 Artilleryman  | 22 Sep 2022 2:42 p.m. PST |
My Panzergrenadiers now need transport. The armoured companies are straightforward with a choice of various halftracks. However, I wonder what the most common type of wheeled truck was being used by Panzergrenadiers in motorised companies by 1944. Anyone able to offer advice? |
 Extra Crispy  | 22 Sep 2022 3:03 p.m. PST |
I have a big box of Opel Blitz trucks that I press in to service for any particular needs. |
| jdpintex | 22 Sep 2022 4:24 p.m. PST |
I just finished reading "Sand & Steel", seems like the Germans used whatever was available and from every source imaginable. Logistics were a mess. |
| d88mm1940 | 22 Sep 2022 4:41 p.m. PST |
Like Extra Crispy said, you can't go wrong with Opel Blitz trucks! |
| Dave Jackson | 22 Sep 2022 5:39 p.m. PST |
You can use pretty much any trucks. French ones…British ones..Opels…maybe even Russian |
| Frederick | 22 Sep 2022 5:43 p.m. PST |
As noted whatever they could get (in 1944 21st Panzer mostly used French kit) but I use Opel Blitz trucks – the Plastic Soldier Company has some nice ones |
| Martin Rapier | 23 Sep 2022 12:07 a.m. PST |
By late war they were generally using larger trucks (Opel etc) rather than the early war Krupp Protze types. In combat, rather than road marches, they were generally absent. As one 10th SS Panzergrenadier near Caen ruefully noted "Our trucks drove away and we never saw them again for the rest of the campaign". |
| Artilleryman | 23 Sep 2022 1:22 a.m. PST |
'By late war they were generally using larger trucks…' That seems a key quote. Many thanks for all the information. looks like a fleet of Opel Blitz trucks and similar in the offing. |
| Starfury Rider | 23 Sep 2022 2:09 a.m. PST |
All the KStN of the time say for the Motorised Panzer Grenadier Platoon is '2-ton truck, open', which should provide plenty of room for manoeuvre! Gary |
| advocate | 23 Sep 2022 4:07 a.m. PST |
Much of the captured equipment would have been lost in Russia by 1944, captured, destroyed or most, perhaps, simply due to mechanical failure. |
| Dave Jackson | 23 Sep 2022 5:54 a.m. PST |
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| Grelber | 23 Sep 2022 9:25 a.m. PST |
While I would concentrate on Opel Blitzes, including one or two other types might give the column a slightly irregular look. Grelber |
| martin goddard | 23 Sep 2022 9:38 a.m. PST |
There is a lot of footage from Normandy and Malaise of heaps of dead German trucks.
Watch the Normandy episode of "World at war".
Plus "after the battle" magazines etc.
auction
link
link
etc.
Good wishes for your project
martin
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| Blutarski | 23 Sep 2022 2:11 p.m. PST |
From what I have read, DAK's truck park consisted 80+ pct of captured British vehicles by late 1942. A bit hard to believe, but so it was claimed. B |
| emckinney | 23 Sep 2022 2:37 p.m. PST |
"There is a lot of footage from Normandy and Malaise of heaps of dead German trucks." Perhaps the latter were just having a lie-down? |
 Yellow Admiral | 23 Sep 2022 3:11 p.m. PST |
They were all under maintenance with overrun problems. |
| Hornswoggler | 23 Sep 2022 4:22 p.m. PST |
Whole motorized units went into Barbarossa entirely equipped with foreign vehicles. But the question was about late war. As Gary noted, the later KStN stipulates 2 ton trucks. Carrying a single squad in a 3 ton truck would be a waste of capacity, though nothing to say they didn't double up. I believe single squad vehicles would be lighter trucks where available or possibly even field cars. |
| donlowry | 23 Sep 2022 5:17 p.m. PST |
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| Artilleryman | 24 Sep 2022 3:04 a.m. PST |
Could you get a whole section in a Protze? Even if so, I don't think that I have seen many in pictures of troops in 1944. |
| codiver | 24 Sep 2022 5:12 a.m. PST |
If you're doing 15mm, I highly recommend Gaming Models (gamodls.com) for trucks. You cannot beat the price. |
| Starfury Rider | 24 Sep 2022 6:42 a.m. PST |
If you're thinking about the Kfz70 as being the Protze, that was expected to seat 7 or 8 men, hence the need for two per Squad in the older KStN, with a strength of 13, later 12 men, plus drivers. The slimmed down 1943-44 KStN cut the Squad to 12 men, which included a driver, all to be carried in a single truck. The Opel Blitz does seem to take all the attention but as noted, the German Army had a very cosmopolitan vehicle park, including many separated from their former owners. link The above link is probably the most comprehensive listing of German wheeled vehicles I've seen for 1939-45. Gary |
| Artilleryman | 26 Sep 2022 2:55 p.m. PST |
What a great source. Thanks Gary. |
| robert piepenbrink | 26 Sep 2022 3:16 p.m. PST |
Blutarski, if you ever find a source for that one, please let us know. (Mind you, that would be the high point, after taking Tobruk.) It would also be helpful to know the percentage of Italian equipment--and how much the British were using captured German and Italian gear at different points in the Benghazi Handicap. I've seen German memoirs which discuss putting captured British gear into service--and shooting up a "British" unit which turned out to be Italians who'd done the same thing. This was in that confused period between Crusader and Gazala. |
bases up the start of his 1:72 scale WWII Russians.
