Sd.Kfz. 251
Sign in to saveAlso known as Medium Armored Squad Motor Vehicle, Special Motor Vehicle 251, Hanomags
1939 German half-track family
Key facts
- Type
- Half-track armoured personnel carrier
- Place of origin
- Nazi Germany
- 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
- Designer
- Hanomag
- Designed
- 1937–1938
- Manufacturer
- Hanomag , Adlerwerke, Horch , Škoda , Borgward
- Unit cost
- 22,560 ℛ ︁ ℳ ︁
- Number span no built
- Approx. 15,252
- 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)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- half-track
- Country of origin
- Nazi Germany
- Followed by
- Sd.Kfz. 250
- Developer
- Hanomag
- Mass
- 7.81
- Manufacturer
- Hanomag
- Conflict
- World War II
- Image
- Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-801-0664-37, Berlin, Unter den Linden, Schützenpanzer.jpg
- Height
- 1.75
- Width
- 2.10
- Length
- 5.80
Show 5 more facts
- total produced
- 15252
- Commons gallery
- SdKfz 251
- Commons category
- Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251
- service entry
- 1939-01-01
- service retirement
- 1945-01-01
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~17 min read
Encyclopedic overview
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.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Sd.Kfz. 251” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.