Was the Sdkfz 251 and other armored half-tracks a waste?

The 250 series was way more complex than it needed to be, for the job it was doing. But hey, it was German.
That was one of the major failings of German armoured vehicles during the war, they never seem to have gotten the message about perfect being the enemy of good or considering reliability/maintenance factors once it had left the factory once they got past the Panzer IV.
 
No.
It was actually a 3/4 track more than a Half track, and it was a step in the right direction. It would have been eventually replaced by a full tracked platform.
With hindsight, and given how good the Swedish adaptation of the Pz38 (t) chassis for a APC was, a APC based on the Pz(38) would have been the way to go in 1939, and the germans were about to introduce one in 1945.
Germans played with 38 variant of APC under name Katzen but again with open top.
 

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That was one of the major failings of German armoured vehicles during the war, they never seem to have gotten the message about perfect being the enemy of good or considering reliability/maintenance factors once it had left the factory once they got past the Panzer IV.
Its a bit of a silly trope that keeps being bandied about; the Germans made a choice to get fewer higher quality weapons out there; the complexity was a function of getting lower ground pressure, greater maneuverability, and therefore a combat advantage. They couldn't compete on numbers due to lack of enough people and production ability, so they opted to go for less high quality equipment; that had the unintended effect in the end of making maintanence and supply difficult in the vast expanses of Russia, but none of what they were using was designed with the intention of fighting deep into Russia with terrible supply and no modern roads; they were fighting with what they had designed for fighting in centeral/western Europe, not Eastern Europe.
 
Its a bit of a silly trope that keeps being bandied about; the Germans made a choice to get fewer higher quality weapons out there; the complexity was a function of getting lower ground pressure, greater maneuverability, and therefore a combat advantage. They couldn't compete on numbers due to lack of enough people and production ability, so they opted to go for less high quality equipment; that had the unintended effect in the end of making maintanence and supply difficult in the vast expanses of Russia, but none of what they were using was designed with the intention of fighting deep into Russia with terrible supply and no modern roads; they were fighting with what they had designed for fighting in centeral/western Europe, not Eastern Europe.

The USSR was a designated enemy from 1933. The first plan for invading the USSR was made before the start of the war and included Poland as a German ally.
Not planning for war in the USSR within a nazi context would have been extremly negligent.

Some of the original weapons planned were actually quite adjusted to war in Russia. The Universal diesel series of trucks, for example, would have been excelent. The problem was that the need for rapid expansion overtook all other considerations.
 
The USSR was a designated enemy from 1933. The first plan for invading the USSR was made before the start of the war and included Poland as a German ally.
Not planning for war in the USSR within a nazi context would have been extremly negligent.

And the Road and Rail line situation hadn't much changed from when they were there in WWI.

They knew what Spring and Fall were like, Plus of course, Winter
 
The 21st Panzer division was equipped with ex-French Kegresse armoured half-tracks in 1944 (along with a whole menagerie of modifed French vehicles). The Germans also used captured Bren carriers and the Renault Chenillette. The French made thousands of the latter, which was an armoured munitions carrier. They were called karetten in German service.

Panzer Lehr was the only division to ever get all its infantry loaded into SDKfz 251 armoured half-tracks.

No mention has been made of the Kangaroo.
 
The 21st Panzer division was equipped with ex-French Kegresse armoured half-tracks in 1944 (along with a whole menagerie of modifed French vehicles). The Germans also used captured Bren carriers and the Renault Chenillette. The French made thousands of the latter, which was an armoured munitions carrier. They were called karetten in German service.

Panzer Lehr was the only division to ever get all its infantry loaded into SDKfz 251 armoured half-tracks.

No mention has been made of the Kangaroo.

The Roo is essentially the first real APC - sort of as they were conversions. Basically Medium tanks made into APCs - Teh allies could spare those hulls - Germany needed every hull to make real tanks ;)
 
Unlike the German equivalent, the glorious UC has flying capabilities.
595px-The_British_Army_in_the_United_Kingdom_1939-45_H25279.jpg

Must be RAF Regiment. Drove over a hill and missed the ground.
 
No, German half-tracks were not a waste .... if you consider how many infantry casualties they prevented ... while Germany was running low on man power.

Kangaroos were a field-expedient solution to the massive infantry casualties suffered by the Canadian Army in Normandy during the summer of 1944. By early September, the Canadian Army stalled after liberating Antwerp because they ran out of replacement foot soldiers. The Black Watch suffered 350 percent casualties.
Massive casualties sparked a Conscription Crisis back home, but the war ended before enough new recruits reached the front.

Meanwhile a field workshop (coded Kangaroo) swiftly converted hundreds of M7 Priest SP guns and Ram Tanks. The M7 Priests were idle because their 105 mm gun tubes wore out. Priests were converted by welding salvaged armour-plate over the gun slot and extending side armour upwards. Some accounts say that Priest Kangaroos could carry to 20 men at a time ????
Meanwhile a stack of Ram tanks are stripped of turrets and repurposed as APCs and ammo carriers (Wallaby).
Post-WW2 the Canadian Army kept Kangaroos in service until they were replaced by (purpose-built) M-113 APCs circa 1960. During the 1950s, the Canadian Army even Kangarooed a batch of M4A3E8 Sherman's that they bought post WW2.

Returning to OP trucks, half-tracks, etc. reduce infantry fatigue during approach marches. Once near the front line, even lightly-armoured APCs reduce casualties from shell fragments.
 
for ease of production you could just replace the rear wheel with track on a standard all wheel truck

i think there were experiments with conversion sets.
 
No, German half-tracks were not a waste .... if you consider how many infantry casualties they prevented ... while Germany was running low on man power.

True, but they should have been building something like this in 1939
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without the Nebelwefer ontop for an APC in place of the 250
These were cheap, and easy to build.

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Truck chassis+ Armored Body + Track unit= Cheap APC
 
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Top AEC. Matador halftrack prototype and below a CSP with UC. derived tracks. Niether entered full production. Probably because Lend Lease supplied sufficent American Halftracks for British and cammonwealth requirements,
 
I wonder what kind of protection you could have before it becomes underpowerd/too heavy

Opel Blitz had 3.6L I6 75HP, while the M3 Halftrack had 6.3L I6 147HP

The Maultier had 8mm armor basis, a tiny bit more than the 1/4" of the M3

The M3 could do 45mph, while the Maultier was geared down to 24mph

Now Ford of Germany had access to the Ford flathead, thats a 90 HP class engine.

That was also the engine used in the Carden Loyd carriers, where they got the suspension from to make the Maultier in the first place:)
 
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