German SdKfz 234/3 Armoured Car
With a very streamlined and smooth-looking appearance, this looked to me a bit like a giant and rather simply made toy. But this reconnaissance vehicle belonged to a family of AFVs that were the most technically-advanced series of wheeled armoured vehicles produced during World War II.
The Germans began experimenting with eight-wheeled armoured car chassis during the late 1930s and Daimler-Benz and Bussing-NAG designed prototypes. These vehicles had a body built on a separate chassis and were powered by a petrol engine. They went into production as the SdKfz 231, SdKfz 233 and SdKfz 263 and about 950 had been produced by April 1943.
Development of a replacement vehicle began in August 1940. This was designed around a unitary body without a separate chassis and, unusually for a German vehicle, was powered by an air-cooled Tatra diesel engine. The first prototype was delivered in July 1942 but the new armoured car wasn’t ready for volume production until April 1943. The suspension and steering design was very advanced and the hull had a driving position at both ends so that a rapid backward exit could be made from a difficult situation.
There were four versions, with 89 SdKfz 234/3s being made between June and December 1944. They carried a short 24-calibre 75cm KwK51 in an elongated open topped mounting with limited side to side traverse. This variant was intended for close-range fire support and was intended to complement the other three versions.
The 75mm gun fired a high-explosive shell that was effective against buildings and fortifications, targets which could not be effectively engaged by the high-velocity guns fitted in the SdKfz 234/2 and 234/1. SdKfz 234/3 armoured cars were issued at the scale of one platoon's worth in the reconnaissance company of each Panzer Division.
The Tank Museum’s vehicle seen above is finished in the markings of the 116th Panzer Division. This division was formed in France in March 1944. It was virtually destroyed in the Falaise pocket in July 1944, reconstituted in the Aachen area in September 1944 and then fought with the 5th Panzer Armee until US forces encircled it in April 1945.
The British Army acquired this SdKfz 234/3 in full working order after the war. It was used as a standard against which the performance of modern wheeled AFVs was compared. Generally the older German vehicle out-performed the new ones, especially when driving over soft and muddy ground.
Notes from the museum's website.
German SdKfz 234/3 Armoured Car
With a very streamlined and smooth-looking appearance, this looked to me a bit like a giant and rather simply made toy. But this reconnaissance vehicle belonged to a family of AFVs that were the most technically-advanced series of wheeled armoured vehicles produced during World War II.
The Germans began experimenting with eight-wheeled armoured car chassis during the late 1930s and Daimler-Benz and Bussing-NAG designed prototypes. These vehicles had a body built on a separate chassis and were powered by a petrol engine. They went into production as the SdKfz 231, SdKfz 233 and SdKfz 263 and about 950 had been produced by April 1943.
Development of a replacement vehicle began in August 1940. This was designed around a unitary body without a separate chassis and, unusually for a German vehicle, was powered by an air-cooled Tatra diesel engine. The first prototype was delivered in July 1942 but the new armoured car wasn’t ready for volume production until April 1943. The suspension and steering design was very advanced and the hull had a driving position at both ends so that a rapid backward exit could be made from a difficult situation.
There were four versions, with 89 SdKfz 234/3s being made between June and December 1944. They carried a short 24-calibre 75cm KwK51 in an elongated open topped mounting with limited side to side traverse. This variant was intended for close-range fire support and was intended to complement the other three versions.
The 75mm gun fired a high-explosive shell that was effective against buildings and fortifications, targets which could not be effectively engaged by the high-velocity guns fitted in the SdKfz 234/2 and 234/1. SdKfz 234/3 armoured cars were issued at the scale of one platoon's worth in the reconnaissance company of each Panzer Division.
The Tank Museum’s vehicle seen above is finished in the markings of the 116th Panzer Division. This division was formed in France in March 1944. It was virtually destroyed in the Falaise pocket in July 1944, reconstituted in the Aachen area in September 1944 and then fought with the 5th Panzer Armee until US forces encircled it in April 1945.
The British Army acquired this SdKfz 234/3 in full working order after the war. It was used as a standard against which the performance of modern wheeled AFVs was compared. Generally the older German vehicle out-performed the new ones, especially when driving over soft and muddy ground.
Notes from the museum's website.