The Sd.Kfz. 251 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251) half-track was an armored fighting vehicle designed and first built by Nazi Germany’s Hanomag company during World War II. They were produced throughout the war.

 

The early production models of this vehicle were issued to the 1st Panzer Division in 1939. There were four main models (A - D), with many variants. The initial idea was for a vehicle that could be used to transport a squad of infantry to the battlefield protected from enemy small arms fire, and with some protection from artillery fire. The open top meant that the crew was still vulnerable, especially to high explosive rounds and shell fragments.

 

The first two models were produced in small numbers. The C variant had a larger production run, but was a quite complex vehicle to build, involving many angled plates that gave reasonable protection from small arms fire. The D version utilized a much simpler design, and can be easily recognized by its single piece sloping rear (with flat doors).

 

Although designed for cross country work, it had some limitations as the front wheels were not powered.

 

The standard personnel carrier version was equipped with a 7.92 mm MG34 or MG42 machine gun mounted at the front of the open compartment, above and behind the driver. A second machine gun was usually mounted at the rear on an anti-aircraft mount.

 

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 many panzergrenadier units had to make do with trucks for transport. Only a very few favored divisions like Panzer Lehr received enough to fully equip their infantry units.

 

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 infra-red search light used to spot potential targets for associated Panther tanks equipped with infrared detectors.

SdKfz 251
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Sd.Kfz. 251
Type	Halftrack
Place of origin	Nazi Germany
Specifications
Weight	7.81 tonnes (8.61 short tons)
Length	5.80 m (19 ft 0.3 in)
Width	2.10 m (6 ft 10.7 in)
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 8.9 in)
Crew	12 (including passengers)
Armor	6-12.5 mm (0.24-0.57 in)
Primary	various (see text)
armament
Secondary	various (see text)
armament
Engine	one Maybach HL 42 6-cylinder petrol engine
	100 hp (74.6 kW)
Power/weight	12.8 hp/tonne
Suspension	Half track
Operational	300 km (186 mi)
range
Speed	52.5 km/h (32.5 mph)