In 1911, he designed the first cross-country tank with swiveling turret, based on American agricultural tractors, which he called the Motorgeschütz (literally motor-gun). The draft design, more advanced than some of the tank designs of the First World War, was rejected both by Austria-Hungary and by the German Empire. He later sought to patent his design, but was told that it might infringe existing patents, so he dropped all plans. In 1941 Günther Burstyn was awarded with the War Merit Cross.[citation needed]