Sd.Kfz.251 Ausf.C mit WURFRAHMEN 40

This vehicle was a familiar sight, widely associated with the German infantry during all of World War Two. It began simply as an armored version of the Sd.Kfz.11 half-tracked artillery tractor. The half-track was one of the several solutions given to the problem of low off-road capabilities of trucks and associated “special purpose vehicles” (Sonderkraftfahrzeug). The Sd.Kfz.11 was designed in 1938 by Hanomag and was the prime mover for the 105 mm (4.13 in) LeFH howitzer and 37 mm (1.46 in) Flak 43, and 9000 units were built until 1945. This company was the natural choice to fulfill the next Waffenamt specification, which requested an armored vehicle capable of carrying a section of Panzergrenadiers and their equipment in order to keep up with the Panzer Divisions. Each German mechanized infantry corps was to be equipped with a hundred of these. The protection given had to be sufficient against small arms fire and artillery shrapnel, and armament should comprise two MG 34 machine-guns for defense and direct support. In German nomenclature it was classed as a Mittlere Schützenpanzerwagen (“Medium Assault Armored Vehicle”).