Sd.Kfz. 251

Sd.Kfz. 251
Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf. A armoured personnel carrier. Unter den Linden, Berlin, 1 January 1940
TypeHalf-track armoured personnel carrier
Place of originNazi Germany
Service history
In service1939–1945
Used byNazi Germany
Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Hungary
Italian Social Republic
French Army
Independent State of Croatia
Czechoslovak Army
Yugoslav People's Army
WarsWorld War II
Production history
DesignerHanomag
Designed1937–1938
ManufacturerHanomag, Adlerwerke, Horch, Škoda, Borgward
Unit cost22,560 ℛ︁ℳ︁
No. builtApprox. 15,252
Specifications
Mass7.81 tonnes (8.61 short tons)
Length5.80 metres (19 ft 0 in)
Width2.10 metres (6 ft 11 in)
Height1.75 metres (5 ft 9 in)
Crew2 crew+10 passengers
Armor6–14.5 millimetres (0.24–0.57 in)
Main
armament
MG 34/42
Engineone Maybach HL42 6-cylinder petrol engine
100 metric horsepower (99 hp)
Power/weight12.8 hp/tonne
SuspensionOverlapping torsion bar (track)
Leaf spring (wheels)
Operational
range
300 kilometres (190 mi)
Maximum speed52.5 kilometres per hour (32.6 mph)

The Sd.Kfz. 251 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251) was a World War II German half-tracked armoured personnel carrier. Designed by the Hanomag company to transport the Panzergrenadier (German mechanized infantry) into battle, the Sd.Kfz. 251 was based on its earlier unarmored Sd.Kfz. 11 vehicle. 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. The utility of this vehicle led the German Army to develop the similar looking but shorter and lighter Sd.Kfz. 250 as a supplement.

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; this has been questioned, and may have been only a postwar label. 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 to the Sd.Kfz. 251 (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 of 10 panzergrenadiers to the battlefield protected from enemy small arms fire, and with some protection from artillery fire. In addition, the standard mounting of at least one MG 34 or MG 42 machine gun allowed the vehicle to provide suppressive fire for the rifle squad both while they dismounted and in combat.

The troop compartment was protected by armor on its sides, but open on top. The armour plates were designed to provide protection against standard rifle/ machine gun bullets (such as the 7.92×57mm Mauser). The front-facing plates were 14.5 mm thick; the sides were V-shaped 8 mm thick plates, steeply angled to increase their effective protection against horizontal fire. This level of armour provided protection against normal (non-tungsten) armor-piercing (AP) rifle rounds, which could pierce about 8 mm 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; this included indirect fire from mortars and field artillery, as well as small arms fire from higher elevated positions, hand grenades, Molotov cocktails, and strafing 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, and was the most produced variant, with 10,602 units manufactured.

The standard personnel carrier version was equipped with a 7.92 mm MG 34 or MG 42 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 guns, light howitzers, anti-tank guns and mortars or even large unguided artillery rockets, as well as a version with an infrared search light used to spot potential targets for associated Panther 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 and provided better traction, at the cost of much greater complexity in maintenance. The Sd.Kfz. 251 had a combination of front wheel and tank steering, where normal steering engaged track braking as increased turning power was required.

As with the Tiger I and Panther tanks that shared interleaved and overlapping main road wheels, accumulated mud and snow could clog or freeze solid between them in muddy or winter weather conditions, such as those during a Russian rasputitsa mud season, immobilizing the vehicle.

Annual production started slowly and remained below 1,000 Sd.Kfz. 251 per year until 1941. In 1942, 1,190 Sd.Kfz. 251 were produced, while in 1943 the figure rose to 4,250 and in 1944 to 7,800. A total of at least 15,252 vehicles of all versions and variants were built.

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-Oberschöneweide, Weserhütte of Bad Oeynhausen, Wumag of Görlitz, and F. Schichau shipyard of Elbing facilities.

These vehicles were meant to enable Panzergrenadiers 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.

More units of the Sd.Kfz. were used during the German invasion of the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) in 10th May, 1940 and generally in the Battle of France (mainly on the Ardennes, where the Germans used to move inside of the Allied defense lines multiple divisions).

It saw action in limited use in the North African campaign, as only two Panzer divisions were involved in the campaign. It also saw action in the Balkans, Greece, and the Soviet Union by summer 1941.

In August 1943, Romania acquired a total of 27 armored half-tracks, of both the 251 and 250 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 of the Independent State of Croatia received 15 Sd.Kfz. 251 in spring 1944 and the Ustashe Militia received 12 in autumn 1944.

Variants

Sd.Kfz. 251/7 "Pionierpanzerwagen"
Sd.Kfz. 251/9 "Stummel"
Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf.D captured by the Polish Home Army during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944
Sd.Kfz. 251/9 Ausf. D "Stummel". Built by Auto Union, with factory number 543019, this specific vehicle was restored to factory specs in 2025. Though there is another model located at Fort Benning, this specific half track represents the only running and complete vehicle of its type known to exist.
German Sd Kfz 251/7 Ausf D welcomed by the public in a town in West Germany. Soldiers throw candy to children. October 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.[citation needed]

Main variants

Field modified variants

Various field modified variants also existed during World War II.

Czechoslovakia

Tatra OT-810 - a Czechoslovak post-war version of the Sd.Kfz. 251 produced by the company Podpolianske strojárne Detva in Slovakia.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Sd.Kfz. 251/3 was produced after Sd.Kfz. 251/6, and changed designations in the process

References

  1. 1 2 Green, Michael. Anderson, Thomas. Schulz, Frank. German Tanks of World War II. Zenith Imprint, 2000.ISBN 978-0-7603-0671-0
  2. ↑ Jentz, Thomas. Doyle, Hilary. Panzer Tracts, # 15-2: Mittlere Schuetzenpanzerwagen (Sd.Kfz.251). Panzer Tracts, 2005.ISBN 9780977164318
  3. ↑ David.B (2014-12-01). "Sd.Kfz.251". Tank Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
  4. ↑ Roger Edwards, Panzer, A Revolution in Warfare, 1939-1945, Brockhampton Press, London, UK, 1998, p. 87
  5. ↑ Tarnstrom, Ronald L. (July 2, 1998). Balkan Battles. Trogen Books. ISBN 9780922037148 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ "ARMATA ROMÂNĂ ŞI EVOLUŢIA ARMEI TANCURI. DOCUMENTE (1919 – 1945), Colonel dr. Petrişor FLOREA, Dr. Cornel ŢUCĂ, Dr. George UNGUREANU, 1998, p. 407" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  7. ↑ Ștefănescu 2020, pp. 470–471.
  8. ↑ Mahé, Yann (April 2011). "Le Blindorama : La Croatie, 1941 - 1945". Batailles & Blindés (in French). No. 42. Caraktère. pp. 4–7. ISSN 1765-0828.
  9. ↑ "Germany's SDKFZ 251 mittlerer Schützenpanzerwagen Halftracks - World War II Vehicles". wwiivehicles.com. Archived from the original on 2009-03-05. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
  10. ↑ MarkoPantelic (November 16, 2022). "Sd.Kfz.251 Ausf.D mit Zwilling 12 cm Granatwerfer 42". tanks-encyclopedia.com. Retrieved June 17, 2025.
  11. ↑ Jackson, Robert (2012) [2009]. Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles: Visual Encyclopedia. New York, N.Y.: Chartwell Books. p. 300. ISBN 9780785829263. OCLC 785874088.
  12. ↑ "SdKfz 251". panzernet.net.
  13. ↑ Francois (2020), p. 7.
  14. ↑ [https://www.armedconflicts.com/CZK-vz-59-vz-59A-82mm-bezzakluzovy-kanon-t12584
  15. ↑ OT-810D on www.valka.cz

Sources