An half-track armored vehicle that belonged to the Wehrmacht was recently recovered from the Pilica river, near Gorki village, in Poland. Apparently, the former war machine had been sitting buried there for more than 70 years, but somehow managed to be highly preserved.
The recovery was conducted by The Museum of Military Technology in Chrcynno, a village in the east-central part of the country, and according to WW2live, they are planning to out it on display next year. As far as we can tell, we’re looking at a Sd. Kfz. 250, which was a light armored half-track vehicle, very similar in appearance to the larger, Hanomag-designed, Sd. Kfz. 251.
Event though it was created in 1939 to supplement the standard half-track, because of production delays the first 250 did not appear until mid-1941.
We’re not exactly talking about a car here, but you’d be surprised to hear some details about what lies “under the hood”.
First and foremost, the power came from a Maybach 6-cylinder, water-cooled, 4.17-liter gasoline engine that was producing 100 horsepower. It had a semi-automatic pre-selector transmission with seven forward and three revers gears. In terms of special features, the Sd. Kfx. 250 was unique to German half-track designs because it used a hull rather than a frame.
The Wehrmacht used it in a broad variety of roles throughout World War II. For instance, the basic troop carrier version was used as an armored personnel carrier for reconnaissance units, carrying scout sections. This model usually mounted one or two MG34 machineguns, while later versions carried 20 mm, 37 mm and even 75 mm guns to support the more lightly armed versions.
Apparently, we can’t discuss any functional weaponry with the war machine in question. However, as you can see in the video below, the vehicle is in a fantastic condition: the front wheels rotate, tracks are still on, and you can still see some of the original paint.
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