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The Morris CS9 Light Armoured Car was produced in the late 1930s to carry out long range road based reconnaissance duties, but proved to be under armed and armoured and poor off road and was soon replaced in British service by a mix of light reconnaissance cars and more capable armoured cars.
For most of the 1930s the War Office believed that the light tank would carry out most reconnaissance duties in any future conflict. However they also saw a need for a longer range scout to operate along roads. The Morris CS9 was selected to fill that role, and 100 were ordered (of which 15 were completed as Morris Armoured Command Vehicles. The prototype underwent tests in 1936.
The Morris CS9 armoured reconnaissance car (later re-designated as a light armoured car) had a rather boxy body, and a wide open topped turret. It used the chassis from a Morris Commercial C9 4x2 truck. It was armed with a Bren gun, a Boys anti-tank rifle and a smoke grenade discharger. It could reach 45 mph, so was at least fast. However it only had 7mm of armour, so was dangerously vulnerable to just about all gunfire.
The Morris was used by the 12th Lancers in France in 1939-40 and the 11th Hussars in the Western Desert and Cyrenaica in 1940-41.
The 12th Lancers were unimpressed with their vehicles. They took 38 of them to France. The truck chassis gave them poor off road abilities. They were too bulky to turn quickly. The open turret left then exposed to attack. The armament of one Boys anti-tank rifle and one Bren gun was fine when they were actually used in the reconnaissance role, but too weak when they were forced into rearguard actions. The guns could both be removed for use in the infantry role. The Morris performed well during the fighting, helping to protect the flanks of the BEF. However all of them were lost at Dunkirk.
The 11th Hussars used their thirty Morris armoured cars against the Italians almost immediately after the Italian entry into the war in 1940. They took part in the successful attacks on the Italian forts at Sidi Omar and Capuzzo, operating alongside older Rolls Royce armoured cars. They also took part in the successful campaign in Cyrenaica in 1941, where the Italians suffered a major defeat. Thirty Morris armoured cars were present with the 11th Hussars during this campaign, and equipped with large-section sand-tyres they proved to be capable of coping with quite soft ground. However in other ways they were increasingly outdated, and they were withdrawn from front line service after this campaign.
Production: 100
Hull Length: 15ft 6in
Hull Width: 6ft 9in
Height: 7ft
Crew: 4 (commander, gunner, driver, radio operator)
Weight: 4.5 tons
Engine: six-cylinder engine
Max Speed: 45mph
Max Range:
Armament: Boys anti-tank rifle and Bren LMG
Armour: 7mm