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Bingo. Just don't tell the germanophiles. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted: Yep. At best it might have kept them in the war long enough to get nuked. There's no alternate universe in which Germany wins that war, aside from not fighting a war on two fronts. Well ... except for World Wars. |
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I have a three part video series coming out in a couple days on the
German Sd.Kfz. 251 halftrack with part 2 being how to drive it. will be at http://www.firearmsnews.com/ have a PAK 40 75mm Anti-Tank Gun coming up as well.....along with one on the Kettenkraftrad tracked motorcycle......firing a T34/85.....firing a Sherman M4A2E8 a French Mle 1937 25mm anti-tank gun and a pile of others.....even a French Chauchat......... |
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I have a three part video series coming out in a couple days on the German Sd.Kfz. 251 halftrack with part 2 being how to drive it. will be at http://www.firearmsnews.com/ have a PAK 40 75mm Anti-Tank Gun coming up as well.....along with one on the Kettenkraftrad tracked motorcycle......firing a T34/85.....firing a Sherman M4A2E8 a French Mle 1937 25mm anti-tank gun and a pile of others.....even a French Chauchat......... View Quote |
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I have a three part video series coming out in a couple days on the German Sd.Kfz. 251 halftrack with part 2 being how to drive it. will be at http://www.firearmsnews.com/ have a PAK 40 75mm Anti-Tank Gun coming up as well.....along with one on the Kettenkraftrad tracked motorcycle......firing a T34/85.....firing a Sherman M4A2E8 a French Mle 1937 25mm anti-tank gun and a pile of others.....even a French Chauchat......... View Quote |
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The problem is that on mud the steering wheels .... didn't. They were an interesting idea, and damn cool to look at, but an evolutionary dead end. Pretty much nobody is fielding half tracks anymore. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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I think the point of wheels was the wheels steered; no complicated steering of the tracks. The benefit of the tracks was they lowered ground pressure so the vehicle didn't sink in the mud and get stuck like a fully-wheeled vehicle would. They were an interesting idea, and damn cool to look at, but an evolutionary dead end. Pretty much nobody is fielding half tracks anymore. and the one on the right the right track. When you turn you cut the wheel and pull up on the lever in the direction you want to go and apply a lil gas. At least on the Sd.Kfz. 251.... |
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I think the point of wheels was the wheels steered; no complicated steering of the tracks. The benefit of the tracks was they lowered ground pressure so the vehicle didn't sink in the mud and get stuck like a fully-wheeled vehicle would. View Quote Maybe with the help of turning brakes, but not by themselves. |
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View Quote When the only thing that could move through the muck was tracked. |
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Quoted: Actually, you could steer with the tracks. To the right of the driver are three levers. The one in the center is the E-brake. The one on the left of that breaks the left track and the one on the right the right track. When you turn you cut the wheel and pull up on the lever in the direction you want to go and apply a lil gas. At least on the Sd.Kfz. 251.... View Quote Probably not as much weight on the front wheels as what the tracks themselves weighed. |
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Actually, you could steer with the tracks. To the right of the driver are three levers. The one in the center is the E-brake. The one on the left of that breaks the left track and the one on the right the right track. When you turn you cut the wheel and pull up on the lever in the direction you want to go and apply a lil gas. At least on the Sd.Kfz. 251.... View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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I think the point of wheels was the wheels steered; no complicated steering of the tracks. The benefit of the tracks was they lowered ground pressure so the vehicle didn't sink in the mud and get stuck like a fully-wheeled vehicle would. They were an interesting idea, and damn cool to look at, but an evolutionary dead end. Pretty much nobody is fielding half tracks anymore. and the one on the right the right track. When you turn you cut the wheel and pull up on the lever in the direction you want to go and apply a lil gas. At least on the Sd.Kfz. 251.... Why haven't modern militaries continued with the half track concept? |
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Quoted: Actually, you could steer with the tracks. To the right of the driver are three levers. The one in the center is the E-brake. The one on the left of that breaks the left track and the one on the right the right track. When you turn you cut the wheel and pull up on the lever in the direction you want to go and apply a lil gas. At least on the Sd.Kfz. 251.... View Quote |
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https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/76629/werfen-406351.JPG I started looking for this pic on my external hard drive 20 minutes ago. I couldn't remember what it said, so I just went through old saved pics. Holy fuck there are some goodies in there from over the years. View Quote |
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Sold, I'll send in my subscription renewal fee. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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I have a three part video series coming out in a couple days on the German Sd.Kfz. 251 halftrack with part 2 being how to drive it. will be at http://www.firearmsnews.com/ have a PAK 40 75mm Anti-Tank Gun coming up as well.....along with one on the Kettenkraftrad tracked motorcycle......firing a T34/85.....firing a Sherman M4A2E8 a French Mle 1937 25mm anti-tank gun and a pile of others.....even a French Chauchat......... I think people will really dig it. Muzzle blast on the PAK 40 is........attention getting! If you have any ideas for things you'd like to see in print or video.......let me know! |
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Quoted: And while the tracks are sliding across the mud there is nothing up front to help grab. Sure an experienced driver can sorta steer it in horrible conditions. Show that guy a M3 and he'll never look back. View Quote I think it was inferior going cross country to our halftrack which had a live front axle. The live front axle, just like a M35 6x6 truck, makes a huge difference when you kick it in. Regarding their usefulness, the only country I know which really stuck with the halftrack is Israel. They seemed to really like them. I'm just saying that on the German design you can steer with the tracks if needed. |
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Quoted: We have a lot of exciting things we are working on for 2018 and are currently editing about 40 videos. I think people will really dig it. Muzzle blast on the PAK 40 is........attention getting! If you have any ideas for things you'd like to see in print or video.......let me know! View Quote |
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Some very cool pictures and info OP. Thanks for starting this thread.
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Quoted: I'm not saying the Sd.Kfz. 251 is the best system in the world. Just the coolest looking the Bradley. Downside to the Bradley as a comparison is how few people you can stuff in one. 10 Panzergrenadiers was standard in a Sd.Kfz. 251 but often you see pics with like 50 guys all stuffed in one.... I was only around Cavalry Brads in Iraq but 7 dismounts stuffed in the back required a bit of effort to get the ramp up..... |
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Saw this one at a reenactment. http://i.imgur.com/icSbA4o.jpg http://i.imgur.com/zLMo2bZ.jpg http://i.imgur.com/1fvj4RR.jpg View Quote |
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I really liked the ones with neblewerfer(sp) attached or the version with a 50 mm. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Yes It's "Nebelwerfer." And it literally means "smoke thrower" - a nickname which the Germans derived from the smoke contrails of those rockets. The contrails were problematic, too, because it allowed the enemy to quickly zero in on the launch site, and take it under counter battery fire. Werfer units had to "shoot and move" (displace) quickly to survive. |
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Quoted: I was wondering the same thing. I bet the old M113 is superior ....but the German machine looks much cooler. the 113 looks like it's exterior was designed at 16:25pm on a Friday . View Quote |
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Sexy, but it ain't even quarter tracked, let alone half!
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I actually made a rubberband car in Shop class in 12th grade. I made it to look like a Hanomag.
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No one else had Tabun - IG Farben invented it. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes |
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Quoted: All that would have resulted in would be either their cities getting gassed with the chemicals we had, or nuked. View Quote |
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The Germans had really cool machines.
With the exception of ther aircraft. Many looked like they were made from Puerto Rican roof scraps. Even their coolest airplanes couldn't hold a candle to our planes (in therms of looks), like the B-29, B-52, P-51, P-38 and the FU4, just to name a few. |
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Can someone tell me what the drum looking thing on the American half track is? Winch? Or?
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Tabun made mustard gas and the chems we had look elementary. Once we learned how to make it, from the DE scientists, it was actually considered as a means to ending the war with Japan. View Quote It would have changed the nature of the war and made it a lot more nasty for everyone involved, sure. But I don't think it would have substantially changed the outcome or even the timeline, much. |
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Half tank half truck.... they were my favorite military land vehicle as a kid...
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Quoted: Sure, but I still don't see it making a difference - by the time they were desperate enough to use it and had enough of it around to use, everyone was already on their borders. It could be used as a battlefield weapon, but they didn't have a great way to deliver it en mass to, say, allied airfields or cities in britain - V1/2s weren't around in enough quantity to do that all by themselves. If they had tried to use it earlier, say in 1943, they wouldn't have had enough in production to make a substantial difference, and still wouldn't have a great way to deliver it outside of a battlefield. Either way, it would result in retaliatory gas attacks on population centers and the battlefield by the allies. Mustard and phosgene may not be nearly as effective as Tabun, but it doesn't really matter when a shitload of it is being dropped by bomber fleets on Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, etc, or used en mass on the battlefield by US or Russian artillery. It would have changed the nature of the war and made it a lot more nasty for everyone involved, sure. But I don't think it would have substantially changed the outcome or even the timeline, much. View Quote |
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Quoted: it might have halted the d-day landings, lots of troops with winds near them in close proximity. I know some units carried masks and chemical indicators in case of gas attack. but when being shot and shelled doubt anyone was thinking about those things. or at the very least increased casualties. Either way it would only have prolonged the inevitable, unless they were able to gas the assembly points pre-invasion. View Quote |
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They look cool, but I would hate to be in a non tarp covered half-track during rain/snow. Did they even have a heater?
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I know a guy who has a sdkfz251. Really cool-looking machine.
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