True to a point in the post war years. German half tracks were developed to move troops and towed weapons cross country where trucks couldn't go. Developed in the 30's, many designs were tried and the German Waffenamt came to the conclusion that these were the way to improve cross country towing capability. Half tracks weren't designed to be supply vehicles. This was left to the transport corps who travelled on the roadways. The Wa also made a decision on the classifications of half tracks to be produced. They were, 1 ton, 3 ton, 5 ton, 8 ton, 12 ton and 18 ton vehicles. Of these, the troop carriers were the 3 ton 251 series. Pioneers used a 5 ton version so they could carry their supplies that they needed with them. The rest were made to tow everything from nebelwerfers to 21cm artillery pieces. They also were able to carry the crew to man these weapons. The classic example is the Sd. Kfz. 7 (8 ton) towing an 88mm FlaK/PaK with full crew on board. Most all of the 18 ton vehicles were used for recovery, but some had cranes, 6 or 10 ton types mounted on the cargo bed. The also towed 115 and 116 trailers for the purpose of recovery and some 12 and 18 ton half tracks had 88mm guns mounted on them. Yes, they were expensive and also quite labor intensive to maintain (typical German engineering), but served their purpose....
Another point to be mentioned is there is no evidence or record of the designation Sd. Kfz. 10/5. The 1 ton, 10 line of vehicles had 4 designations /1, /2, /3 and /4. The 10/1 towed various weapons and carried the crew for them. The 10/2 and 10/3 were chemical decontamination vehicles and the 10/4 mounted first, the 2cm FlaK 30 and later the 2cm FlaK 38 AA guns. The 10 /4 also had field mods to carry the PaK 36/37 and/or the 5cm PaK. These were still a 10/4 in designation. The field applied armor to the forward parts of it did not change the designation either. It's one of those things that happen when a historian or the like adds what he thinks and it becomes, so to say, fact after the years and everybody just goes with it. Dragon,
Revell and other makers went the designation....
I'll stop now and also apologize to Paul for clogging up his blog. This will definitely be a great build in his style and I'm all eyes my friend. Do you have an idea where you will be placing this baby? If you need any other info that maybe Stevie didn't send ya, just holler. Love that interior work too. Drive on Bro!!!
Prost
Allen (almost Ret.)
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But my basic point remains that halftracks proved too expensive and not terrain-worthy enough during/after the war, so hardly any new designs were developed once that was over.