The Sd.Kfz. 251 (''

Sonderkraftfahrzeug ''Sonderkraftfahrzeug'' (abbreviated ''Sd.Kfz.'', German for "special purpose vehicle") was the ordnance inventory designation used by Nazi Germany during World War II for military vehicles; for example ''Sd.Kfz.'' 101 for the Panzer I. Sd.Kfz. nu ...

251'')

half-track A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels at the front for steering and continuous tracks at the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cro ...

was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

German

armored personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

Hanomag Hanomag (Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG, ) was a German producer of steam locomotives, tractors, trucks and military vehicles in Hanover. Hanomag first achieved international fame by delivering numerous steam locomotives to Finland, Romania and B ...

company, based on its earlier, unarmored

Sd.Kfz. 11 The Sd.Kfz. 11 (''Sonderkraftfahrzeug'' – special motor vehicle) was a German half-track that saw widespread use in World War II. Its main role was as a prime mover for medium towed guns ranging from the 3.7 cm FlaK 43 anti-aircraft gun up to ...

vehicle. The Sd.Kfz. 251 was designed to transport the ''

Panzergrenadier ''Panzergrenadier'' (), abbreviated as ''PzG'' (WWII) or ''PzGren'' (modern), meaning '' "Armour"-ed fighting vehicle "Grenadier"'', is a German term for mechanized infantry units of armoured forces who specialize in fighting from and in conjunc ...

'' (German

mechanized infantry Mechanized infantry are infantry units equipped with armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat (see also mechanized force). As defined by the United States Army, mechanized infantry is di ...

) into battle. Sd.Kfz. 251s were the most widely produced German half-tracks of the war, with at least 15,252 vehicles and variants produced by seven manufacturers. Some sources state that the Sd.Kfz. 251 was commonly referred to simply as "Hanomags" by both German and Allied soldiers after the manufacturer of the vehicle;Green, Michael. Anderson, Thomas. Schulz, Frank. ''German Tanks of World War II''. Zenith Imprint, 2000. this has been questioned, and may have been only a postwar label.Jentz, Thomas. Doyle, Hilary. ''Panzer Tracts, # 15-2: Mittlere Schuetzenpanzerwagen (Sd.Kfz.251)''. Panzer Tracts, 2005. German officers referred to them as ''SPW'' (''Schützenpanzerwagen'', or armored infantry vehicle) in their daily orders and memoirs.

Design

There were four main model modifications (Ausführung A through D), which formed the basis for at least 22 variants. The initial idea was for a vehicle that could be used to transport a single

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

of 10 panzergrenadiers to the battlefield protected from enemy

small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...

fire, and with some protection from artillery fire. In addition, the standard mounting of at least one

MG 34 The MG 34 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 34'', or "machine gun 34") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun, first tested in 1929, introduced in 1934, and issued to units in 1936. It introduced an entirely ne ...

MG 42 The MG 42 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 42'', or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. Enterin ...

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

allowed the vehicle to provide

suppressive fire In military science, suppressive fire is "fire that degrades the performance of an enemy force below the level needed to fulfill its mission". When used to protect exposed friendly troops advancing on the battlefield, it is commonly called cov ...

for the rifle squad both while they dismounted and in combat. The armour plates were designed to provide protection against standard rifle/ machine gun bullets (like the

7.92×57mm Mauser The 7.92×57mm Mauser (designated as the 8mm Mauser or 8×57mm by the SAAMI and 8 × 57 IS by the C.I.P.) is a rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. The 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge was adopted by the German Empire in 1903–1905, and was the ...

bullet). The front-facing plates were 14.5mm thick; the sides were steeply angled, V-shape 8mm thick plates. This level of armour provided protection against normal (non-tungsten) rifle AP round, which could pierce about 8mm of vertical armour. Positive aspects of the open top included greater situational awareness and faster egress by the infantry, as well as the ability to throw grenades and fire over the top of the fighting compartment as necessary while remaining under good horizontal cover. The downside, as with all armored personnel carriers of the era, was a major vulnerability to all types of

plunging fire Plunging fire is a form of indirect fire, where gunfire is fired at a trajectory to make it fall on its target from above. It is normal at the high trajectories used to attain long range, and can be used deliberately to attack a target not suscep ...

; this included

indirect fire Indirect fire is aiming and firing a projectile without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire. Aiming is performed by calculating azimuth and inclination, and may include correcting aim by ...

from

mortars Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a village i ...

and

field artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

, as well as small arms fire from higher elevated positions, lobbed

hand grenades A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade ge ...

Molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flamma ...

s, and

strafing Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. Less commonly, the term is used by extension to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft such ...

by enemy aircraft. The first two models (Ausf. A and B) were produced in small numbers from 1939. Ausf. A and B models can be identified by the structure of the nose armor, which comprised two trapezoidal armor panels - the lower of which had an engine cooling vent. The B model, which began production in 1940, eliminated the fighting compartment's side vision slits. The C model, which started production in mid-1942, featured a simplified hexagonal-shaped forward armored plate for the engine. Models A through C had rear doors that bulged out. The C model had a large production run, but was quite complex to build, involving many angled plates. From early 1943, the D model was developed with the purpose of halving the number of angled body plates, simplifying the design and thus speeding up the production. D models can be easily recognized by their single piece sloping rear, with flat doors. The standard personnel carrier version was equipped with a 7.92 mm

machine gun mounted at the front of the open compartment, above and behind the driver. A second machine gun could be mounted at the rear on an anti-aircraft mount. Variants were produced for specialized purposes, including with

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

guns, light howitzers, anti-tank guns and mortars or even large unguided artillery rockets, as well as a version with an

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

search light used to spot potential targets for associated

Panther Panther may refer to: Large cats *Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis'' **''Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards. ***Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in Sout ...

tanks equipped with infrared detectors. A strong design feature of the Sd.Kfz. 251 was the large track area, with the characteristic "slack track" design with no return rollers for the upper run of track. The Sd.Kfz. 251 also had the ''Schachtellaufwerk'' system of overlapping and interleaved main road wheels common to virtually all German halftracks of the period. This lowered the

ground pressure Ground pressure is the pressure exerted on the ground by the tires or tracks of a motorized vehicle, and is one measure of its potential mobility, especially over soft ground. It also applies to the feet of a walking person or machine. Ground pre ...

and provided better traction, at the cost of much greater complexity in maintenance. The Sd.Kfz. 251 also had tank steering, whereby the normal steering wheel moved the front wheels, but after more turning of the steering wheel, the tracks are braked to cause turning, like on a tank. However, the interleaved and overlapping main road wheels shared a major problem with the

Tiger I The Tiger I () was a German heavy tank of World War II that operated beginning in 1942 in Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent heavy tank battalions. It gave the German Army its first armoured fighting vehicle that mounted ...

and

tanks that also used such roadwheel configurations - in muddy or winter weather conditions, such as those during a mud season (

rasputitsa ''Rasputitsa'' ( rus, распу́тица, p=rɐsˈputʲɪtsə) is a season of the year when travel on unpaved roads or across country becomes difficult, owing to muddy conditions from rain or melting snow. Etymology In Russia, the term , р� ...

) or the winter conditions, accumulated mud and snow could freeze solid between the road wheels, immobilizing the vehicle.

Use

The early production models of this vehicle were issued to the 1st Panzer Division in 1939 as the 'Ausf.A' or 'A-version'. There were 232 estimated Ausf.A units produced, which took place in Hannover's Hanomag, Büssing-NAG of Berlin Oberschoeneweide, Weserhuette of Bad Oeynhause, Wumag of Goerlitz, and F. Schchau of Elbing facilities. These vehicles were meant to enable ''Panzergrenadiere'' to accompany panzers and provide infantry support as required. In practice, there were never enough of them to go around, and most ''Panzergrenadier'' units had to make do with trucks for transport. In August 1943, Romania acquired a total of 27 armored half-tracks, of both the ''251'' and ''

250 __NOTOC__ Year 250 ( CCL) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Traianus and Gratus (or, less frequently, year 1003 ''Ab u ...

'' types followed in 1944 by 251 type and other types of armored cars to convert two cavalry divisions into armored or mechanized divisions. Sd.Kfz. 251s were known as ''SPW mijlociu'' ("medium SPW") in Romanian service, while Sd.Kfz. 250s were referred to as ''SPW ușor'' ("light SPW"). The

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

of the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

received 15 Sd.Kfz. 251 in spring 1944 and the Ustashe Militia received 12 in autumn 1944.

Variants

Warsaw Uprising - Captured SdKfz 251 (1944)

There were 23 official variants, and sundry unofficial variants. Each variant is identified by a suffix to the model number; however, there was some overlap in the variant numbers. *Sd.Kfz. 251/1 - ''Schützenpanzerwagen''. Standard personnel carrier. **Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf. A Ungepanzerte. Made with plain steel 5mm plates instead of armour, to make up numbers due to slow initial 251 production. Around 350 made up to mid 1940. **251/1 I - with intercom facilities **251/1 II - Rocket launcher (called "Stuka zu Fuß" (Walking

Stuka The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from ''Sturzkampfflugzeug'', "dive bomber") was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Cond ...

) or

Wurfrahmen 40 The ''Wurfrahmen 40'' ("launch frame 40") was a German World War II multiple rocket launcher. It combined a vehicle such as the Sd.Kfz. 251 halftrack or captured French Renault UE Chenillette with rocket artillery to form a more mobile and protect ...

) equipped with six side-mounted frames for launching 280 mm or 320 mm Wurfkoerper rockets. **Sd.Kfz. 251/1 - ''Falke'' Infrared imaging equipment for driver and MG 42 or MG 34 machine gun operator, to be used in combination with Sd.Kfz. 251/20 ''Uhu''. Mostly Ausf. D variants. *Sd.Kfz. 251/2 - ''Schützenpanzerwagen (Granatwerfer)''. 81 mm Mortar carrier. Carried 66 rounds for the GrW34. A base plate was also stored so that the mortar could be offloaded and used. *Sd.Kfz. 251/3 - ''mittlerer Kommandopanzerwagen (Funkpanzerwagen)''. Communications vehicle, fitted with extra radio equipment for command use in Ausf. C and Ausf. D versions. **251/3 I - FuG8 and FuG5 Radios **251/3 II - FuG8 and FuG5 Radios **251/3 III - FuG7 and FuG1 Radios (for ground to air coordination) **251/3 IV - FuG11 and FuG12 Radios (with 9 m telescopic mast); Command vehicle variant (''Kommandowagen'') **251/3 V - FuG11 Radio *Sd.Kfz. 251/4 - ''Schützenpanzerwagen für Munition und Zubehör des leIG18''. Gun-towing tractor, initially for use with the

7.5 cm leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18 The 7.5 cm leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18 (7.5 cm le.IG 18) was an infantry support gun of the German Wehrmacht used during World War II. History Development of the gun began in 1927, by Rheinmetall. The crew was protected by an arm ...

. Later used to tow the 50 mm Pak 38, 75 mm

PaK 40 The 7.5 cm Pak 40 (''7,5 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 40 -'' "7.5cm armour defence cannon 90") was a German 75 millimetre anti-tank gun of the Second World War. The gun was developed in 1939–1941 and entered service in 1942. With 23,303 e ...

and

10.5 cm leFH 18 The 10.5 cm leFH 18 (german: leichte Feldhaubitze "light field howitzer") is a German light howitzer used in World War II and the standard artillery piece of the Wehrmacht, adopted for service in 1935 and used by all divisions and artillery ...

light field howitzer. *Sd.Kfz. 251/5 - ''Schützenpanzerwagen für Pionierzug''. Assault Engineer vehicle with inflatable boats stored in the side storage lockers, and light dismantleable assault bridges stored inside through loss of a seat for more storage space. Early command vehicles for Pioneer platoons (''Pionierzug'') were equipped with a 37 mm

Pak 36 The Pak 36 (''Panzerabwehrkanone 36'') is a 3.7 cm / 37mm caliber German anti-tank gun used during the Second World War. It was the main anti-tank weapon of Wehrmacht ''Panzerjäger'' units until 1942. Developed by '' Rheinmetall'' in 19 ...

anti-tank gun mount. *Sd.Kfz. 251/6 - ''mittlere Funkpanzerwagen (Kommandopanzerwagen)''. Command version equipped with map boards, cipher and encoding machines, and

Enigma Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology *Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup * Enigma machine, a family o ...

equipment. Probably only made in versions Ausf. A and Ausf. B. Replaced by the 251/3 IV command SPW. *Sd.Kfz. 251/7 I - ''Pionierpanzerwagen''. Another assault engineer vehicle; this had fittings to carry assault bridge ramps on the sides. **251/7 II - As above but with different radio. *Sd.Kfz. 251/8 I - ''Krankenpanzerwagen''. Armored ambulance capable of carrying up to 8 seated casualties or 4 seated casualties and 2 stretcher cases. **251/8 II - As above but fitted with FuG5 radio and 2m rod antenna. Assigned to HQ and Panzer units. *Sd.Kfz. 251/9 - ''Schützenpanzerwagen (7.5 cm KwK37)''. Equipped with a 75 mm L/24 low velocity gun, using the same pedestal gun mount employed on the StuG III. Nicknamed "Stummel" ("stump"). In 1944, a revised modular gun mount was introduced to facilitate production that also incorporated a coaxial

MG42 The MG 42 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 42'', or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. Enterin ...

. This universal gun mount was also used to create the Sd.Kfz. 250/8 variant and the Sd.Kfz.234/3. *Sd.Kfz. 251/10 - ''Schützenpanzerwagen (3.7 cm PaK)''. Equipped with a 37 mm

anti-tank gun mount. Issued to platoon leaders as a fire support vehicle. Early versions used the whole top half of a Pak 36 with full gunshield, but later ausf. C & D used a much smaller half-size gunshield so that the vehicle didn't advertise its firepower, so it looked more like a regular 251/1. *Sd.Kfz. 251/11 - ''Fernsprechpanzerwagen''. Telephone line layer. *Sd.Kfz. 251/12 - ''Messtrupp und Gerätpanzerwagen''. Survey and instrument carrier for artillery units. Never built. *Sd.Kfz. 251/13 - ''Schallaufnahmepanzerwagen''. Sound recording carrier for artillery units. Never built. *Sd.Kfz. 251/14 - ''Schallaufnahmepanzerwagen''. Sound ranging carrier for artillery units. Never built. *Sd.Kfz. 251/15 - ''Lichtauswertepanzerwagen''. Flash spotting carrier for artillery units. Never built. *Sd.Kfz. 251/16 - ''Flammpanzerwagen''. Fitted with two flame projectors and initially a rear-mounted

flamethrower A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in World ...

, detachable but still connected to the vehicle, to be operated by dismounted infantry. This was in addition to the standard forward machine gun mount. Six Sd.Kfz. 251/16 Flammpanzerwagens were authorised for issue to each

regiment or in the Pioneer battalion. Though vulnerable, they were used very successfully at night to quickly attack enemy infantry who had just captured German trenches, hitting the enemy before they could consolidate and bring up the heavy weapons that would make them much costlier to defeat later. Late ausf. D versions had larger gunshields. *Sd.Kfz. 251/17 - ''Schützenpanzerwagen (2 cm)''. Anti-aircraft vehicle armed with a 2 cm KwK38 on a pedestal mounting with a small armored turret to protect the gunner. Late war, it was issued as a platoon commander's vehicle to replace the Sd.Kfz. 251/10. *Sd.Kfz. 251/18 I - ''Beobachtungspanzerwagen''. Artillery observation vehicle. **251/18 Ia - Differences unknown, likely different radio fit. **251/18 II - Armored observation vehicle. **251/18 IIa - Different radio. *Sd.Kfz. 251/19 - ''Fernsprechbetriebspanzerwagen''. Telephone exchange vehicle. *Sd.Kfz. 251/20 - ''Schützenpanzerwagen (Infrarotscheinwerfer)'' Introduced in late 1944, it mounted a 60 cm infrared searchlight with a range of 1.5 km for illuminating targets at night. Known as "Uhu" (Eagle Owl), they guided IR sight-equipped Panther tanks to targets that were out of range of their own smaller infrared searchlights. *Sd.Kfz. 251/21 - ''Schützenpanzerwagen (Drilling MG151s)''. Anti-aircraft and ground support variant equipped with a triple-mount ("Drilling" in German means "triple") of

MG151 The MG 151 (MG 151/15) was a German 15 mm aircraft-mounted autocannon produced by Waffenfabrik Mauser during World War II. Its 20mm variant, the 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon, was widely used on German Luftwaffe Fighter aircraft, fighters, ni ...

autocannon; early version being MG151/15 mm cannon, later being MG151/20 mm Luftwaffe cannon, on a Kriegsmarine triple mount. Strong firepower, especially when organised into platoons of 6 SPW. However, with a combined rate of fire of 2000 RPM, it could fire off its full load of 3000 rounds in just 90 seconds. *Sd.Kfz. 251/22 - ''7.5 cm PaK40 L/46 auf mittlerem Schützenpanzerwagen''. Fitted with a 75 mm

anti-tank gun. Probably too big a gun for the carriage, overloaded but effective, and the Yugoslav military was still using captured examples into the 1950s. *Sd.Kfz. 251/23 - ''2 cm Hängelafette 38 auf mittlerem Schützenpanzerwagen''. Reconnaissance variant intended to replace the Sd.Kfz. 250/9 and fitted with the same turret mounting as the Sd.Kfz. 234/1 armoured car. Probably never built. *OT-810 -

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

n modified version known as Tatra OT-810 was made by Podpolianske strojárne Detva. About 1,500 vehicles were built during 1958–62, they have had an air-cooled diesel engine made by Tatra and armored roof over the troop compartment for better protection in case of

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear w ...

. The vehicle was not liked by those who used it and was nicknamed "Hitler's revenge". Last vehicles were removed from Czech Army magazines in 1995. *Field modified variants - Various field modified variants also existed during World War II. There was a kit for installing an armoured map table in place of the forward MG34 mount in use in 1941. One interesting variant was made at the closing stages of the war, when German forces removed the armored bodies of damaged Sd.Kfz. 251s and installed them on light truck chassis, resulting in a wheeled variant of the Sd.Kfz. 251. At least two were made in this way judging by their number plates.

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

*
Information about the mittlerer Schützenpanzerwagen (Sd.Kfz.251) at Panzerworldphotos of SdKfz 251 and czech post war OT-810
{{Authority control Armoured personnel carriers of Germany World War II armoured fighting vehicles of Germany Armoured personnel carriers World War II half-tracks Half-tracks of Germany Military vehicles introduced in the 1930s

Design

Use

Variants

See also

References

Sources

External links