Landsverk was a Swedish military company from the 1930s that developed prototypes of armoured motorcycles. These vehicles, thank God, were not mass-produced, since in reality, it was a company that acted as a front for German interests. They were war machines prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles. Their only final destination was military and at the service of Hitler.
We present to you the Landsverk 210a Harley-Davidson converted into a tank before World War II and equipped with a machine gun Madsen 8×58 in a curious sidecar. Of course, all armoured. As expected, and we never tire of repeating, the Nazis had their hand and interests involved in this project.
CoAB Landsverk manufactured various military vehicles between the two world wars. In those years, with the growing popularity of motorcycles on the battlefield, Landsverk decided to create something that would offer more protection to soldiers than a conventional motorcycle.
The company’s first foray into this field was the L-90a motorcycle with movable armor plates and a machine gun KSP 6.5 mm. Little is known about this model, other than that it was also based on a Harley-Davidson and that, possibly, only two units were built.
This is the Landsverk 210 based on Harley-Davidson
The L-210 It was developed on a Harley-Davidson 1,200 cc, since the Danish army used this model and sharing parts was very economical. It was equipped with a machine gun Madsen 8mm and the armour was welded in 4.5mm plates. Although it probably would not have resisted rifle fire, the angles of the armour may have offered some protection to its occupants by deflecting bullets.
With all that armor, the motorcycle weighed almost 725 kgwhich limited its maximum speed to 48 km/heven with 30 HP. This made it unsuitable for combat, and the Danish army abandoned the project. But as Landsverk It was a cover for the Germans, who could not manufacture weapons due to the Treaty of Versailles, the only buyer of the L-210 He was a Nazi diplomat, Baron Friedrich Karl Johannes von Schlebrüggewho sent her to South America.
And so ends the story of the Landsverk 210It’s obvious why it was never mass produced: a machine gun-equipped motorcycle with so little suspension travel doesn’t make much sense. It was certainly an easy target. But if you don’t test it, you’ll never know.
