OA vz. 30

OA vz. 30
Type	Armored car
Place of origin	Czechoslovakia
Service history
In service	1934—44
Used by	Czechoslovakia  Nazi Germany Romania Slovakia
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	Tatra
Designed	1930—33
Manufacturer	Tatra
Produced	1933—34
No. built	51 + 1 prototype
Specifications
Weight	2.78 tonnes (2.74 long tons; 3.06 short tons)
Length	4.02 metres (13.2 ft)
Width	1.52 metres (5.0 ft)
Height	2.02 metres (6.6 ft)
Crew	3
Armor	3–6 millimetres (0.12–0.24 in)
Main armament	2 x 7.92 mm (0.312 in) ZB vz. 26 machine guns
Engine	4-cylinder, air-cooled Tatra 71 32 horsepower (24 kW)
Suspension	6x4
Operational range	300 kilometres (190 mi)
Speed	60 kilometres per hour (37 mph)

The OA vz. 30 (Obrněný automobil vzor 30) was a Czechoslovak-designed armored car used by Nazi Germany, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary during World War II. Fifty-one were built, of which the Germans seized twenty-four when they occupied Bohemia-Moravia in March 1939 and the Slovaks captured eighteen when they declared independence from Czechoslovakia at the same time. Romania acquired nine when Czech troops sought refuge in Romania after the Hungarian invasion of Carpatho-Ukraine that same month. Slovak vehicles saw combat in the Slovak-Hungarian War, the invasion of Poland, the opening months of Operation Barbarossa and the Slovak National Uprising.

The OA vz. 30's armored body was mounted on a Tatra 6 x 4 T-72 truck chassis. The chassis design was unusual as it was a central tube design with independently sprung rear half-axles which gave good cross-country performance. The driver sat on the right side using an observation port protected by an armored shutter with a vision slit. The assistant driver sat on the left and had a small vision port for his ZB vz. 26 machine gun. It was mounted in a firing slit directly to his front. There were similar vision ports on both sides. The crew accessed the fighting compartment from a door in the rear of the vehicle. The gunner sat in a small, cylindrical turret with 360° of traverse. It had an observation port in the front and vision slits on both sides and the rear. The turret had another ZB vz. 26 light machine gun in a ball mount. Another machine gun was carried inside the vehicle. 3000 rounds were stored for the machine guns. The armor ranged between 3 to 6 mm (0.12 to 0.24 in) thick; this was deemed enough to deflect ordinary bullets fired from over 100 metres (110 yd) distance.