Sunday, June 28, 2009
By combining the speed of a wheeled vehicle on roads and the performance of a fully tracked vehicle cross country, the German Army developed a series of halftrack vehicles during the 1930s. Initially designed for the transport of artillery pieces, they developed into a type of vehicle that grew in demand as the war progressed.
The smallest of the halftrack types was the 1 ton series, the parent firm of which was Demag AG of Wetter, an industrial town in the Ruhr. The layout of the vehicle was typical of most German halftracks, having pneumatic front tyres which were not driven, and a track unit at the rear, in most cases being over three quarters of the total length of the chassis. The tracks were cast steel with rubber pads, and the track pins ran on needle roller bearings. The track ran on an interleaved system of rubber tyred road wheels mounted on six axles.
The driver and mate sat in the front section of the body, and longitudinal seats in the rear body seated a further six men. The body was entered by simply climbing over the sides, and the interior could be covered from the weather by a fold down canopy and side curtains with clear windows could also be fitted.
Starting in 1934, the prototypes used BMW six cylinder petrol engines, but the pre-production versions, designated type D 6, used the Maybach NL 38 six cylinder engine. The production version switched to the Maybach HL 42 engine in 1939, and the designation of the vehicle became D 7. As well as Demag, the companies Mechanische Werke Cottbus in Silesia and Saurerwerke of Vienna, Austria were also suppliers. Some 17 500 vehicles were produced by 1944.
Text: Paul Handel