In 1940, the Germans occupied Denmark (operation Weserübung) While the capture went smoothly, the occupation itself however was another matter. Despite the fact Germans employed a large number units to to fight the resistance, a number of groups emerged during the occupation. One of them was the "Holger Danske" group, first formed in 1942 by five people bearing the name of one of the Danish legendary heroes ("Ogier the Dane"). Despite losing over 64 people to the Nazi Gestapo, the resistance group successfully carried out several sabotage attacks and caused considerable losses to the Germans and any collaborators. Despite staying hidden and attacking from shadows, by the end of the war, a decision was made by the group to step up the anti-German campaign by starting to use heavy weapons, namely an envisioned armored car. An old Ford truck was acquired in early 1945 to serve as the vehicle basis and armored plates were "liberated" from the local Frederiksvaerk steel factory. It took around 3 months to build the vehicle; it was a slow process due to the secrecy. However, the news of upcoming German surrender changed everything and the decision was taken to take a risk and speed up the car production as much as possible. In the chaos of the final days of the war, it was possible to move the Ford FAA truck directly to the steel factory from where the armored plates came from. The resistance men worked on the truck day and night and it was ready just a day before the war ended. The vehicle was then named "V3" to resemble the German term "weapon of vengeance" (Vergeltungswaffe), used on the V1 and V2 rockets. On the front, a large "Frit Danmark" ("free Denmark") was written in red.

• published: 03 Nov 2013
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