The Tatra 111 was a truck produced in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

by the Tatra company.

History

The T111 was developed and manufactured 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 ...

as a heavy truck for use by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

. Production started in 1942 and continued for twenty years, ending in 1962 when it was replaced by the Tatra 138. Despite being built for the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

war machine, the vehicle ultimately played an important role after the war ended. The Tatra 111 contributed significantly to the rebuilding effort during the postwar era, mainly in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

and the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. To its chief designer, however, it brought charges of treason and collaboration with the Nazi regime after the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

takeover of

and contributed to the imprisonment of Tatra's design guru Hans Ledwinka.

Design and technology

The design was based on the proven Tatra concept of a backbone tube chassis construction with swing half axles, a modular gearbox and differential assemblies. The main advantages of the central load carrying backbone tube are its high torsion and bend strength, which protects the truck body against load stresses. The secondary advantage is that it houses all important parts of the drivetrain. Due to its torsional stiffness and use of differentials locks the vehicle had exceptional offroad capabilities. Of note was the ability to use a cranking handle to start the engine.

Engine

Model V910 - the first Tatra air-cooled powerplant V12 75-degree V developed from Tatra V850 engine intended for use in Tatra 103 ( Sd.Kfz. 234 Puma). The

engines An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

had power output of 210

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

at 2250 rpm mainly for war use (An average life expectancy during combat for

was 6

hour An hour (symbol: h; also abbreviated hr) is a unit of time historically reckoned as of a day and defined contemporarily as exactly 3,600 seconds ( SI). There are 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hours in a day. The hour was initially establis ...

s.) which was later reduced to 180 hp at 1800 rpm to increase reliability. The engine has three camshafts and originally was cooled by two covered chain-driven cooling fans and later belt drive (marked T111A).

Chassis

Central backbone tube, front and rear axles with independent swing half axles. Front axle suspended on quarter elliptic leaf springs, rear axles suspended on half elliptic longitudinal leaf spring. The service brakes were air all-round drums, parking brake had

mechanical Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

actuation on the rear end of backbone tube output shaft via a rotating drum. * Front track = * Rear track = * Wheelbase = + * Road clearance =

Transmission

* Drive - 6x6 selectable front wheels drive * Main gearbox - 4+1 (1st and 2nd gears synchronized) ** gear ratios - 5.29, 2.78, 1.62, 1.00, R 5.91 *** Auxiliary gearbox - 2-speed **** gear ratios - offroad - 4.52,

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

- 1.82 * Differentials - ratio 3.19 *

Clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...

- 2x plate, dry

Bodywork

The cab originally used wood for its construction due to strategic unavailability of steel during the war, in later years the wooden frame was steel plated and the last models used an all-steel cabin. The vehicle was capable of a top speed of approximately . The maximum cargo capacity was 10.3

tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

and it had the ability to tow up to 22

trailer.

Production

The Tatra 111 was in production for 20 years, with a total of approximately 34,000 units built. The T111 engine was widely used in the variety of other vehicles such as a heavy tractor T141, a railway car M 131, airport tugs and pontoon bridges used by the army. The engine was also "halved" to create an inline 6-cylinder version for the Praga V3S 6x6 light utility military truck and civilian Praga S5T light truck. Based on the T111 V12 engine, a V8 version was created for the T128 4x4 truck for the Czechoslovak armed forces, designed mostly from T111 parts. T111 main product range was in flatbed, tipper, tanker and crane configuration.

Legacy

The Tatra T111's exploits in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

had earned its reputation, and its legendary reliability contributed to its iconic status among those who drove and lived in those conditions. The T111 concept and technology continued its evolution in following years with subsequent Tatra truck models.

References

Tatra a.s.
{{Authority control T111 Military trucks of Czechoslovakia All-wheel-drive vehicles Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944