F SD.KFZ 250/251 CREW IN WINTER UNIFORMS

The development of German armored weapons, including armored cars and armored vehicles, was clearly regulated and hampered by the limitations of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. This state of affairs changed radically after the Nazis took power in 1933 and the launch of a virtually unlimited arms program. As a result, in 1935, the first successful four-wheeled armored vehicles Sd.Kfz.221 / 222/223 began to enter the line, and shortly afterwards the vehicles from the Sd.Kfz.231 family on an eight-wheeled chassis. At the same time, efforts were made to withdraw from the line and the production of vehicles also designated as Sd.Kfz.231, but on a six-wheeled chassis, was limited. All these vehicles turned out to be very useful already in the first campaigns of World War II, especially in reconnaissance activities, but also as radio communication or command vehicles in their specialized versions. In the course of World War II, of course, the German army introduced new armored cars to the line, of which the Sd.Kfz.234 deserves special attention. It is worth adding that German armored cars were used primarily in armored divisions, and from 1943 also in armored grenadier divisions, but also in infantry divisions in their reconnaissance divisions.