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A half-track is a civilian or
military vehicle A military vehicle is any vehicle for land-based military transport and activity, including combat vehicles; both specifically designed for, or significantly used by military and armed forces. Most military vehicles require off-road capabiliti ...
with regular wheels at the front for steering and
continuous track Continuous track is a system of vehicle propulsion used in tracked vehicles, running on a continuous band of treads or track plates driven by two or more wheels. The large surface area of the tracks distributes the weight of the vehicle b ...
s 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 cross-country capabilities of a tank and the
handling Handling may refer to: * Automobile handling, the turning characteristics of land vehicles * Handling of stolen goods, a statutory offence in England and Wales and Northern Ireland People * Adam Handling (born 1988), British chef and restaura ...
of a
wheel A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction wi ...
ed vehicle.


Performance

The main advantage of half-tracks over wheeled vehicles is that the tracks reduce the pressure on any given area of the ground by spreading the vehicle's weight over a larger area, which gives it greater mobility over soft terrain like mud and snow, while they do not require the complex steering mechanisms of fully tracked vehicles, relying instead on their front wheels to direct the vehicle, augmented in some cases by track braking controlled by the steering wheel. It is not difficult for someone who can drive a car to drive a half-track, which is a great advantage over fully tracked vehicles, which require specialized training. Half-tracks thus facilitate moving personnel and equipment successfully across varying terrain. The main disadvantage is the increased maintenance to maintain track tension, and the reduced life span of tracks (up to 10,000 km) compared to tires (up to 80,000 km).


History


Kégresse track

The French engineer
Adolphe Kégresse Adolphe Kégresse (1879, Héricourt, Haute-Saône - 1943) was a French military engineer who invented the half-track and dual clutch transmission. Born at Héricourt, and educated in Montbéliard, he moved in 1905 to Saint Petersburg, Russia to ...
converted a number of cars from the personal car pool of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia to half-tracks in 1911. His system was named after him: the Kégresse track, which used a flexible belt rather than interlocking metal segments. He applied it to several vehicles in the imperial garage, including Rolls-Royce cars and
Packard Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958. One of the "Thr ...
trucks. The
Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
also fitted the system to a number of their
Austin Armoured Car The Austin Armoured Car was a British armoured car produced during the First World War. The vehicle is best known for its employment by the Imperial Russian Army in the First World War and by different forces in the Russian Civil War. In ad ...
s. From 1916 onward, there was a Russian project by the Putilov Plant to produce military half-tracks (the Austin-Putilov model), along the same lines, using trucks and French track parts. After the
Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
and the establishment of the Soviet Union, Kégresse returned to his native France, where the system was used on
Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...
cars between 1921 and 1937 for off-road and military vehicles.


Steam log hauler

The concept originated with the hauling of logs in the northeastern US, with the Lombard Steam Log Hauler built by Alvin Lombard of
Waterville, Maine Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. The city is home to Colby College and Thomas College. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census the populatio ...
, from 1899 to 1917. The vehicle resembled a railway steam locomotive, with sled steering (or wheels) in front and at the rear, crawlers driven by chains instead of the driving wheels of a locomotive. By 1907, dog and pony show operator H. H. Linn abandoned his gas-and-steam-powered four- and six-wheel-drive creations and had Lombard build a motor home/traction engine run by an underslung four-cylinder Brennan gasoline engine to travel the unimproved roads of the day, with wheels at the front and tracks at the rear: the first payload-carrying half-track. By 1909 this was replaced by a smaller machine with two wheels at the front and a single track behind, since rural wooden bridges presented problems. Stability issues, together with a dispute between Linn and Lombard, led Linn to create the Linn Manufacturing Company, builder of the
Linn tractor The Linn tractor is a heavy duty civilian half-track or crawler tractor invented by Holman Harry Linn. Approximately 2500 units were built in Morris, New York, USA from 1916 to 1952. Development Prototypes Linn was a native of Maine and in his ...
, for building and putting onto the market his own improved civilian half-track–style machines. Lombard attempted to follow but, for the most part, remained a pulling machine. Linn would later register "Haftrak" and "Catruk" as trademarks, the latter for a half-track meant to convert hydraulically from truck to crawler configuration.


World War I

During World War I, its production capacity became focused on military needs. Its tractors replaced horses and were widely used by the Allies as artillery tractors and for hauling supplies. The Holt tractor went on to become the basis for the
Mark I Mark I or Mark 1 often refers to the first version of a weapon or military vehicle, and is sometimes used in a similar fashion in civilian product development. In some instances, the Arabic numeral "1" is substituted for the Roman numeral "I". " ...
, the
Schneider CA1 The Schneider CA 1 (originally named the Schneider CA) was the first French tank, developed during the First World War. The Schneider was inspired by the need to overcome the stalemate of trench warfare which on the Western Front prevailed durin ...
and the German A7V tank. The Holt would be renamed the Caterpillar 60, after merging with C.L. Best Company of California, in 1925, the Holt Manufacturing Company went on to form the company that would become known as
Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
. Tractors used to tow artillery and designs with front wheels and tracks at the rear began to appear prior to the outbreak of war, often based on agricultural machines such as the
Holt tractor The Holt tractors were a range of continuous track haulers built by the Holt Manufacturing Company from California (U.S.), which was named after Benjamin Holt. Between 1908 and 1913, twenty-seven of the first 100 Holt caterpillar track-type tr ...
. The basic half-track concept was originally showcased by the British during the war. With such tractors, the tactical use of heavier guns to supplement the light horse-drawn
field gun A field gun is a field artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march, that when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances ( field artille ...
s became feasible. For example, in the British Army it allowed the heavy guns of the Royal Garrison Artillery to be used flexibly on the battlefield. In England, starting in 1905,
David Roberts David or Dave Roberts may refer to: Arts and literature * David Roberts (painter) (1796–1864), Scottish painter * David Roberts (art collector), Scottish contemporary art collector * David Roberts (novelist), English editor and mystery writer ...
of
Richard Hornsby & Sons Richard Hornsby & Sons was an engine and machinery manufacturer in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England from 1828 until 1918. The company was a pioneer in the manufacture of the oil engine developed by Herbert Akroyd Stuart, which was marketed un ...
had attempted to interest British military officials in a tracked vehicle, but failed. Holt bought the patents related to the "chain track" track-type tractor from Richard Hornsby & Sons in 1914 for £4,000. Unlike the Holt tractor, which had a steerable tiller wheel in front of the tracks, the Hornsby crawler was steered by controlling power to each track. When World War I broke out, with the problem of trench warfare and the difficulty of transporting supplies to the front, the pulling power of crawling-type tractors drew the attention of the military. With tanks coming onto the scene, however, the combination of tracks and wheels seemed impractical when fully tracked or six-wheel, four-wheel drive vehicles were available. The half-track saw a comeback in the 1930s, with development occurring in several countries that would use them in World War II. The White Motor Company, which had designed armored cars for the United States Army and United States Marines, continued after the First World War to develop armored cars and added tracks for the
M2 half-track car The M2 half-track car is an armored half-track produced by the United States during World War II. Its design drew upon half-tracks imported from France in the 1930s, employing standard components supplied by U.S. truck manufacturers to speed pr ...
and M3 half-track.


''Autochenille'' and ''autoneige''

There were many civilian half-track experiments in the 1920s and 1930s. The
Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...
company sponsored several scientific expeditions crossing deserts in North Africa and Central Asia, using their ''autochenilles''. After World War I, the US military wanted to develop a semi-tracked personnel carrier vehicle, so it looked at these civilian half-tracks. In the late 1920s the US Army purchased several Citroën-Kégresse vehicles for evaluation followed by a licence to produce them. This resulted in the Army Ordnance Department building a prototype in 1939. In September 1940 it went into production with the military M2 and M3 half-track versions. With the snow and ice of Canada in mind, Joseph-Armand Bombardier developed 7- and 12-passenger half-track ''autoneiges'' in the 1930s, starting what would become the Bombardier industrial conglomerate. The Bombardier vehicle had tracks for propulsion in the rear and skis for steering in front. The skis could be replaced with wheels in the summer, but this was uncommon. The Red Army also experimented with half-tracks, such as the
BA-30 The BA-30 was a Soviet half-track armored car developed in 1937. Only a small number were built. Developments Developed at the NATI Institute, it was hoped that the BA-30 would be an improvement on the off-road performance of the previous BA s ...
, but found them expensive and unreliable. Although not a feature on American World War II vehicles, steering could be assisted by track braking, controlled by the steering wheel.


World War II half-track use

In America, 43,000 halftracks were produced by three primary manufacturers, the largest being the White Motor Company, the original designer, with a total of 15,414 accepted by the War Department. The other manufacturers, Autocar and Diamond T, built 12,168 and 12,421, respectively. These designs were produced under license in Canada, and were widely supplied under the Lend Lease program, with 5,000 supplied to the USSR alone. The fourth manufacturer of American-made half-tracks was the International Motor Truck Corporation division of International Harvester. IH built approximately 12,853 half-tracks, which were shipped to Europe for use by British and French troops. In 1942, they produced 152 M5 units and 5 M14 units at the Springfield Works; in 1943 they produced 2,026 M9 units, 1,407 M0A1 units, 4,473 M5 units, 1,600 M14 units, and 400 M17 units, all at the Springfield Works; in 1944 they produced 1,100 M5A1 units and 1,100 M17 units also at the Springfield Works; and in 1945 they built 589 M5A1 and 1 M5A3 units at Springfield Works. The IHC half-tracks differed visibly from the White, Diamond T, and AutoCar units in several ways. The IHC units had flat front fenders instead of fenders with compound curves; used the International Red Diamond 450 engines instead of the Hercules 160AX engines used by the other manufacturers; used IHC Model 1856 4-speed transmissions instead of the Spicer 4-speed transmissions used by the other manufacturers; had IHC Model FOK-1370 front drive axles instead of the Timken front axles used by their competitors; used IHC Model RHT-1590 axles in the rear instead of the Timken axles used by their competitors; and were constructed with fully welded armor with rounded rear corners instead of the bolted armor with square corners used by the other three manufacturers. In August 1944, Allied forces liberated Paris, France. The first vehicle to enter the city was an M3 named "España Cañí" and driven by Spanish soldiers fighting under the French tricolor. There followed several days of parades in late August. One parade of 25 August 1944 was down the Champs-Élysées, with
Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
leading throngs of Parisians, and French soldiers driving IH half-tracks.


Infantry transporters

Half-tracks were used extensively in World War II, especially by the Germans with their armored
Demag Demag Cranes AG is a German heavy equipment manufacturer now controlled by Japan-based Tadano via a $215 million deal. The roots of Demag date back prior to its formation, but became Märkische Maschinenbau-Anstalt, Ludwig A.-G in 1906 as the ...
-designed
Sd.Kfz. 250 The Sd.Kfz. 250 (German: ''Sonderkraftfahrzeug'' 250; 'special motor vehicle') was a light armoured half-track, very similar in appearance to the larger Hanomag-designed Sd.Kfz. 251, and built by the DEMAG firm, for use by Nazi Germany in Worl ...
s and Hanomag-designed
Sd.Kfz. 251 The Sd.Kfz. 251 (''Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251'') half-track was a World War II German armored personnel carrier designed by the Hanomag company, based on its earlier, unarmored Sd.Kfz. 11 vehicle. The Sd.Kfz. 251 was designed to transport the ''Panz ...
s; and by the Americans with their M2s and M3s.


Support weapon platforms

Half-tracks were widely used as
mortar carrier A mortar carrier, or self-propelled mortar, is a self-propelled artillery piece in which a mortar is the primary weapon. Simpler vehicles carry a standard infantry mortar while in more complex vehicles the mortar is fully integrated into the ...
s, self-propelled
anti-aircraft gun 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, ...
s, self-propelled
anti-tank gun An anti-tank gun is a form of artillery designed to destroy tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, normally from a static defensive position. The development of specialized anti-tank munitions and anti-tank guns was prompted by the appearance ...
s,
armored fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured cars, ...
s and in other tasks.


Utility and tractor half-tracks

The Germans used a small 2 seater 1/2-ton class half-track "motorcycle", the
Sd.Kfz. 2 The (german: Sonderkraftfahrzeug 2) is a half-track motorcycle with a single front wheel, better known as the (), shortened to (pl. ). It was used by the military of Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Design The started its life as ...
(better known as the ''Kleines Kettenkraftrad'' HK 101 or ''Kettenkrad'' for short – ''Ketten'' meaning tracks, and ''krad'' being the military abbreviation of the German word ''Kraftrad'', the administrative German term for motorcycle), to pull small artillery guns, for ammunition haulage, general transport and as a ground towing vehicle for the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter. Built by NSU Motorenwerke AG Neckarsulm and Stoewer Werke
Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...
, a total of 8,345 vehicles were produced between 1940 and 1944. Other Wehrmacht models were: * 1-ton class, Sd.Kfz. 10 produced by Demag, Berlin; Adler, Frankfurt am Main; Büssing-NAG, Brunswick; Phänomen, Cottbus and Saurer, Vienna, a total of 25,000 vehicles - its drivetrain was used for the
Sd.Kfz. 250 The Sd.Kfz. 250 (German: ''Sonderkraftfahrzeug'' 250; 'special motor vehicle') was a light armoured half-track, very similar in appearance to the larger Hanomag-designed Sd.Kfz. 251, and built by the DEMAG firm, for use by Nazi Germany in Worl ...
* 3-ton class,
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 ...
produced by Hanomag, Adler, Auto-Union and Skoda from 1938 to 1944, a total of 25,000 vehicles - its drivetrain was used for the
Sd.Kfz. 251 The Sd.Kfz. 251 (''Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251'') half-track was a World War II German armored personnel carrier designed by the Hanomag company, based on its earlier, unarmored Sd.Kfz. 11 vehicle. The Sd.Kfz. 251 was designed to transport the ''Panz ...
* 5-ton class.
Sd.Kfz. 6 The Sd.Kfz. 6 (''Sonderkraftfahrzeug'' 6) was a half-track military vehicle used by the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War. It was designed to be used as the main towing vehicle for the 10.5 cm leFH 18 howitzer. Development Develop ...
, manufactured by Büssing-NAG, Berlin-Oberschönweide; Daimler-Benz and Praga (Czechoslovakia), about 3,500 vehicles in total * 8-ton class.
Sd.Kfz. 7 The Sd.Kfz. 7 was a half-track military vehicle used by the German Army, Luftwaffe and Waffen-SS during the Second World War. Sd.Kfz. is an abbreviation of the German word ''Sonderkraftfahrzeug'', "special purpose vehicle". A longer designati ...
, production was of about 12,000 vehicles * 12-ton class.
Sd.Kfz. 8 The ''Sonderkraftfahrzeug'' 8 ("special motorized vehicle 8"), usually abbreviated to Sd.Kfz. 8, was a Military of Germany, German half-track designed by Daimler-Benz that saw widespread use in World War II. Its main roles were as a artillery tra ...
, some 4,000 vehicles were produced by five manufacturers * 18-ton class.
Sd.Kfz. 9 The Sd.Kfz. 9 (also known as "Famo" ) was a German half-track that saw widespread use in World War II, and the heaviest half-track vehicle of any type built in quantity in Nazi Germany during the war years. Its main roles were as a prime mover f ...
, a production of only 2,000 vehicles Larger German half-track tractors were used to tow anti-tank and field artillery pieces. The largest of these were also used by mechanical engineers to retrieve bogged down vehicles or perform repairs such as engine maintenance. Maultier half-tracks used to transport supplies to forward units were essentially civilian trucks which had had their rear axles replaced by Panzer I or Panzer II running gear. A replacement half-track design introduced later in World War II, the 1943-introduced ''
Schwerer Wehrmachtschlepper The ''Schwerer Wehrmachtschlepper'' (sWS; "Heavy Military Tractor") was a German World War II half-track vehicle used in various roles between 1943 and 1945. The unarmored models were used as supply vehicles and as tractors to haul artillery. Armo ...
'', was meant to replace the 3-tonne and 5-tonne capacity models – only some 825 examples were built before the war's end. A common feature of virtually all German World War II half-tracks was the so-called ''Schachtellaufwerk'' overlapped/interleaved roadwheel arrangement with a "slack track" system possessing no return rollers under the return run of track, used from the small ''Kettenkrad'' to the nine-tonne capacity
Sd.Kfz. 9 The Sd.Kfz. 9 (also known as "Famo" ) was a German half-track that saw widespread use in World War II, and the heaviest half-track vehicle of any type built in quantity in Nazi Germany during the war years. Its main roles were as a prime mover f ...
vehicle, and most famously used on Henschel's Tiger I and MAN's Panther main battle tanks.


Cold War use

Half-tracks were extensively used after World War II until the late 1960s, mostly in form of surplus World War II vehicles. Half-tracks saw combat in the
French colonial empire The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that exist ...
in the First Indochina War and the
Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
; in the Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts; and the early wars of the Arab–Israeli conflict. Half-tracks were in use by the
Israeli Army The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branc ...
until recently, where they were deemed to outperform fully tracked and fully wheeled vehicles for non-combat payload tasks such as carrying telecommunications equipment. As of March 2008, 600 half-tracks were still officially listed as on active duty. Image:M3-Halftrack-with-20mm-cannon.jpg, Israeli modified M3 Half-track, armed with 20 mm cannon image:SdKfz11-2.jpg, German
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 ...
half-track


Civilian use

Many Second World War half-tracks were sold off to civilian users either as surplus stock or later due to obsolescence when the fully tracked
armoured 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 ...
was introduced into service. Most were used in engineering-related tasks involving terrain that would be difficult for even four-wheel drive trucks, such as snow, sand and water-logged soil. Many were significantly modified for their new roles, including being fitted with winches, small cranes, and generators after the rear cabin sides were removed. Some World War II half-tracks were used as all-terrain
fire department A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...
pumpers or tankers.


Gallery

File:Linn tractor 1916 right.jpg, First
Linn tractor The Linn tractor is a heavy duty civilian half-track or crawler tractor invented by Holman Harry Linn. Approximately 2500 units were built in Morris, New York, USA from 1916 to 1952. Development Prototypes Linn was a native of Maine and in his ...
, 1916 File:CarrierMGArmoured30cwtBurford-Kegresse 3-4.jpg, British semi-tracked armoured personnel carrier Kégresse track 30cwt. File:M9-A1 Halftrack IHC.jpg, Preserved
M9 Half-track The M9 half-track was a half-track produced by International Harvester in the United States during World War II for lend-lease supply to the Allies. It was designed to provide a similar vehicle to the M2 Half Track Car, M2 half-track car. It had ...
. File:M3 Half Track, Thunder Over Michigan 2006.jpg, M3 Half Track, Thunder Over Michigan. File:M3-Halftrack-with-Eyal-crane-latrun-3.jpg, Israeli M3 halftrack with Eyal crane latrun File:M3-halftrack-ambulance-1.jpg, M3 halftrack ambulance File:M3 halftrack bed Wings Over Wine Contry 2007.JPG, M3 halftrack with Browning M2 machine guns File:German halftrack side.jpg, German halftrack at Museum of the American GIs File:SdKfz251-9.jpg, Sd.Kfz. 251/9 "Stummel" Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-559-1085-07, Italien, Flugzeug Me 323 Gigant, Opel "Maultier".jpg,
Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...
Maultier exiting a
Me 323 The Messerschmitt Me 323 ''Gigant'' ("Giant") was a German military transport aircraft of World War II. It was a powered variant of the Me 321 military glider and was the largest land-based transport aircraft to fly during the war. A total of 2 ...
. File:M5-Halftrack-latrun-5.jpg, M5 Halftrack open top seating. Image:SOMUA MCG Saumur 01.jpg, SOMUA MCG on display at Musée des Blindés File:Sd.Kfz. 9 Donington Grand Prix Collection.jpg,
Sd.Kfz. 9 The Sd.Kfz. 9 (also known as "Famo" ) was a German half-track that saw widespread use in World War II, and the heaviest half-track vehicle of any type built in quantity in Nazi Germany during the war years. Its main roles were as a prime mover f ...
File:Svidnik war museum 02.jpg, German
Sd.Kfz. 250 The Sd.Kfz. 250 (German: ''Sonderkraftfahrzeug'' 250; 'special motor vehicle') was a light armoured half-track, very similar in appearance to the larger Hanomag-designed Sd.Kfz. 251, and built by the DEMAG firm, for use by Nazi Germany in Worl ...
halftrack. File:SdKfz 9 pulls Crusader tank 1942.jpg,
Sd.Kfz. 9 The Sd.Kfz. 9 (also known as "Famo" ) was a German half-track that saw widespread use in World War II, and the heaviest half-track vehicle of any type built in quantity in Nazi Germany during the war years. Its main roles were as a prime mover f ...
pulls tank File:SdKfz10-2.jpg, Sd.Kfz. 10/2 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-280-1058-16, Russland, Halbkettenfahrzeug mit Pak.jpg, Sd.Kfz. 10 File:Type 1 Ho-Ha, front view.jpg, Imperial Japanese Army Type 1 Ho-Ha File:Waldschlepper RS 1500.jpg, Civilian halftrack ''Waldschlepper'' as a forestry vehicle File:Halftrack glacier crawler.jpg, Halftrack glacier crawler at Höfn


See also

* Armoured warfare * Universal Carrier


Notes and references


External links


WWII Half Track Armoured Command Vehicle restored To Its Original Wartime Condition in Edmonton, Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Half-Track Tracked vehicles