Sd.Kfz. 247 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 247) was an armored car used by the German armed forces during World War II.
Before the war, ten six-wheeled models (Ausf. A) were built; this was followed during the war by 58 four-wheeled models (Ausf. B).
Description The Sd.Kfz. 247 had an open-topped, thinly armored body mounted on a wheeled chassis. It was unarmed as its six-man crew was not intended to fight; rather, it was intended for use by the commanders of motorcycle and motorized reconnaissance battalions, although neither version was fitted with any radios.Chamberlain and Ellis, p. 205 Its armor was intended to stop armor-piercing bullets at ranges over . Photographic evidence shows some Ausf. B vehicles were retro-fitted with a star-shaped radio antenna mounted inside the crew compartment, and an additional armor plate bolted to the lower glacis of the hull.Jentz, pp. 50–53
Ausf. A Krupp built ten Ausf. A models on the chassis of its six-wheel "Krupp Protze" truck in 1937. Its 4-cylinder air-cooled gasoline flat engine (Krupp M 305) of , gave it a top speed of and a range of .
Like all of the other vehicles that used this chassis, the Ausf. A had very limited cross-country mobility, drivers being advised to stay on roads and trails. It weighed , was long, wide and tall.Jentz, pp. 49–50
Ausf. B Daimler-Benz built 58 of these in 1941—1942 on a four-wheel drive heavy car chassis (s.Pkw. Typ 1c). The front-mounted engine was an 8-cylinder, Horch 3.5 petrol engine, giving it a road speed of . It had a maximum range of .
Armour +Thickness/slope from the vertical Front Side Rear Top/Bottom Superstructure /38° /35° /30° open Hull /35° /35° /36°
References
Sources
External links Replika Sd.Kfz. 247B World War II vehicles Panzers of the Reich Photo gallery of a Sd.Kfz. 247 Ausf. B detailed data for the Ausf. A