| Sd.Kfz. 251 | |
|---|---|
 Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf. A armoured personnel carrier. Unter den Linden, Berlin, 1 January 1940 | |
| Type | Half-track armored personnel carrier |
| Place of origin | Nazi Germany |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1939–1945 |
| Used by | Nazi Germany Kingdom of Romania Kingdom of Hungary Italian Social Republic French Army Independent State of Croatia Czechoslovak Army Yugoslav People's Army |
| Wars | World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Hanomag |
| Designed | 1937–1938 |
| Manufacturer | Hanomag, Adlerwerke, Horch, Škoda, Borgward |
| Unit cost | 22,560 ℛ︁ℳ︁ |
| No. built | Approx. 15,252 |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 7.81 tonnes (8.61 short tons) |
| Length | 5.80 metres (19 ft 0 in) |
| Width | 2.10 metres (6 ft 11 in) |
| Height | 1.75 metres (5 ft 9 in) |
| Crew | 2 crew+10 passengers |
| Armor | 6–14.5 millimetres (0.24–0.57 in) |
Main armament | MG 34/42 |
| Engine | one Maybach HL42 6-cylinder petrol engine 100 metric horsepower (99 hp) |
| Power/weight | 12.8 hp/tonne |
| Suspension | Overlapping torsion bar (track) Leaf spring (wheels) |
Operational range | 300 kilometres (190 mi) |
| Maximum speed | 52.5 kilometres per hour (32.6 mph) |
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 Panzergrenadier (German mechanized infantry) into battle. 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;[1] this has been questioned, and may have been only a postwar label.[2][3] German officers referred to them as SPW (Schützenpanzerwagen, or armored infantry vehicle) in their daily orders and memoirs.
- ^ Green, Michael. Anderson, Thomas. Schulz, Frank. German Tanks of World War II. Zenith Imprint, 2000.ISBN 978-0-7603-0671-0
- ^ Jentz, Thomas. Doyle, Hilary. Panzer Tracts, # 15-2: Mittlere Schuetzenpanzerwagen (Sd.Kfz.251). Panzer Tracts, 2005.ISBN 9780977164318
- ^ "Origin of "Hanomag" for SdKfz 251: wartime evidence or not?". Missing-Lynx. 26 October 2018.