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OSPREY·VANGUARD 32
THE SdKfz 251
HALF-TRACK
Text and colour plates
by
Bruce Culver
VANGUARD SERIES
EDITOR: MAR TIN WINDROW
THE SdKfz 251
HALF-TRACK
Text and colour plates
by
BRUCE CULVER
OSPREY PUBLISHING
LONDON
Published in
r
983 by
Osprey Publishing Ltd
59 Grosvenor Street, London W
1
X gDA
©Copyright
r
983 Osprey Publishing Ltd
Reprinted
I
984, 1985
(twice),
1
988
(twice),
r
990
This book is copyrighted under the Berne Convention.
All rights reserved. Apart from any fair
dealing
for the
purpose of private study, research, criticism or review,
as permitted under the Copyright Designs and
Patents
Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmi ted
in
any form or by any means, electronic, electrical,
chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of
the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to
the Publishers.
British Library Cataloguing
in
Publication Data
Culver, Bruce
The SdKfz
2
5
1
half
track-
(Van
guard; 3
2
)
1.
Germany.
Wehrmacht
-
History
2.
Half-track vehicles, Military
-
History
I. Title II. Series
-
623. 74'7 UG685.G/
Filmset
in
Great
Britain
Printed
in Hong Kong
Acknowledgern.ents
The author and publisher are grateful to Steven Zaloga
for his assistance during the preparation of this book.
The
Requirement
The efficient use of tanks in modern warfare has in
large measure been the result of developments in
combat vehicles designed to carry infantry units
into action with the tanks, providing close-in
support and protection from enemy tank-killer
teams. Modern tank armoured infantry formations
have evolved over many years; but the first
widespread use ofarmoured infantry to accompany
tanks in the assault occurred during the Second
World War.
Near the end of the First World War, fairly large
tank battles were fought at several places on the
Western Front, perhaps the best known being
Cambrai. Early tanks, such as the British Mk
I-IV
and the German A 7V, were large, slow, unreliable,
and often unwieldy. Nonetheless, to many far-
sightedfront-lineofficersin both Allied and Central
Power armies, these primitive fighting machines
had changed the face of land warfare forever.
Though most of these young officers were ignored
by the entrenched military establishments, they
were
correct: the two major reasons why the
SdKfz 2:51 Ausf. A half-tracks in France,
1940; on the near
mudguard of the first the
original
print
shows
the
white
oakleaf of I.Panzer-Division above the 'box' and
'10'
white
tactical marking of 1.0.Kompanie,
Schutzen-Regiment
1.
Only
some
300
vehicles
had been
built
by this
stage,
so few
were available at the
front.
Note heavy
sandbag protection
for the unshielded front MG34. (US
National Archives,
as
are
all photos in this book not specifically credited
otherwise.)
Second World War was so completely different
from the First were the development of the military
aircraft, and the modern manoeuvrable fighting
tank, with the war of rapid movement and
concentrated armoured assaults that the tank
allowed.
Converted tanks had been used in the First
World War to carry supporting infantry with the
tank forces, but this was a tactic of expediency, as
there was little the infantry could do in their hot
iron boxes. After
r gr
8, tank development in the
Allied armies generally languished. What little
money was spent more often than not went on
prototypes of various tank designs. Though some
of this effort would pay off in the years ahead, at
the time there were very few tanks available. Those
that were used in service were assigned to the
infantry. Thus, the most common forms of tanks in
the 1920s were those inte_ ded to advance with the
n
3

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