Wehrmacht 4x4

[Jack]

Did the German army run any 4x4 vehicles, can't seem to find any information about them?

[oddball]

They used a lot of horses :lol: :lol:

[Spood]

Just looking at a photo of a Steyr 1500 A/02 but can't see any more in this particular ref book. I believe there are a few but I think that they leant more towards half-track style vehicles.

[Jack]

Spood, were any of the officers cars 4x4?

[Spood]

After a quick shufti through Bart's Bible there are quite a few 4x4 cars, (the Steyr looks like a Dodge sized vehicle) or more accurately heavy cars which are also getting up to Dodge size. There are such makes as Merc (obviously), Stoewer, Auto Union/Horch and Tempo. Then of course there is the 4x4 Beetle which was built on the Kubel chassis, no doubt someone will correct me but I think Goering had one of these. I don't know if any were built specifically to be officers cars but I have seen pictures of them used by high ranking officers for parades etc. In general I think most were used as utility vehicles in the field much like the allies used Jeeps and Dodges. I'm not an expert so hopefully someone can shed a bit more light on the subject.

[zundapp]

German 4X4's were generally denoted by the suffix of the letter A, hence Steyr L1500A. Or Steyr Lastkraftwagen 1500 (weight class and Allradantrieb=all wheel drive).

 

Some vehicles came in both 4X2 and 4X4, so you had say the Mercedes Benz L1500S S=Strasse or street in English, or A for Allrad.

 

A brief list of some 4x4 types:

 

Light Field cars by Stoewer and BMW

The VW Schwimmwagen,

Medium and heavy cars by Horch.

Heavy field cars by Steyr, Mercedes and Phanomen Granit.

Opel Blitz trucks

Klockner Humboldt Deutz trucks

Buessing Nag Trucks

Mercedes Benz trucks etc..............

 

David

[Great War truck]

There is an 4 X 4 Opel Blitz in this country. It was made just pre war i remember. it went through several owners after being purchased from a French farmer around 1990. One of the most interesting points about it was the cab was full of bullet holes. It looked like the door had been sprayed by a Sten. The old French farmer who owned it gave the impression that he had shot the previous owner (a driver of the Whermacht no doubt) and had kept it in his barn since the end of the war. From looking at the cab i would definitely say that the driver had caught about 8 rounds if he was in the driving seat when it was shot up. The Opel appeared in a Lovejoy Christmas special before being sold to Kevin Wheatcroft. I understand that he sold it on not long after purchasing it. It was advertised in Wheels and Tracks.

[Guest matt]

Hi GWT,

 

I have seen pictures of that truck.the bullet holes certainly add to it's history and IMO shouldn't be removed but that said I'm not sure how I'd feel about driving it if the driver was indeed killed in it,especially if there were other signs,ie stains etc.

 

I don't want to sound squeamish,I'm not,and I know that with a military vehicle there is always the possibility that at some time somone died in it.I would be interested to know how others feel about this?

 

Matt.

[Great War truck]

I dont remember there being blood stains over the seat, i think the seat had been replaced at some stage when used as a farm truck. I wouldnt be too worried about someone being killed in my vehicle, but i think the presence of blood stains would be a bit too much.

 

My jeep has a bullet hole in it, but i should not have hurt anybody unless they happened to be under the Jeep at the time (the bullet hole is through the rear chassis member).

 

I expect restored Ambulances would have the greater chance of having a previous passenger die within it, particularly those which carried the wounded from aeroplanes. I understand that 8th airforce veterans generally decline rides in restored ambulances and i guess who can blame them.

 

Tim (too)

[Karoshi]

............................................................................................................My jeep has a bullet hole in it but.......................

Tim (too)

 

WOW, wait till Jacks hears THAT!

[Jmac]

The Steyr, Mercedes and Phanomen Granit L1500A replaced the heavy uniform personnel vehicles, according to Reinhard Frank. These vevhicles held eight men, including the driver. Two vehicles transported a squad.

 

As a general rule, 3 out of 4 panzergrenadier battalions in a Panzer division were motorised, only one was armoured. There were exceptions such as Panzer Lehr.

 

I have a number of Panzer division histories, which sheds some light on the subject. 24th Panzer rebuilt early 1943,after destruction in Stalingrad, had 3 battalions equiped with Opel Allrad, and 1 armoured battalion. Also 4 Panzer had 1 battalion equipped with Steyrs and 2 with Opel 2x2 and 1 armoured. In 1941, 19 Panzer had all 4 battalions equipped with a variety of trucks. the division received Sdkfz 251 D's in 1944.