Writer: Brigadier Fouad Hafeez, retired

This article honours the legendary Willys MB Jeep; some models of which joined the Pakistan Army as “carry-over” models from the time of the British Indian Army prior to Partition. Its successors – the venerated M38, the M151, and the M825 – were added to the Army’s inventory, in later years.

THE DAY OF DECISION

July 1940 was one of the most eventful months of World War II. On the one hand, in Berlin, Adolf Hitler green-lit the operational planning for OPERATION SEA LION; the invasion of Britain. Consequently, the Battle of Britain began in earnest on 10th July 1940, and the Luftwaffe started bombing raids on shipping lines, and at locations across the length and breadth of Britain. In response to this, the Royal Air Force bombed German lines in the Netherlands and targeted munitions factories in the German hinterland on 11th July.

On the other side of the world, on the very same day – 11th July 1940 – the United States’ Army undertook a decision that perhaps changed the face of warfare, forever.

Reaching out to 135 automobile manufacturers across America, the US Army challenged them to design, create, and build a vehicle for induction, setting some truly daunting specifications. It had to be four wheel drive capable, be able to carry a crew of three, have a wheelbase of 75 inches (later amended to 80 inches), be powered by at least 85 lb-ft of torque, be able to carry a payload of at least 660 lbs, and weigh no more than 1300 lbs (later revised to a more realistic 2160 lbs). Bids were to be received within an astonishing 11 days only. Manufacturers were required to submit a working prototype within 49 days, and they were given 75 days to provide 70 working models as test units. So challenging was this task that only 3 companies out of 135 rose to meet the army’s challenge. These three companies were the American Bantam Car Company, Ford Motor Company, and Willys-Overland Motors. The product, which they contributed to, was later acclaimed by General George C. Marshall as “America’s greatest contribution to modern warfare”; the Willys Jeep.

The Rush to Produce

Bantam was the smallest company out of the three, and at that time was overseen by chief engineer, Harold Crist. Crist hired the services of a freelance designer by the name of Karl Probst to meet the stringent deadlines, and exacting end user specs. Work commenced on 17th July 1940. Designs for the utility truck were submitted within 2 days, and a cost estimate was provided the very next day. A working prototype – built entirely by hand in Butler, Pennsylvania – was handed over at the US Army vehicle test centre at Camp Holabird in Maryland. This prototype model was called the Bantam Reconnaissance Car Pilot (BRC Pilot, also nicknamed “Old Number One”). The date of delivery was 23rd September 1940; a scant 74 days from the time of decision, and a mere fortnight after the formation of the Italian Air Corps (Corpo Aereo Ital iano, CAI) on 10th September 1940, which took part alongside the Luftwaffe in its bombing campaigns against Britain.

Owing to the fact that it was too small a company to be able to meet the massive demands of the army, the Bantam’s design was shared amongst all three competitors – a unique example of corporations coming together for a wartime effort. An ongoing mad rush to get the specifications right, and establish productions schedules, was witnessed then. During this time, various trials and tests were carried out. By this time, the BRC Pilot had been redesigned, modified and refined as a Mark II model and was known as the BRC-60. By November 1940, as Italian forces on the other side of the A t l a n t i c continued with their aggressive push into Greek territory, two other prototypes from the remaining companies also came to the fore. Willys-Overland decided to name its pilot model the “Quad” and Ford decided to name its model of the truck the “Pygmy”. By this time, the need for such a vehicle had been felt in the field by the US’ British and Soviet allies, and a rushed initial order of 1500 units each, was placed with all three companies. Meanwhile, as trials and tests of the models continued, World War II continued to rage on, and expand and intensify. A pre-production order was later on added, which saw the three models being marketed as the “BRC-40” (Bantam), the “Government P (GP)” (Ford) and the “Military A (MA)” model (Willys).

A Year Passes

By July 1941 – a year after the initial decision to build the utility truck – and around the time when Adolf Hitler decided to adopt The Final Solution for the mass extermination of Jews – the US Army and the War Department decided to standardise the production by giving the next order of 16,000 units to a single company. Willy Overland was the winner of this contract with its “Military B (MB)” model, notably because of its far superior power plant, which produced an impressive 60 horsepower. However, because of its inability to build such a large number of vehicles, a decision was taken that the design would be licensed out to Ford for concurrent production. Thus, an identical version of the Willys MB – badged as the Ford GPW (the “W” a reference to the original Willys design) – also came into production.

On 8th October 1941 – as German troops reached the Sea of Azov in the invasion of Soviet Russia, and as rains punished the advancing forces and started to bog them down – a patent was filed by the US Army titled “Military Vehicle Body”. This patent was approved on 7th April 1942, two days after Hitler’s issuance of Directive 41; the instructions for the Nazi summer offensive in Russia.

The Machine that Won the War

Patent Number 2278450 of 7th April 1942 is the official date of birth of the Willys MB. The patent adds an interesting note: “one of the principal objects of the invention is to provide a convertible small car body so arranged that a single vehicle may be interchangeably used as a cargo truck, personnel carrier, emergency ambulance, field beds, radio car, trench mortar unit, mobile anti-aircraft machine gun unit, or for other purposes.” That is exactly what this diminutive truck ended up doing.

Named Jeep after a cartoon character Eugene the Jeep, who possessed supernatural abilities, mobility, and problem solving capabilities, the Willys was later fitted with a snorkel to be capable of deep water crossing. It was mounted with weapons; notably the 37mm cannon. Over 13,000 amphibious Sea Jeeps (also known as Seeps) were built. Hitched trailers were designed that almost doubled its payload capacity.

The US provided some 182,500 Jeeps to its allies across the world. Over 105,000 were provided to the British, including Australian forces and the British Indian Army (remarkably, some survivors from that time are the pride and joy of a handful of car enthusiasts to this day). Some 50,000 made their way to the Soviet Union, 25,000 went to Canada, France and China. Under Willys and Ford, over 640,000 Jeeps were made during World War II alone.

In the field, the Willys was a troop carrier, a light assault vehicle, an ambulance, a cargo-hauler, and a companion. It was a snow plow, a power plant, an impromptu stove for field rations, and a source of hot water for shaving. It was a searchlight platform, a speaker’s podium, a reviewing stand, an air crew taxi, a mobile field headquarters and a chaplain’s altar. It carried water and ammo and fuel, and towed small artillery pieces into unreachable areas over inhospitable terrain. Its flat bonnet served as a mapboard, a makeshift poker table, a dining table, and a place for conducting f ield surgery. It was hard as nails, tough, reliable, and made the vital difference to the war effort.

80 years later, its successors are seen plying the roads. The British built the Land Rover with this iconic truck in mind. After its initial success, Japan built its own version as the Toyota Land Cruiser. Ford itself, went on to build the venerated M151 Mutt light utility truck. Since that time, virtually every car maker of importance has a vehicle built on the basic Willys MB blueprint; a robust engine, four wheel drive, and a sturdy chassis. Today, the SUV market is estimated to be one third of the global total, and a staggering 30 million units are produced every year. All of them – large, small, refined, luxurious, spartan – owe their very existence to the Willys Jeep, rightly stated to be the granddaddy of all 4x4s.

Some Interesting Facts about the Willys Jeep

• The Willys was a brutally simple design. It had no doors, no windows, the glass windshield could be folded down to make a low silhouette. It didn’t even have keys; starting was by means of a switch located at the driver’s side foot-well.
• At the time of joint production, Willys turned over all blueprints, specs, and patents to Ford. No money was involved. This was perhaps the most unusual example of wartime cooperation between rivals.
• While the Jeep’s primary use was as a wheeled vehicle, it could be converted to rail use if necessary. Once converted to a train, Jeeps had the ability to pull up to ten tons by rail. Other than this, the Willys was stretched to become a 6x6 capable truck, an armoured car was eventually developed which used the Willys chassis, and there was even a rotary wing helicopter variant produced (known at the Rotabuggy).
• The exact reason the Willy MB got the name Jeep is unknown. However, it is believed that it could be from Ford’s use of the abbreviation GP on the Ford GP and Ford GPW, with the “G” meaning Government and the “P” designating the vehicle as having a wheelbase of 80 inches. Other popular theories include an idea that it is based on the cartoon character, Eugene the Jeep. Wherever the name came from, it saw widespread use during World War II, to describe this legendary, revolutionary, war-winning line of vehicles.
• What eventually became the Jeep was originally conceived in the 1930s as a light, rugged reconnaissance car to provide speedy movement of key personnel and equipment in the rear, and on the battlefield.