Sd.Kfz. 251

Sd.Kfz. 251
Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf. A armoured personnel carrier. Unter den Linden, Berlin, 1 January 1940
TypeHalf-track armored 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 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.

  1. ^ 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. ^ "Origin of "Hanomag" for SdKfz 251: wartime evidence or not?". Missing-Lynx. 26 October 2018.