Osprey New Vanguard 29 : German Armoured Cars and Reconnaissance Half-Tracks 1939-1945

The first German armoured car was the Daimler Panzerwagen, built at the Wiener-Neustadt works, appearing in 1904. However it was not until late in World War 1 that the German General Staff was sufficiently cajoled into approving extensive armoured car development and production (spurred on by British and Belgian efforts to do the same). The inter-war years saw a rapid expansion in this area, with new models and variants being produced with increasing rapidity in the late 1930s. It was during this time that the half-tracks first appeared too: in the years that followed, their development above all was battle-led, with the harsh realities and conditions of the Eastern Front playing a key role in the rethinking and regeneration of the variants' designs. Flexibility, mobility, and the ability to effectively communicate were all key requirements that the units operating these vehicles demanded - and that were also thus crucial to the Panzerwaffe and German army as a whole. Bryan Perrett's treatment of the development and history of German armoured cars and recce vehicles fully accounts for the crucial role that such units and more importantly their vehicles played in the course of World War 2. Full orders of battle are also given, along with technical details and specifications of the vehicles assigned to particular units. This study provides a valuable insight into the curious but vital function that such vehicles fulfilled. Text by Bryan Perrett with illustrations by Bruce Culver.

Contents

• Development
• Organisation and Method
• Armoured Reconnaissance in Action