. Besides the driver and commander, a squad of eight soldiers plus a troop commander could be carried. Most models carried a small turret on the roof, carrying a Browning .30 machine gun. A .303 Bren gun could be mounted on an anti-aircraft ring mount accessed through a roof hatch and there were ports on the sides through which troops could fire. It saw extensive use into the 1980s in

and became a familiar sight, nicknamed 'Sixers', during

The Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

. At times, they appeared on the streets of Hull, a less-hostile atmosphere for driver training in a city of similar appearance to

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, and only a few miles from the Army School of Mechanical Transport. As a member of the FV 600 series, it shared a similar chassis to the FV601 Saladin armoured car, the

Salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

airfield crash truck, and the Stalwart high mobility load carrier. The punt chassis, suspension, and

H-drive An H-drive drivetrain is a system used for heavy off-road vehicles with Six-wheel drive, 6×6 or Eight-wheel drive, 8×8 drive to supply power to each wheel station. H-drives do not use axles but rather individual wheel stations, usually carried ...

drivetrain A drivetrain (also frequently spelled as drive train or sometimes drive-train) or transmission system, is the group of components that deliver mechanical power from the prime mover to the driven components. In automotive engineering, the driv ...

remained similar, but the engine, transmission, and braking systems varied significantly. Saracen personnel carrier

The Saracen was in turn used as an armoured personnel carrier, armoured command vehicle, and ambulance. The FV 603 model saw many variants in detail, including radio or command fitments and specialist equipment for artillery or signals use. The Saracen series also includes: * FV 604 armoured command vehicle (ACV): with extra radio equipment and distinctive "penthouse" roof extensions to support. * FV 610 armoured command post-Royal Artillery (ACP): no turret and higher roof to the armoured compartment allowed headroom for the battery command post officer and technical assistants of the Royal Artillery to sit at a fitted table and use their plotting instruments and ALS 21 in front of the command post officer. There were also fittings for a canvas penthouse to the rear and sides. A small generator was sometimes carried on a front wing. * FV 606 / FV 611 armoured ambulance. Saracen was produced before Saladin because of the urgent need for a personnel carrier to serve in the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...

, entering production in 1952. The Saracen was produced both with and without turrets fitted. They are popular with collectors due to their prices being as low as $20,000 in Australia and $11,000 in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Combat history

Aden Emergency The Aden Emergency, also known as the 14 October Revolution () or as the Radfan Uprising, was an armed rebellion by the National Liberation Front (South Yemen), National Liberation Front (NLF) and the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South ...

Nigerian Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Biafran War, Nigeria-Biafra War, or Biafra War, was fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a Secession, secessionist state which had declared its independen ...

* Sri Lankan Civil War * OP Banner - Northern Ireland *

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

Soweto uprising The Soweto uprising, also known as the Soweto riots, was a series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children in South Africa during apartheid that began on the morning of 16 June 1976. Students from various schools began to p ...

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

Operators

Military operators

* Amal Movement: Inherited from the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). * –

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

: 30 vehicles, registered consecutively as 115361 through 115390. * – Biafran Army: 1 * - Royal Brunei Land Force: 15 * –

Indonesian Army The Indonesian Army ( (TNI-AD), ) is the army, land branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It has an estimated strength of 300,400 active personnel. The history of the Indonesian Army has its roots in 1945 when the (TKR) "People's Se ...

: 55; some modernised by request in 1994. * – Royal Jordanian Army: 120; 60 operational. * - Kenyan Army: 15 * - Kuwaiti Army: 135 * - Lebanese Ground Forces: 100 * - Libyan Army: 15 * – Mauritanian Army: 5 ordered in 1990. * –

Nigerian Army The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is the largest component of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The President of Nigeria is the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Army, and its professional head is the Chie ...

: 20; 10 operational. * – Qatar Emiri Land Force: 30 * –

South African Army The South African Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of South Africa, a part of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), along with the South African Air Force, South African Navy and South African Military Health Servi ...

: 280 were ordered between 1953 and 1956. All working Saracens were refurbished in 1979 and some were sold to local security contractors; at least one was modified with a

Comet tank The Comet tank or Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34) was a British cruiser tank that first saw use near the end of the World War II, Second World War, during the Western Allied invasion of Germany. The Comet was developed from the earlier Cromwell ta ...

turret for

Rooikat The Rooikat (Afrikaans for "Caracal"; ) is a South African armoured reconnaissance vehicle equipped with a stabilised high velocity gun for organic anti-tank and fire support purposes. The Rooikat's main armament was built with the Oto Mela ...

trials. Retired from the

South African Armoured Corps The South African Army Armour Formation provides an Armoured warfare, Armour capability to the South African Army. The Formation came into being as part of a restructure. South African Armour Corps units previously under the command of various dif ...

in 1991. * –

Sri Lanka Army The Sri Lanka Army (; ) is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back in 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; ...

: 67, All were removed out of service in the mid-1990s. * – Sudanese Army: 50 * –

Royal Thai Army The Royal Thai Army or RTA (; ) is the army of Thailand and the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces. History Origin The Royal Thai Army is responsible for protecting the kingdom's sovereignty. The army was formed in 187 ...

: 20 * – United Arab Emirates Army: 20 * –

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eela ...

(until 2009)

Civil operators

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

– Royal Hong Kong Police Force: Fourteen Saracens were delivered to the Royal Hong Kong Police Force in 1970 for use as personnel carriers by the force's

Police Tactical Unit A police tactical unit (PTU) is a specialized police unit trained and equipped to handle situations that are beyond the capabilities of ordinary law enforcement units because of the level of violence (or risk of violence) involved. The tasks of a ...

(PTU), formed following the 1967 Hong Kong riots. The Saracens were retired in 1988 after being replaced by the ''

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

'', with all but one subsequently being shipped back to the United Kingdom for decommissioning and sale; the first Saracen operated by the force was placed on static display at the PTU's headquarters in

Fanling Fanling ( zh, t=粉嶺; also spelled Fan Ling or Fan Leng) is a town in the New Territories East of Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the North District. Fanling Town is the main settlement of the Fanling area. The name Fanling is ...

, while two former PTU Saracens are operational in as-decommissioned condition in England. * –

South African Police The South African Police (SAP) was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the ''de facto'' police force in the territory of South West Africa (Namibia) from 1939 to 1981. After South Af ...

: 8 * –

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the ...

* Space Hijackers – 2007–present – Mark 1 Saracen used for

publicity stunts In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utiliz ...

* ** Tulsa Police Department, 1; Saracen hull re-mounted on a commercial truck chassis ** Sierra Vista Police Department, 1; SWAT **

San Francisco Police Department The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is the Municipal police, municipal law enforcement agency of the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco, as well as San Francisco International Airport in San Mateo County, California, San Ma ...

, 1; SWAT ** Snohomish County Sheriff, 1; SWAT

Variants

Saracens were initially equipped with an L3A4 ( 0.30-inch Browning) machine gun in the turret, and a

Bren light machine gun The Bren gun (Brno-Enfield) was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by the United Kingdom in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in Worl ...

for the gun-ring at the rear of the vehicle. Later Marks carried the LMG and L37 GPMG. Saracen Marks

:Mk 1: Early version with a small 3-door turret and turret weapon ports. :Mk 2: Modified Mark 1 with a later two-door turret. The rear turret door folds down and can act as a seat for the commander. :Mk 3: Reverse-flow cooling for use in hot climates. :Mk 4: Prototype only. :Mk 5: Mark 1 or Mark 2 vehicles modified with extra armour specifically for use in Northern Ireland. :Mk 6: Mark 3 modified with extra armour as for the Mk 5 for use in Northern Ireland. :''Concept 3 New Generation Armoured Car'': Mk 3 suspension and drive train with chassis redesigned by the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence Fo ...

to accept a 77mm HV tank gun. Prototype only.

In popular culture

A Saracen masquerades as a German armoured car in the 1964 film '' 633 Squadron'', which was set during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a decade before the Saracen was first built. In the 1967 episode "Mission... Highly Improbable" of the TV series ''The Avengers'' (the penultimate episode with Diana Rigg in the female leading role), the villainous Dr Matthew Chivers (played by Francis Matthews) is trying to smuggle a Saracen FV 603 out of a British Army testing area by shrinking it to toy size with the help of a machine invented by his boss Professor Rushton (played by Noel Howlett). In the

Tom Sharpe Thomas Ridley Sharpe (30 March 1928 – 6 June 2013) was an English satire, satirical novelist, best known for his ''Wilt (novel), Wilt'' series, as well as ''Porterhouse Blue'' and ''Blott on the Landscape,'' all three of which were adapted fo ...

novel ''

Riotous Assembly ''Riotous Assembly'' is the debut novel of British comic writer Tom Sharpe, written and originally published in 1971. Set in the fictitious South African town of Piemburg, ''Riotous Assembly'' lampoons South African apartheid, and the police who ...

'', a Saracen is destroyed by an elephant gun fired by Constable Els of the South African Police. In the 1983 debut album ''

Script for a Jester's Tear ''Script for a Jester's Tear'' is the debut studio album by British neo-prog band Marillion, released in the United Kingdom on 14 March 1983 by EMI Records. The album reached number seven and spent 31 weeks in the UK Albums Chart, eventual ...

'', by British progressive rock group

Marillion Marillion are a British neo-prog band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becoming the mo ...

, the Saracen was referred to in the final song: "...crawling behind a Saracen's hull from the safety of his living room chair..." The lyrics of ''Forgotten Sons'' describe the conflict in

and the discrepancy between what was really happening and the perception of the conflict by the British public. In the

Irish rebel music In the music of Ireland, Irish rebel songs are folk songs which are primarily about the various rebellions against British Crown rule. Songs about prior rebellions are a popular topic of choice among musicians which supported Irish nationalis ...

song Kinky Boots (a parody of The Combine Harvester) reference is made to the Saracen in the opening line of the song. In the 1984 Indonesian film '' Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI'', Saracens were used by the

and the Kostrad as patrol vehicles during the infamous

30 September Movement The Thirtieth of September Movement (, also known as G30S, and by the syllabic abbreviation Gestapu for ''Gerakan September Tiga Puluh'', Thirtieth of September Movement, also unofficially called Gestok, for ''Gerakan Satu Oktober'', or Fir ...

coup d'etat. Saracens are also used as transport during state funerals of the six Army generals who became victims of the coup. Saracens were used almost unchanged in the 1995 film of

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of the British weekly anthology Comic book, comic ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977). He is the magazi ...

as carriers for prisoners and personnel carriers for

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

s. 101 FCs were used as the basis for taxis, fitted with a prop bodyshell. The Saracen is mentioned in the Irish Republican song " Little Armalite". In the 1992 film The Crying Game, one the main characters is killed, "he were run over by a Saracen" when he attempts to escape his IRA captors. Alvis Saracen at Fort Largs

During the 2009 G-20 demonstrations in London, members of the Space Hijackers protest group drove their Saracen into the City of London and parked it outside the

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...

Bishopsgate Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate's name is traditionally attributed to Earconwald, who was Bishop of London in the 7th century. It was first built in Roman times and marked the beginning o ...

.BBC News video of Saracen outside RBS
(no commentary) (1 April 2009) The Saracen, which had been painted bright blue with black and white chequered stripes, was equipped with CCTV and marked "RIOT" (but ''not'' "police"). The group were reportedly there to protect the RBS building from "bad" demonstrators, although the police declined their assistance. Instead, the vehicle was searched and police questioned the protestors, who were dressed in plain blue overalls and helmets. The vehicle's eleven occupants were arrested for impersonating police officers and for traffic offences, and were later charged with impersonating police officers, although the case was dropped before coming to court.Times Online: "Black bra, red stockings: is that a fair cop?"
/ref>
/ref> A community protest against the sale of heritage-listed Fort Largs by the state government of South Australia took place on 25 October 2014. The protest, organised by the National Trust of SA, featured an Alvis Saracen and other vintage military vehicles.

References

External links

Globalsecurity.org

Clash-of-steel.co.uk

Saracen of the San Francisco Police Department SWAT team in action

SFPD Saracen
{{Authority control Armoured personnel carriers of the United Kingdom Armoured personnel carriers of the Cold War

Military vehicles introduced in the 1950s Cold War armoured fighting vehicles of the United Kingdom Six-wheeled vehicles Wheeled armoured personnel carriers