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The ''Sd.Kfz. 4 Gleisketten-Lastkraftwagen'' ("chain-track truck"), was a 4.5-tonne military truck of ''
Maultier Maultier (English: "mule") or Sd.Kfz. 3 is the name given to series of half-track trucks used by Germany during World War II. They were based on Opel, Mercedes-Benz, Alfa-Romeo or Ford trucks. History Soon after invading the USSR, German troo ...
'' (" mule")
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 ...
family developed during
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 opposing ...
by
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. Its manufacturer designation was Mercedes-Benz L4500R.


Development

The Sd.Kfz. 4 was developed after the 1941 invasion of the USSR to deal with the ice and mud, which bogged down the wheels-only road-bound commercial vehicles that were used to supply German forces. It was modified Standard Mercedes-Benz L4500S (4x2) with
Horstmann suspension Horstmann suspension, also known as Horstman, Vickers-Horstman and rarely Slow Motion, is a type of tracked suspension devised by British tank designer John Carden and worked into a production design by engineer Sidney Horstmann. First used o ...
instead of a back axle. Another manufacturer of 4.5-t truck,
Büssing Büssing AG was a German bus and truck manufacturer, established in 1903 by Heinrich Büssing (1843–1929) in Braunschweig. It quickly evolved to one of the largest European producers, whose utility vehicles with the Brunswick Lion emblem were w ...
, planned a similar conversion of its Büssing-NAG L4500S, but did not proceed. A total of 22,500 Maultier halftracks were produced by 1944, among which 1480 were 4.5-t. Sd.Kfz. 4, others 2-t. Sd.Kfz. 3. In 1943 Opel was ordered to build armored vehicles outfitted with 15 cm ''Panzerwerfer'' 42 rocket launchers. These vehicles were designated Sd.Kfz. 4/1, with around 300 produced. Given the extra weight of the Panzerwerfer, the top speed was only 24 mph (40 km/h). Another multiple rocket launching system, the 8 cm Raketen-Vielfachwerfer, was also fitted to the Sd.Kfz. 4 chassis. The vast majority of Maultiers operated using British-pattern Carden-Loyd running gear, with the exception of the Type L4500R, which used PzKpfw. II running gear. The 6-cylinder engines were mated to a transmission with 5 forward / 1 reverse gears and could attain a maximum forward speed of 40 km/h. Each halftrack was equipped with the FuG Spr G f radio. Aside from the Sd.Kfz. 4/1, the Sd.Kfz. 4 was armed only with a light 7.92 mm
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 n ...
or MG 42
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) ar ...
with a traverse of 270° and elevation limits of -12° to +80°.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sd.Kfz. 4 World War II armoured fighting vehicles of Germany World War II half-tracks Half-tracks of Germany Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944