Sd. Kfz. 251 yet? (2 Viewers)

[DM101]

Here's a photo with 9 in the back and the 2 crew are in the cab. I think the vehicle could hold a full squad of 12 plus the 2 crew.

View attachment 139693

For 9 soldiers - @$45 each it would take $405 just to fill her up ^&grin

 

[Panzer ace]

For 9 soldiers - @$45 each it would take $405 just to fill her up ^&grin

That is about what it cost to fill your car with gas in California.

 

[bradleyl30]

For 9 soldiers - @$45 each it would take $405 just to fill her up ^&grin

My understanding is it was a squad of 10 plus 2 from various sources. I think a standard Grenadier squad was 12, but at some point the Panzergrendiers were reduced to 10. Various sources talk about this mainly being a reduction of the machine gun crews from 3 to 2. Each SPW would then have 3 MG teams. The NCO firing the vehicle mounted gun, and two "deployable" guns. I have seen conflicting reports of whether the anti-aircraft MG 34 counted as part of the above.

 

[bradleyl30]

I see what you are getting at now. {eek3}:redface2: The model K&C made has the same registration number as the vehicle in the photo and the same kill marks. The clues put the actual vehicle not in Poland 1939 or France 1940 but in the initial attack on Russia in 1941. I don't remember ever seeing kill marks on an SdKfz 251 before. Likely at the beginning of the attack while the Russians were in disarray. Nice spot Bradley

Terry

Thanks!

 

[bradleyl30]

I'm not sure what the kill marks represent because they don't exactly correspond to the standard pre-1943 tactical markings other than the airplane. Downing 2 airplanes with an MG34 is amazing - they may represent aircraft destroyed on the ground. The 2nd symbol is for sure a fully tracked vehicle but I don't know what - I'm guessing some kind of artillery tractor - but something that could be destroyed by an MG34. The 3rd symbol is for a wheeled vehicle - a car? Maybe a truck. The 4th symbol is one I have never seen. It doesn't look like artillery symbols the Germans used. - maybe a motorcycle? Maybe it was an artillery piece that went with the tractor. You would probably have to ask a member of the unit exactly what they stood for.

The tactical symbol of the model itself is clearly a halftrack. The box shape represents infantry - looks like first company. The pennant is pre-1943 for Panzer. Put it all together for 1st company of armoured or mechanized infantry.

The yellow ribbon symbol is for the 14th Panzer Division which was formed in August 1940 after the Battles of Poland and of France. It saw action in the April 1941 invasion of Yugoslavia and returned in time for Barbarossa in June 1941 as part of Army Group South. The 14th fought at Kiev, Rostov and the Chernigovka Pocket. It was transferred November 1942 to the ill fated 6th Army just in time to be destroyed at Stalingrad January 1943.

Terry

When I originally went looking for information on the tactical symbol I found a reference to it being the "recon platoon" of the first company, of the first battalion of a armored Panzergrenadier regiment. I think it was on feldgrau.com, Panzergrenadier.net or one of the other myriad websites that has official looking information on Panzergrenadier formations.