Burstyn Motorgeschütz

The Burstyn Motorgeschütz is an Austro-Hungarian light tank that later entered service in the Deutsches Heer as the Kampffahrzeug 15 "Burstyn". Though it was conceived in 1911 by Oberleutnant Günther Burstyn and prototypes were built in secret by the Austro-Hungarian Army before the outbreak of World War I, its mass production was deemed economically unfeasible and the design was passed on to The German Empire. German engineers refined the design without fundamentally altering its concept.

This vehicle features a fully tracked chassis with pronounced forward and rear overhangs, allowing it to cross trenches and wire obstacles with relative ease. Its armament consists of a forward-mounted Skoda 3.7 cm Infanteriegeschütz M.15 cannon supported by a pair of MG 08 machine guns, intended to suppress infantry, destroy field fortifications, and provide mobile fire support for advancing troops. Armour protection was thin but sufficient against small arms and shell splinters, reflecting its intended role as an offensive weapon.

By late 1915, the Burstyn Motorgeschütz entered mass production as part of Germany’s preparations for a decisive offensive to end the stalemate on the Western Front. This plan, designated WWI - Operation Trident. Throughout 1916, Motorgeschütze were used in limited numbers to probe enemy defences, refine doctrine, and condition German units for large-scale armoured manoeuvre. The vehicle’s defining moment came during the Battle of Dijon in October 1916, where German Motorgeschütz units clashed directly with British Mark I tanks. Although lighter and less heavily armoured, the German machines benefited from superior mechanical reliability, greater mobility, and better integration with infantry and artillery. The engagement resulted in a German victory and a temporary collapse of trench warfare in central and southern France, allowing mobile operations to resume for the first time since the early months of the war.

Despite these successes, the Burstyn Motorgeschütz aged rapidly. By the war’s final years, newer designs such as the British Mark V and the French Renault FT rendered it increasingly obsolete, particularly due to its limited armour thickness and unergonomic internal layout. Nevertheless, it remained in service until the armistice, valued for its flexibility and the experience it provided German armoured units.

In retrospect, the Motorgeschütz’s greatest legacy lies not in its battlefield performance, but in its doctrinal impact. It proved that armoured vehicles could decisively break trench deadlock when employed correctly, shaping German armoured theory and ensuring that the Empire emerged from the war as the world’s foremost practitioner of mechanised warfare.