Schwerer Panzerspahwagen Sd.Kfz 231 (6.rad) from the left
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The Schwerer Panzerspahwagen Sd.Kfz 231 (6-rad) was a six wheeled heavy armoured car produced from 1932-35 and that took part in the invasions of Poland and France before most were withdrawn from front line service.
Work on the new vehicles began in 1929 when Magirus, Bussing-NAG and Daimler-Benz were all given contracts to produce prototypes based on their 6x4 commercial vehicle chassis. These three were responsible for the wheels, basic chassis, engine installation and steering. All three had the same layout, which was inherited from the commercial vehicles, with a front mounted engine, power to the rear two axles and steering from the front wheels. All had steering positions at the front and rear, with full driver controls and a steering wheel. Three different engines were used - a 60-65hp Bussing, 70hp Magirus or 68hp Daimler, but each gave a similar top road speed of around 37mph. However they each had a different top speed in reverse, with the Magirus bogie allowing 100% speed, the Daimler-Benz 75% and the Bussing-NAG only 50%, or about 19mph.
The armoured bodies for all three chassis were developed by the Deutsche Werke in Kiel. As a result all three were visually very similar. The armour was well angled, but the thickest was only 14.5mm thick.
The six-wheeled vehicles had two ground rollers – one below the nose to stop it getting stuck in steep slopes of ditch walls, the second in the gap between the front and middle axles to stop it grounding. There was quite a big gap between the steering wheels at the front and the drive wheels towards the back of the vehicle.
The vehicle carried a fully traversable open topped turret, armed with a 20mm cannon and coaxial 7.92mm machine gun. The turret was carried over the middle axle. The turret was developed by Rheinmetall. The first prototypes had carried a taller turret which carried a 37mm cannon and one machine gun. Early production vehicles had the 20mm cannon in the centre and machine gun on the right, later production had the machine gun on the left and cannon slightly to the right.
It had a crew of four.
The majority of Sd.Kfz 231 (6-rads) were built on the Daimler-Benz chassis.
The six wheelers entered service in 1932, and production ended in 1935. Published production figures vary greatly, but the most detailed give a total of 123 of the Sd.Kfz 231 and Sd.Kfz 232 and 28 of the similar Sd.Kfz 263.
The six wheel vehicles were always seen as an interim design. Their cross county performance wasn’t good. Their basic design, with a lorry chassis and a separate armoured superstructure was too heavy for their engines. However they could perform well on roads. They were soon replaced by the first eight wheeled armoured cars, which went through a number of designations before becoming the rather confusing Schwerer Panzerspahwagen Sd.Kfz 231 (8-rad)
The six wheel vehicles served in the armoured reconnaissance battalions. The Sd.Kfz 231 and Sd.Kfz 232 normally operated together, normally in pairs with one of each type. They took part in the pre-war occupations of Austria and Czechoslovakia. They were used in the Polish and French campaigns, but then withdrawn to training units or internal security duties across occupied Europe.
Stats
Production:
Hull Length: 5570mm
Hull Width: 1820mm
Height: 2250mm
Crew: 4
Weight: 5350kg
Engine: 60hp Bussing-NAG G 4-cylinder petrol engine
Max Speed: 65km/ hr
Max Range: 260km (road), 140km (terrain)
Armament: One 2cm KwK 30 L/55 and one 7.92mm MG 13
Armour: 8 to 14.5mm
Armour
Armour |
Front |
Side |
Rear |
Top/ Bottom |
Turret |
8mm |
8mm |
8mm |
5mm |
Superstructure |
8mm |
8mm |
8mm |
5mm |
Hull |
8mm |
8mm |
8mm |
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Gun mantlet |
8mm |
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German Half-Tracks and Wheeled Vehicles 1939-1945, Alexander Lüdeke.
Looks at the armoured cars and half-tracks used by the German Army before and during the Second World War, focusing on the development and technical descriptions of each type and its major variants. Each type gets one or two pages, supported by photos of the vehicle. A useful short reference book on these essential vehicles, covering both the many types developed in Germany and the smaller number of captured vehicles pressed into service. [read full review]
