Thread: Halftracks
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Old October 15th, 2018, 06:30 AM

Kiwikkiwik Kiwikkiwik is offline
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Default Halftracks

Hi Ive had a look at the German halftracks and here is some changes you might like to make.

unit 218 SdKfz 251/1 PzB doesnt exist 2.8cm sPzB L61 has a muzzle brake, the picture is probably of a Drilling. 251/10, /7 and /5 do however carry an Pz.B.39 AT rifle wich may explain the confusion.

According to Jentzes panzer tracts no. 15-3 251/9 should not appear as a platoon commanders vehicle in the armoured infantry platoons, it should only appear in the Battalion heavy company or in a kompanies as the kanone company as shown in formation 360, Again according to panzer tracts platoon comanders only received sdkfz 251/10 or 251/17.

Also in Williams book Rapid fire Unit weapon 115 the 1.5 cm drilling has an armour penetration capability of 18mm/300m/60 degrees firing Ap shot you have its AP Penetration as 0. The 20cm Drilling, weapon 166 also has a penetration of 0 the book gives it a penetration of 10-12mm at the same distance and angle.

Panzer tracts 15-3 about the 251 says this

The ... 521/1 was also outfitted for two s.M.G. ... crews...with the .. MG ... mounted on a s.M.G. Lafette on the ... roof plate instead of the swivel mount for the armour sheild. Two ... tripods were also carried for mounting the other two ... MG on the ground.

The nice drawings in the book show the HMG amd HMG tripod mounting with telescope on the armour plate above the driver. So at the moment this vehicle carries 3 dismountable mmg teams it should change to 2 dismountable HMG teams and the forward LMG replaced by a HMG.

Again according to Jentze in Panzer Tracts 12, for unit 435 SdKfz 251/17 the picture is for a 2 cm Flak 38 auf Schuetzenpanzerwagen not a 251/17. The pictured vehicle was only for the luftwaffe Herman goring division. Very few were made, maybe only 9, it carries a 2 cm Flak gun. The real 251/17 appearing in Panzer Tracts 15-3 has a KWK 38 tank gun but mounted so as to be able to follow an aircraft. It has 600 shells in 10 round magazines so the ammo for this vehicle is not enough at 40 HE 5 AP should be a lot more and half HE half AP. For the real 251/17 production starts in November 44 not Sept 42. Jentz says they appear in inventories in Sept 44 but these might be field conversions.

Panzer Tracts 15-1 for the 250 says this

a ... MG mounted in a panzerschild and a s.M.G. with a s.M.G. lafette 34 (Heavy machinegun tripod mount) stowed on the rear. However photos reveal that numerous le.S.P.W.(Sd.Kfz.250/1) issued to the 1. to 3.Zug of the leight Schuetzenkompanie (gepanzert) (renamed Panzergrenadierkompanie in 1942) had the M.G.34 mounted in a s.M.G. Lafette on the forward plate instead of the swivel mount with the armoured shield. A s.M.G.Lafette 34 (tripod) was also carried on the rear for mounting a second ...M.G. as a s.M.G. (Heavy MG) on the ground.

Once again the volume contains nice pictures and drawings of the configuration.

here is a picture on the internet
http://www.kfzderwehrmacht.de/Homepa...1_l__spw_.html

So a relatively common vehicle missing in the German OOB, the 250 with HMG mounted above the driver and carrying a HMG, little brother of the 251 with 1 mounted HMG and 2 dismountable HMGs.
I know the german OOB is full but maybe the HMG 250 configuration could replace the nonexistent squeeze bore 251?

Or maybe a space can be made this way, unit 578 and 856 seem to be the same? Maybe they can be combined to make a space?
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