Ranger, Alan 4-wheeled Armoured Cars in Germany WW2

Germany was at the forefront of the development of armoured cars during the First World War, however with the end of the war in November of 1918 and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 the victorious allies imposed a complete ban on the German army being equipped with any armoured vehicles including armoured cars. In the early 1920's the "Zusatz von Bologne" which was an amendum to the Treaty of Versailles, allowed the German Army to produce armoured cars primarily for policing duties and eventually this gave rise to the Sd.Kfz. 13 series in the early 1930's, however with the Nazi party takeover of Germany in 1933 new 4-wheeled armour cars were ordered and they were all to be based on the Horch off road heavy passenger chassis, they were numbered Sd.Kfz. 221, 222 and 223 the same chassis was also developed in to the Sd.Kfz. 260 and 261 radio command vehicles. This publication covers the German 4 wheeled cars in great photographical detail focusing on the armoured cars and their crews as they dealt with the conditions and circumstances they found themselves in, photographs from the author's own collection have been used to illustrate this book that were taken by the average German soldier not official army cameramen who's photos are well known and have been published over and over again already.

After the National Socialists came to power in 1933, further four-wheeled armoured cars were ordered, all of which were based on the chassis of a heavy all-terrain passenger car from Horch and were used by the Wehrmacht under the designations Sd.Kfz. 221, 222 and 223. The same chassis was also used in the development of the radio command vehicles Sd.Kfz. 260 and 261. In this publication, the German four-wheeled vehicles are covered photographically in detail, with the emphasis on the armoured vehicles and their crews. To illustrate this book, the author mainly uses photos taken by the German soldiers themselves, rather than the often well-known photographs taken by the Wehrmacht's official photojournalists.