Sd.Kfz 251s: Not just battle taxis

[rocketman]

A very good tip indeed @domfluff never crossed my mind to use it that way. Still learning after all these years...

[John Kettler]

Wicky,

I did read the quote, which as to do with having enough 251s to develop the requisite tactics. Ibid. both quotes.

(Fair Use)

"It was only at the time of Barbarossa in 1941 that large numbers of SdKfz 251s became widely available and enough to equip full battallions of Panzer Greadiers within a Panzer division. Now, the Germans could experiment with fighting directly from their half-tracks."

But if you'd read a bit further, you would've seen this:

(Fair Use)

"The SdKfz 251, drivers were prepared to simply ignore or drive through small arms fire, but the presence of enemy artillery or anti-tank guns usually saw them seek cover. The squad's machine-gunners might well engage targets on the move, as could the rest of the squad if necessary from the sides. Often when advancing, the SdKfz 251s, could utilise a motorised version of fire and movement, advancing, stopping and firing to cover other half-tracks. A halted half-track provided a good firing position but was vulnerable. As a result, it was not recommended to stop for more than 15-20 seconds in hostile terrain. "

The fire and move scheme works just as it does for tanks firing from the short halt. It is precisely what my brother was talking about, too. Have read elsewhere that drivers were supposed to zigzag to make their vehicles harder to aim at, thus, hit.

Note, though, that in the PG training film, the 251s are in an area under some sort of mortar or artillery fire, but the action continues. There is no breaking off. Generally speaking, Russian infantry had poor protection vs tanks for most of the war. Relative to troop strength in frontline combat, ATRs were scarce and ATGs scarcer. There was no ATR in each platoon, and Individual AT grenades, even at Kursk, were so sparse the infantry got mass deliveries, at their fighting positions, of materials to make Molotov cocktails. The situation improved later. Our perception of massive quantities of Russian AT means is driven by the fact the Russians had large formations of dedicated antitank weapons, which were carefully positioned where they had the most leverage, if committed from several echelons up. If you sent Panzers into an area held by an ATR or Destroyer (typically ATG, but sometimes, SU) Regiment, life would cease to be boring! 

Am well aware that the Western forces were another matter altogether, because not only did they have scads of 251 eating infantry weapons, but because they had lots of super responsive--relative to Russian FS--FS of their own. The Germans may've dissed American troops as combat soldiers, but they were afraid of our artillery. They also thought the 25 pdr was a kind of machine gun because of its extraordinary ROF. From what I've seen of battle accounts from the ETO, post-D-Day, where the 251s got eaten alive were the times where their movement was stopped (by bazooka, PIAT, ATG, roadblock, etc.) and the FA pounded the oft almost nose to tail AFVs to scrap in short order because of it. Once counted a string of 14, that way, all victims of artillery fire. Believe that was from one BoB fight.

This one's probably from aerial bombing, but it gives some idea of what I mean.
 

Appreciate suggestions and observations. also note there's some ground replowing from another OP as well. Theor was a link in that other thread to a page from an original PG manual. Regret to say the graphic is no longer viewable.

Regards,

John Kettler

 

 

[RockinHarry]

18 hours ago, John Kettler said:

Appreciate suggestions and observations. also note there's some ground replowing from another OP as well. Theor was a link in that other thread to a page from an original PG manual. Regret to say the graphic is no longer viewable.

Regards,

John Kettler

 

 

looks like the tinypic site is offline for some reason. I didn´t delete anything from the thread and I think the images will reappear at some time.