Time to take a look at the famous Sonderkraftfahrzeug
251 – Special purpose vehicle 251., which
was the most produced German armored half-track
in World War 2.
This vehicle was mainly used within Panzer
and Panzergrenadier divisions, but it is important
to point out that there were only a limited
number of these available, as such Panzergrenadiers
– infantry that was trained to fight with
Panzers – were not necessarily equipped
with those halftracks and many were transported
in regular trucks.
This is also reflected by existence of Army
Regulations for Panzergrenadiere where one
version contains “gepanzert” meaning “armored”
in the title and while the other does not.
Speaking of Panzers, if you speak German,
you might take a look at this Panzer conference
in September 2020 with Dr. Roman Töppel and
the director of the Panzermuseum Ralf Raths.
Check out the Link for more information.
Anyway, back to the halftrack.
Sadly, the exact origins of this vehicle are
mostly unknown, as noted by Jentz and Hillary
Doyle:
“After searching for over 35 years in archives
and museums around the world, we haven’t
found the conceptual design package written
by the designers.
Therefore, the development history has been
lost.”
Related to this is the question on how this
vehicle should be employed.
This might seem an odd question nowadays but
remember in World War 2 tank infantry cooperation
was in its infancy.
Although, I have a primary source for the
late-war role the pre-war and early-war situation
is a bit more obscure.
Likely related to this, are the various functional
names for the Sd.
Kfz. 251.
In some cases these were subvariants, yet
not all.
One of the first names was:
Mannschaftstransportwagen (MTW) – medium
personnel carrier in 1939.
Yet, fast forward to August 1942, the Army
Regulation gives the name with “Mittlerer
Schützen-Panzerwagen”.
– medium riflemen armored vehicle.
Other manuals notably those that are for Panzergrenadiers,
usually don’t give a designation and use
the generic name “Panzergrenadierwagen”
– Panzergrenadier Vehicle.
It could be that initial title of personnel
carrier was a cover name.
I don’t consider this the case, although
a first look seems to counter that, since
the first models were equipped with mounts
for 2 machine guns.
But if we look closer, we noticed that these
were mainly anti-aircraft mounts and were
not equipped with a gun shield for the forward
firing machine gun and additionally, originally
the Panzergrenadiers should fight dismounted.
Only in around 1942 mounted combat had become
regular according to regulation.
So, from the configuration and early doctrine,
it has many features of a transport vehicle.
Furthermore, a document I found in the archives
from January 1945 states the following:
“Looking back, the following can be stated:
In the course of the war the astonishing successes
of the units equipped with SPW [armored infantry
fighting vehicles] (SPW-Battalion and Armored
Recon Battalions) proved that the armored
towing vehicle is less an armored personnel
carrier but rather - actually used as an armored
infantry fighting vehicle - a light but high-quality
combat vehicle.”
The problem is, we can’t be 100 % sure here,
since whoever wrote this might also be wrong
about the initial employment and doctrine,
although it is a bit less likely than with
a post-war source.
As such, this vehicle might originally have
been intended to be mostly a mere transport,
something that changed throughout the war.
This might also be related to the fact that
this vehicle was rather rare.
Now, you might have seen this vehicle quite
often in documentaries, the problem is that
documentaries have the tendency to use war-time
footage rather uncritical.
This is rather problematic, since most of
it was propaganda footage, something Bismarck
and I discussed lately in more detail in this
video.
Yet, the matter of fact is, these vehicles
were rare even compared to tanks.
For this, it is time to take a short look
at some numbers.
The Sd.
Kfz. 251 series production started rather
late, ordered in 1938 the first ones were
delivered in June 1939, so just a few months
before the attack on Poland.
According to production statistics from 1939
to 1942, in total 2508 were produced and of
those about 300 had thin steel sheets instead
of regular armor plates.
To put this in contrast to tank production,
in the same time frame Germany had produced
more than 10 000 Panzers . Although, if you
also account for Panzers produced before 1939,
we are at around 13 000 Panzers.
So, just from production numbers the ratio
was 1:4 to 1:5 depending on the time-frame.
As such, the Germans by numbers alone had
far more experience with Panzers than with
halftracks.
Now, if you consider that troop trials with
these halftracks began in 1939, whereas the
first Panzer Divisions were established in
1935, you see there is quite an experience
gap as well.
Anyway, let us move to the vehicle itself.
There were basically 4 main models of the
Sd.
Kfz. 251, namely Ausführung A to D, which
should not be confused with the variants of
which were far more, these were denoted by
the slash and a number and had special roles
like mortar, engineer and other vehicles.
Yet, they are something for a future video.
The first model was Ausführung A. One important
detail is that it had two mounts for machine
guns in the front and back, but initially
had no gun shield in the front.
Ausführung B had some minor changes, but
in overall was very similar:
„The difference between Ausfuehrung A and
Ausfuehrung B is the lack of Seheinsaetze
(vision slits) on the side of the Ausfuehrung
B.”
Note that gun shields for these models were
retrofitted in Fall 1940.
In 1940 Ausführung C went into production,
it incorporated the various combat experience
gathered:
“The Ausf C featured a single-pate nose
armour, and armoured cowls to cover the engine
side intakes, and an armoured shield for the
forward MG was introduced.”
Additionally, the bumper bar in the front
was removed.
In 1943 production was switched to the final
mass-produced model, the Ausführung D.
This model is the most easily to identify,
since it has a reversed sloped rear armor
plate, whereas previous models had a triangular
look as you can see here.
This was not for cosmetic reasons, the armored
body, visions slits and other elements were
simplified to allow for a more efficient mass
production.
Nowadays, most Halftracks that look like a
Sd.
Kfz. 251 are often OT-810.
The OT-810 was a post-war production by Czechoslovakia,
since during the war some 251 were produced
by the Skoda Works in Plzen.
It is important to mention that some people
refer to a German halftrack as “Hanomag”,
this is wrong as pointed by Jentz & Doyle:
“P.S.
No evidence has been found in primary sources
that these armored troop carriers were ever
referred to by the name Hanomag – not even
as a nickname by the troops.
If the ‘Hanomag’ had been mentioned during
the war to these troops, they would have thought
that you were referring to the heavy trucks
or buses for which this company was famous.”
READ SLOWLY!!!!!
Since, we got that out of the way, let us
look at the armor protection and technical
data before we discuss the late-war role.
Note, the following values are for Ausführung
D, yet the values in general were rather similar.
The frontal armor had a thickness of 14.5
mm, the hull sides and back had 8 mm, whereas
the belly and top plates 5.5 mm.
“These main pieces are constructed from
bulletproof armor plates that are welded or
riveted together at angles which make it proof
against attack by S.m.K.
[Spitzgeschoss mit Kern] (steel core amor-piercing
rounds fired from 7.92 mm caliber rifles or
machineguns from positions on the ground at
a range of 30 meters).”
Also, as you can see here, the armor plates
were sloped as well, thus increasing the effective
armor if hit in straight angles.
Next, is some technical data and measurements,
note this information is taken from the manual
for the base variant from May 1943 for the
Ausführung D.
The length is 5800 mm, the width 2000 mm,
the height 2100 mm.
The turning circle is given with 11 000 mm.
The ground clearance of the front axle with
320 mm.
The fording depth is 500 mm.
Now, let us look at weight and the Panzergrenadier
squad next.
The empty weight is 7000 kg.
The total allowed weight is 8500 kg, as such
we have a payload of 1500 kg.
Yet, that is not all, since an additional
2700 kg could be towed.
As mentioned, there were various variants,
yet, the most common one was the 251/1 for
carrying a full Panzergrenadier Squad, which
consisted of 12 men unlike the regular German
infantry squad, which had 10 men with 1 machine
gun and 1 sub-machine gun.
To get the full picture, a quote from the
Army Regulation for the Panzergrenadier Company
armored from 1943:
"15.
The Panzergrenadier Squad consists of:
squad leader
deputy squad leader
2 M.G. rifleman 1 (gunners)
2 M.G. rifleman 2 [assistant gunners]
4 riflemen
driver for towing vehicle
Co-driver (also radio operator)
3 light Machine guns (including 1 vehicle-M.G.)
2 submachine guns (including 1 onboard sub-machine
gun)
m[edium].
Armored infantry fighting vehicle."
Note originally, the 251/1 had no radio set
installed, yet in 1942 one was added and installed
in front of the codriver.
So, let’s move to the performance data.
The Horsepower is given at 100 when at 2800
revolutions / min.
As such we have a horsepower to weight ratio
was 11.7 (100 / 8.5) at maximum weight.
In contrast the Panzer III Ausführung H had
around 14.0 and the T-34 Model 41 had 17.9,
as such it was less powerful and it also had
an unpowered front axle which is in contrast
to the US halftrack M3, thus very likely performing
worse cross country than these tanks.
The Sd.
Kfz. 251 had total of 111 track links, which
is an odd number, which is odd, since the
vehicle had 2 tracks.
Well, the number of track links was different
for each side, the left side had 55 and the
right side 56 links.
Similarly, the left track was shorter with
a total length of 7700 mm, whereas the right
had 7840 mm.
The fuel tank could hold 160 liters.
Sadly, the manual gives no information on
the range.
Although one good source notes that the range
on road was about 300 km and 150 km for cross
country movement.
But back to the manual, when it comes to the
speed, the manual gets extremely detailed:
The speed is given for each gear and various
ratios.
I spare you the details, the speed for each
gear on roads was as you can see here.
So we have a top speed of 52.5 km/h.
And the Off-road the values are:
And the Off-road the values are as follows:
As you can see here the top speed is given
with 21.2 km/h.
For contrast here are the off-road values
for some Panzers:
Although, a late-war German training pamphlet
states that the halftrack was more limited
than Panzers in regards to cross country movement.
Anyway, let us move to the probably most interesting
technical aspect about the Sd.
Kfz. 251, namely its steering.
To quote from a regulation:
"The steering of the vehicle is done 1. by
turning the front wheels and 2. by giving
the two tracks different speeds with the help
of the steering gear.
The two steering modes are connected in such
a way that the brakes of the steering gear
only start to work when the front wheels have
a greater angle.
When the steering wheel is turned slightly
([illustration number] 18/ [part number] 2),
the steering gear only acts as a differential
gear.”
Sadly, the document does not give the degree
– or I missed it – I found a value in
a secondary source, although one I found a
few errors in.
As such I am not sure if the value is correct,
it is noted that past 15 degrees the clutch
and brake steering mechanism kicks in.
Now, what is quite interesting is, how the
German Army portrayed the half-track in late-war
to the regular infantry.
In September 1944, it released a training
pamphlet about what the infantry man should
know about the armored vehicles.
And it notes:
“It [armored personnel carrier] is not there
to support you, but to protect the armored
grenadier and make him mobile.
Because the armored grenadier must be able
to follow the tank attack.
It is his task to exploit the success of the
tank attack like a flash and to secure it
immediately.
Even the tank cannot fight without grenadiers.
But to make sure that the grenadiers can follow
its speed, its thrust, there is SPW.
The special vehicles (cannon halftrack, mortar
halftrack, flame thrower halftrack) also have
no other task: to protect infantry weapons
and their operation and make them mobile.”
The training pamphlet continues with an interesting
analogy.
It asks what is the purpose of a foxhole?
The answer is also provided, namely that it
protects against small arms fire and shrapnel,
yet that it does not protect against a direct
hit nor against attacks from the air.
Then it asks, “what is the purpose of a
vehicle?”
And the answer is, it provides mobility, conserves
energy of the squad and allows to reach a
destination quickly.
Yet, it is also a big target and many men
are located in a rather small space.
As such, it is concluded that the Schützenpanzerwagen
is both, a foxhole and a vehicle:
“It [armored personnel carrier] is both
a foxhole and a vehicle: a mobile foxhole.
So: It protects against infantry bullets and
shrapnel and against many mines.
But: It does not protect against direct hits
(especially against anti-tank gun hits).
It does not protect against danger from above
(especially attack aircraft).
So: It brings the firepower of the squad quickly
to the enemy.
But: It is a big and quite high target, a
whole squad is crowded together in its belly.
It drives fast on roads;
But: Off-road, it can't drive wherever the
tank can get through.”
To conclude, the Sd.
Kfz. 251 was likely introduced as transport
vehicle for infantry accompanying the Panzers.
Yet, over the course of the war it switched
into a combat role.
We know that initially the Panzergrenadiers
should fight dismounted, whereas around 1942
this changed to mounted combat.
In late war the Germans for educational purposes
called it a moving foxhole, since it provided
protection against small arms fire and shrapnel,
while also being highly mobile.
Although after 1943 more than 10 000 were
built, before 1943 the numbers were a mere
2500, which was just of fraction of the Panzers
produced in that same timeframe.
Due this and its late introduction in 1939,
the development of doctrine and tactics for
the halftrack was far less pronounced than
those of the Panzers.
I hope you enjoyed this episode, if you did,
consider supporting my channel via patreon
or subscribestar, this allows to go on trips
to museums, events and of course archives.
Big thank you to the Panzermuseum Munster
for inviting me to Stahl auf der Heide 2019.
As always, sources are listed in the description,
thank you for watching and see you next time!
