|
The Sd.Kfz. 11 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug - special motorized vehicle) was a German half-track that saw very widespread use in World War II. Its main role was as a prime mover for medium towed guns ranging from the 3.7 cm FlaK 43 anti-aircraft gun up to the 10.5 cm leFH 18 field howitzer. It could carry eight troops in addition to towing a gun or trailer. The basic engineering for all the German half-tracks was developed during the Weimar-era by the Reichswehr's ''Military Automotive Department'', but final design and testing was farmed out to commercial firms with the understanding that production would be shared with multiple companies. Borgward〔The actual development was done by Hansa-Lloyd, a subsidiary of the Borgward Group〕 was chosen to develop the second smallest of the German half-tracks and built a series of prototypes between 1934 and 1937. However development was taken over in 1938 by Hanomag who designed the main production version, ''H kl 6''. The chassis formed the basis for the ''Sd.Kfz. 251'' medium armored personnel carrier. Approximately 9,000 were produced between 1938 and 1945, making it one of the more numerous German tactical vehicles of the war. It participated in the Invasion of Poland, the Battle of France, the Balkans Campaign and fought on both the Western Front and the Eastern Front, in North Africa and in Italy. ==Description== The ''Sd.Kfz. 11'' used a conventional ladder frame. Power was provided by a front-mounted Maybach six-cylinder, water-cooled, ''HL 42 TRKM'' gasoline engine of . It had a Hanomag ''U 50'' transmission with four forward and one reverse gears. Maximum speed was and it could ford water deep.〔Spielberger, p. 158〕 Both tracks and wheels were powered as well as used for steering. The steering system was set up so that shallow turns used only the wheels, but brakes would be applied to the tracks the farther the steering wheel was turned. The drive sprocket had rollers rather than the more common teeth. The rear suspension consisted of six double roadwheels, overlapping and interleaved in the ''Schachtellaufwerk'' system, mounted on swing arms sprung by torsion bars. An idler wheel, mounted at the rear of the vehicle, was used to control track tension. The front wheels, carried on the rigid front axle, had transversely mounted leaf springs and shock absorbers, the only ones on the vehicle, to dampen impacts.〔Spielberger, p. 158〕 Two different upper bodies were built over the production run of the ''Sd.Kfz. 11''. The "artillery" body had an ammunition compartment separating the driver's compartment from the crew compartment. The ammunition compartment had doors that opened on each side of the vehicle and could be configured for different sizes of ammunition. Bench seats on the sides of the vehicle, with under-seat storage, could accommodate six men. The crew entered from the rear of the vehicle. The windshield could fold forward and was also removable. A convertible canvas top was mounted above the ammunition compartment. It fastened to the windshield and to the rear of the crew compartment when erected. Side pieces could be mounted to protect the crew from the weather.〔Spielberger, pp. 36-38〕 The "engineer" body had three bench seats for the crew and a convertible canvas top was mounted at the upper part of the rear body. It fastened to the windshield when erected. Side pieces could be mounted to protect the crew from the weather. There was a storage compartment at the rear of the vehicle, underneath the crew seats. Photographic evidence shows both "artillery" and "engineer" versions were used by artillery units.〔Spielberger, pp. 36-38〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sd.Kfz. 11」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|