Australian Army Jeep Train Pulling Members of the 24th Infantry Brigade in Borneo, Malaysia, 1945

Manufactured by Willys Overland Motors and mass-produced between 1941 and 1945 for the Allied forces, the iconic, tough and all-terrain Willys MB embodies the true Jeep spirit, “Go anywhere, Do anything,” in this photo taken on July 22, 1945 on the Island of Borneo – base of the 24th Australian Infantry Brigade, fighting a dug in Japanese army at the fag end of the war.

Though the concept of automobiles pulling railcars can be traced back to 1912, it was the Jeep that made it famous and also lent it the name of the Jeep Train. The Willys MB that pulls the railcars in the photo was known as the Mumbuktu Special. The soldiers of the 24th Australian Infantry used it for ferrying troops as well as for transporting rock and gravel from the quarry of Greig Siding, 12 miles North of their station at Beaufort – now a Malaysian city.

Besides Willys Overland Motors, the Jeep was also mass-produced during the war by the Ford Motor Company. The models produced by the two respective companies were classed as off-road light military utility vehicles and extensively used by the Allied armies.

To adhere to the army’s request for a standardised light combat vehicle, both models were built to be identical so parts of one could be used for the other – yet there were subtle differences. The most notable among which was the cross member in front. While on the Willys MB, the cross member was rounded, that of the Ford GPW was square.

Both the models had weighed approximately 1/4 of a ton and were the most relied upon and loved of all combat vehicles to be used in World War II. Furthermore, they were also instrumental in popularizing the word Jeep – which is now used, offhandedly, for all 4x4s.