251 halftrack book recommendations

[Richard48]

Hi me hearties.
Starting to take an interest in the German 251 halftrack.Any good book recommendations for showing the different configurations of the different versions?.
Cheers from Rich

[Allen Dewire]

Hey Buddy, Here are a couple of ideas for your endeavors,


Panzer Tracts covers the variants of the model C. and D. chassis. The Tank Power starts out at The 251/11 version and goes upwards, covering all chassis variants. Vol 1 covers all the earlier versions. Both are really great references, but may be hard to find now. Take a good look at the Panzerwrecks website and also the Tank Power website, www.militaria.net.pl to see what's out there. HTHs Richard...

Prost
Allen

[Guest]

Schützenpanzer by Bruce Culver (Bellingham: Ryton Publications, 1996) is a very good overview of development, variants, etc. of the 250 and 251, if you ask me. Probably hard to get now, though.

Also Die Halbkettenfahrzeuge des deutschen Heeres 1909–1945 by Walter J. Spielberger (Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag, 1984) for a lot of development history of all types including the 251.

[Richard48]

Thanks Alan and Jakko
Im particularly interested in usage in Afrika korps service.Im interested in the desert war and be great to do some vechiles from this era.
Cheers guys
Rich

[Guest]

I decided to leaf through a couple of old photo books to see if they might be of use.

Panzer Armee Afrika: Tripoli to Tunis by Peter Gudgin (London: Arms and Armour Press, 1988) has exactly two pictures showing Sd.Kfz. 251s, and in one of them they’re at a fair distance from the photographer. The other shows an Ausf. C followed by what I think is an Ausf. B.

Afrika Korps by George Balin (London: Arms and Armour Press, 1985) has maybe half a dozen pictures, but most of those are command vehicles from Rommel’s HQ, mostly Ausf. B but also some C. One photo of a 251 is even printed in negative …

Armor of the Deutsches Afrikakorps by Tom Cockle (Hong Kong: Concord, 2000) has a couple of pictures. One shows an Ausf. B in the port of Tripoli just after being unloaded, in panzer grey with a large swastika on the engine deck. Also one of an Ausf. B armed with a 3,7-cm-PaK 36 including the whole gun shield, and an Ausf. C captioned as apparently having had a 5-cm-PaK 38 installed. Oh, and one of an Ausf. C in Tunisia.

That’s about it for those three books, though. None of them I would consider worth buying just for the Sd.Kfz. 251 pictures, unless you can find a copy really cheap

[Richard48]

I decided to leaf through a couple of old photo books to see if they might be of use.

Panzer Armee Afrika: Tripoli to Tunis by Peter Gudgin (London: Arms and Armour Press, 1988) has exactly two pictures showing Sd.Kfz. 251s, and in one of them they’re at a fair distance from the photographer. The other shows an Ausf. C followed by what I think is an Ausf. B.

Afrika Korps by George Balin (London: Arms and Armour Press, 1985) has maybe half a dozen pictures, but most of those are command vehicles from Rommel’s HQ, mostly Ausf. B but also some C. One photo of a 251 is even printed in negative …

Armor of the Deutsches Afrikakorps by Tom Cockle (Hong Kong: Concord, 2000) has a couple of pictures. One shows an Ausf. B in the port of Tripoli just after being unloaded, in panzer grey with a large swastika on the engine deck. Also one of an Ausf. B armed with a 3,7-cm-PaK 36 including the whole gun shield, and an Ausf. C captioned as apparently having had a 5-cm-PaK 38 installed. Oh, and one of an Ausf. C in Tunisia.

That’s about it for those three books, though. None of them I would consider worth buying just for the Sd.Kfz. 251 pictures, unless you can find a copy really cheap :smiling3:

Hi Jakko.
Many thanks for your thoughts on this subject.I must have read your mind as ive just found the Afrika korps by George Balin off e.bay quite cheap!!!!!.Be great to build some afvs from this theatre.Im guessing the A version of the 251 was in use for the Polish campaign and France 1940?.

Rich

[Guest]

I think so, but I would have to check to be sure. However, IIRC, you can convert an A into a B by deleting the viewports in the hull sides, other than the ones in the driver’s cab.