Sd.Kfz.7

In 1934 the Wehrmacht needed a high mobility medium transport and requested the construction of an half-track of great power that was capable of towing loads up to 8 tons. After several prototypes, in 1937 Krauss Maffei presented the Sd.Kfz.7 which was the model that subsequently entered production. The main task of this half-track was to tow 105mm and 150mm field guns along with the 88mm Flak.18 and Flak.36 antiaircraft guns. This vehicle could carry up to 12 servers in 3 rows of seats. In addition, they carried tool kits and a certain amount of ammunition in a space on the rear side. The Sd.Kfz.7 was the most used half-track in the war with some 12,000 vehicles built. There were different armed variants on this chassis, like the Sd.Kfz-7/1 that mounted four 20mm AA guns (“Flakvierling 38” assembly) and the Sd.Kfz.7/2 that carried a 37mm Flak.36 AA gun. The vehicle was so remarkable that the British made a copy of it after capturing some units in North Africa in 1942, although finally it did not entered service. Between 1942 and 1944, Italy also produced 250 licensed units and designated them as Breda.61.

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