SdKfz 231 Schwerer Panzerspahwagen (6-rad)

History of SdKfz 231 Heavy Armored Vehicle (6-rad)

After the First World War, the victors blamed the war directly on the German Empire. The Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires ceased to exist, leaving Germany to bear the full cost. Also, to prevent them from going to war soon, they imposed strict restrictions, they could only keep a small standing army and could not use planes, submarines, tanks, etc.

One recognized type of weapon they are still able to produce are armored vehicles for security purposes and this SdKfz 231 ("6-Rad") - a series of six-wheeled armored vehicles designed around a civilian 6x4 truck chassis. The arrival of the SdKfz 231 marked it as the first armored vehicle produced by Germany since the end of the war in November 1918. This ingenious effort should lay the groundwork for a larger war machine and provide the country with a viable alternative to direct combat tanks, while still being constrained by the Treaty of Versailles.

The SdKfz 231 officially entered service with the Bundeswehr in 1932.

The heart of the SdKfz 231 is nothing more than a heavily modified, ready-to-use truck chassis from Daimler-Benz with six wheels in a 6x4 arrangement, one front and two rear axles. Interestingly, the design and development took place at the Kazan test center in the Soviet Union, which was established in the 1920s to build cars for Germany itself. Early attempts at the facility's armored vehicles led to an 8x8 design, but this was considered too expensive for mass production.

So, on the basis of the internal truck chassis, we carefully created a logistically friendly design, and then the armament contractor Daimler-Benz could provide the plate armor configuration for final production. As such, the design was entirely German and was used only in the Wehrmacht service.

The SdKfz 231 was piloted by four people, including the driver, driver, gunner and radio operator. An interesting design feature of the range is the second driver's seat at the rear of the vehicle, where the radio operator (who also doubles as the driver) can control the vehicle and drive in the opposite direction to avoid injury.

The car's design is characterized by its large, sloping glass panels that take up half the length of the vehicle's barrel and house the engine. The six-wheel arrangement is the main distinguishing feature of the series, with the front axle well ahead of the second and third pairs. The front wheels are mounted individually and the rear wheels are mounted in pairs, similar to a Daimler-Benz 6x4 truck.

The driver sits at the center of the design (when viewing the vehicle from the side), and its location is externally characterized by a circular entry hatch with a 360-degree rotating turret aft. Behind the turret itself is the rear driving position, which is externally characterized by another circular access opening. The vehicle is controlled by conventional wheel assemblies suspended on long axles (the wheels themselves are tilted back in true German fashion). The rear driving position also houses a steering wheel, albeit on a shorter axle that connects to the main running axle at the front of the car. Foot pedals are found in both locations and facilities are monitored by simple gauges.

Two rather low-height hinged doors are installed on the sides of the vehicle for occupant entry and exit. The side and rear panels of the turret are well sloping and rounded and manage the vehicle's cannon and machine gun armament.

Storage boxes can be fitted to the fenders if desired, while the hull surface can be used as an additional cargo area. In later production models, the spare tire was mounted on the rear of the fuselage and above the two-piece rear entry/exit. The vehicle has a gross weight of 5.6 tons (5,700 kg), a barrel length of 18.3 feet, a full beam of 5.11 feet, and a height of 7.4 feet to the top of the turret.

Armor protection is designed to reduce the impact of firing a 7.92mm pistol at the vehicle from a distance of 30 meters.

The SdKfz 231 chassis is available in the form of a single Daimler-Benz M09 or Bussing-NAG L8V/GS or Magirus type 4, 6 or 8 cylinder, water cooled, petrol powered engine rated between 60 and 80 hp. This gives the vehicle an optimum road speed of up to 40 mph - lower when driving off-road - and a range of 150 miles (125 miles off-road).

This gives the SdKfz 231 a critical capability to keep pace with the advance of other mechanized units, or to scout the area ahead of the main force.

Primary armament is a 20mm (2cm) gun mounted in a manual turret. Early production models were completed with only one 7.92mm MG 13 general purpose machine gun. With the addition of the 20mm cannon, the machine gun became a useful secondary weapon, mounted coaxially with the main gun. The original guns were from the KwK30 series, but were later upgraded to the faster-firing KwK 38 series.

The 20mm gun was only able to deal with the earliest lightly armored vehicles and was largely surpassed by later types. When suppressing enemy infantry, machine guns serve the crew well.

Optional installation began in 1935, when a second 7.92mm machine gun was mounted on top of the turret to counter low-flying enemy aircraft threats. The aircraft is loaded with 200 rounds of 20mm shells and 1,500 rounds of 7.92mm ammunition.

Smoke grenades can be mounted on temporary brackets on the front grille of vehicles to provide a smoke screen.

The SdKfz 231 offers a reliable combination of speed, firepower and protection, serving in typical armored vehicle roles, including light reconnaissance and combat, security and training - the latter important to the German Army, which lacked armored forms in both World Wars For most of the time in between, its tankers operated under the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, allowing armoured vehicles such as the SdKfz 231 to dutifully meet demand. The SdKfz 231 unit also acts as a direct fire support platform for infantry engaged in high-speed combat with trucks or half-tracks (also known as mechanized infantry).

The additional mission envisages connecting the SdKfz 231 to armored formations to provide basic reconnaissance for these groups. Of course, her rather interesting and somewhat impressive appearance was shown in German propaganda work to demonstrate the strength and ingenuity of Germany on the eve of the war.

Production of the SdKfz 231 continued from 1932 to 1937, with approximately 1,000 prototypes eventually produced. The Daimler-Benz name only applies to part of the production life of the vehicle, as Bussing-NAG and the Magirus Group are also involved, leading to slight differences in the overall design (headlights, wheels, fenders, etc.) between these manufacturers . As well as the different types of engines used - although their final form and their respective forms are very similar.

It should be noted that most of the products come from Daimler-Benz.

One of the most notable (and fairly obvious) drawbacks of the SdKfz 231 series is its rather long wheelbase (that's the car's measurement from the center of the front wheels to the center of the rear wheels) and the lack of all-wheel drive. Not only does this give the SdKfz231 a rather ugly look, but if the rear driver's position isn't used effectively, it can become unwieldy with a large turning radius.

The large distance between the first and second axes can also cause the SdKfz 231 to get stuck when trying to climb rough terrain. Additionally, the armor added to the civilian truck chassis would only go against the design, creating a heavier-than-expected vehicle, and the final engine choice was seen as underpowered for such vehicles.

As a result, off-road mobility is hindered, and traversing of firm, flat terrain is often encouraged. It's also worth noting that the type is fairly high profile due to its turret construction, which makes camouflage another tactical issue.

The SdKfz 231 was in sufficient numbers to serve for a while and eventually took part in early exercises regarding the occupation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, as well as German "Blitzkrieg" combat use in Poland and France to good effect. By 1940, the genre's combat use began to fade, and the design inevitably relegated to secondary roles and training.

The German army decided to standardize a special eight-wheeled armored personnel carrier by that time, since the eight-wheeler is more promising in the field of cross-country mobility in the near future.

To expand the combat capabilities of the SdKfz 231 series, the vehicle was further developed in the mid-1930s as the SdKfz 232 and SdKfz 263 (the latter originally known as Kfz.67b). The SdKfz 232 was nothing more than a basic armored vehicle design, modified with heavy radio equipment, based primarily on the Magirus SdKfz 231 chassis.

This includes installing a radio antenna frame around the turret and hull, while still allowing the turret to traverse fully (the frame is fixed). This version was initially known as "Armored Motor Vehicle (Fu) (Kfz. 67a)" until April 1936, when it became "SdKfz 232". The SdKfz 263 has a similar perimeter to the SdKfz 232 but has an increased fuselage, but its turret is fixed and lacks a 20mm gun, reducing the combat effectiveness of the vehicle.

Only one machine gun in a limited transverse ball mount remained. Like the SdKfz 232, the SdKfz 263 is based on the Magirus series chassis.

To differentiate these models, the original SdKfz 231 was called "Kanonenwagen" or "Kanonenfahrzeug", while the SdKfz 232 was classified as a heavy reconnaissance vehicle and the SdKfz 263 as a combat vehicle.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

for everyone else in our database)

Armor

200 x 20mm bullet

1,500 to 2,000 x 7.92mm ammo

3 x Smoke Grenade (if any)

Changes