The Sd.Kfz.7 was an absolute success thanks to its excellent load capacities. It could carry 1,800kg payload and tow weights of up to 8,000kg. The vehicle was commonly used as a recovery vehicle thanks to the great power of its Maybach HL-62 or HL-64 gasoline engine. Here we can see it towing a broken down Panzer II light tank.The main use of the Sd.Kfz.7 was like artillery tractor to tow artillery pieces such as this 88mm AA gun on the picture. It also towed field-howitzers such as the 105mm leFH-18 or the 150mm sFH-18 and field-guns such as the 150mm K-18.Again, a Sd.Kfz.7 or “Sd.Kfz.7 mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t“, according to its official designation, towing a 88mm Flak.18 AA gun. These tractors allowed antiaircraft batteries an excellent mobility and were used on all fronts, from Poland in 1939 to North Africa and Russia.One of the most striking variants was designated as “Feuerleitpanzerfahrzeug für V-2 Raketen auf Zugkraftwagen 8t“, (at the right of the missile), and that was a version that had been added an armored cabin in the rear to exercise as command-control post in the V-2 missiles firings. They usually towed the “Bodenplatte” or launching-pad base plate, element on which the missile was placed for launching.The “Feurleitpanzer” had 4 crew members, the launch commander, the radio panel engineer, the propulsion unit engineer and the power control engineer. The vehicle was located between 100 and 150 meters away from the missiles and after checking the 3 panels that everything was in order, the launching sequence began.
