HALFTRACKS

Half-tracked armored fighting vehicles

	SdKfz 6 - armed conversions of half-tracked artillery tractor - 44 photos
	SdKfz 7 - armed conversions of half-tracked artillery tractor - 56 photos
	SdKfz 8 - armed conversions of half-tracked artillery tractor - 41 photos
	SdKfz 10 - armed conversions of half-tracked artillery tractor - 88 photos
	SdKfz 250 - light armored personal carrier and its subversions - 107 photos
	SdKfz 251 - medium armored personal carrier and its subversions - 147 photos
	SdKfz 252 - coming soon
	SdKfz 253 - coming soon

FAST FACTS:

The idea of a halftrack chassis originated at the turn of 20th century. The goal was to get a vehicle able to negotiate a rough terrain but with no special demands on the driver. Halftrack vehicles were developed primary for agriculture and forestry. A real pioneer of half-tracked tractors was the Holt company. After the outbreak of World War I, the Holt 75 tractor was chosen by the British army for the main artillery and cargo towing vehicle. Also German army soon started to look for a similar vehicle and in 1916 tested prototypes of so called Marienwagen.

Half tracked vehicles, although not forbiden by the Treaty of Versailles, were not a priority for German army after WW I and only a few types were developed in Germany during 1920`s. This changed at the beginning of 1930`s. At that time, the German army started a broad program of new artillery prime movers development. It included six different types of vehicles with towing capacity from 1 to 18 tons. These six types became known as SdKfz 6 to 11. These machines were designed as support vehicles for towing of artillery pieces and various cargo. However during WW II they very often converted into weapon carriers... in most cases anti-aircraft weapons.

More types of German halftracks came later on, serving as armored personal carriers, command vehicles or ammunition vehicles. The most famous of all German halftrack machines was definitelly the SdKfz 251. This machine was developed as armored personal carrier for 10 men squad but eventually 23 different specialised versions of this vehicle were created, some of them relatively strongly armed.