Sd.Kfz. 251

Sd.Kfz. 251
Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf. A Ungepanzerte
Type	Half-track armored personnel carrier
Place of origin	Nazi Germany
Service history
In service	1939–1945
Used by	Nazi Germany Kingdom of Romania Hungary Italian Social Republic Independent State of Croatia
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	Hanomag
Manufacturer	Hanomag, Adlerwerke, Horch, Škoda, Borgward
Number built	Approx. 15,252
Specifications
Weight	7.81 tonnes (8.61 short tons)
Length	5.80 m (19 ft)
Width	2.10 m (6 ft 10 in)
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Crew	2 + 10 passengers
Armor	6-14.5 mm (0.24-0.57 in)
Main armament	MG 34 or MG 42
Secondary armament	MG 34 or MG 42
Engine	one Maybach HL 42 6-cylinder petrol engine 100 PS (99 hp, 74 kW)
Power/weight	12.8 hp/tonne
Suspension	Overlapping torsion bar (track) Leaf spring (wheels)
Operational range	300 km (186 mi)
Speed	52.5 km/h (32.5 mph)

Overlapping torsion bar (track)

The Sd.Kfz. 251 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251) half-track was an armored fighting vehicle designed and first built by the Hanomag company during World War II, and based on their earlier, unarmored Sd.Kfz. 11 vehicle. The larger of the pair (the Sd.Kfz. 250 being the lighter one, designed and built by Demag) of the fully armored wartime half-tracks of the Wehrmacht, the Sd.Kfz. 251 was designed to transport the panzergrenadiers of the German mechanized infantry corps 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 various manufacturers, and were commonly referred to simply as "Hanomags" by both German and Allied soldiers.

There were four main model modifications (Ausführung A through D), which formed the basis for at least 22 variants. The initial idea was for a vehicle that could be used to transport a single squad of 10 panzergrenadiers to the battlefield protected from enemy small arms fire, and with some protection from artillery fire. In addition, the standard mounting of at least one MG 34 or MG 42 machine gun allowed the vehicle to provide support by fire for the infantry squad once they had disembarked in battle.

The armour plates were designed to stop penetration by standard rifle/heavy machine gun bullets (like the 7.92×57mm Mauser bullet) by using both metal thickness and armour sloping. The fairly vertical front-facing plates were 14.5mm thick; the sides were steeply angled, V-shape and just 8mm thick, saving weight. These plates were both safe against the normal (non-tungsten) rifle AP round, which could pierce about 8mm of vertical armour.