The SdKfz 234 was an eight-wheeled armoured car used by the German Army in the Second World War. It broadly resembles the SdKfz 231 (8 rad).

Design

The combat experience of the existing 8-wheeled armoured cars during the German invasions of Poland and France, indicated some deficiencies in the current design. Therefore, in August 1940 an improvement program was started, based on a new set of requirements learned from these combat experiences. The result was the SdKfz 234.

Developed from the Büssing

Büssing

Büssing was a German bus and truck manufacturer established by Heinrich Büssing at Braunschweig in 1903. Büssing's first truck was a 2 ton payload machine powered by a 2-cylinder gasoline engine and featuring worm drive...

-NAG

Neue Automobil Gesellschaft

Neue Automobil-Gesellschaft was a German automobile manufacturer in Berlin.In 1902, German electrical company AEG purchased the coachbuilding side of Kühlstein under engineer Joseph Vollmer, renaming it NAG...

 SdKfz 232, design of the Sd Kfz 234 began in 1940. It was to have a monocoque

Monocoque

Monocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...

 chassis with eight wheels, like its predecessors, and an aircooled engine for use in North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

.

Chassis were built by Büssing-NAG in Leipzig-Wahren, while armoured bodies were provided by Deutsche Edelstahlwerke of Krefeld

Krefeld

Krefeld , also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its centre lying just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine...

 and turrets by Daimler Benz in Berlin-Marienfelde

Marienfelde

Marienfelde is a locality in southwest Berlin. It is a mixed industrial and residential area, and part of the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg.-Transportation and industry:...

 and Schichau

Schichau-Werke

The Schichau-Werke was a German engineering works and shipyard based in Elbing, formerly part of the German Empire, and which is today the town of Elbląg in northern Poland. It also had a subsidiary shipyard in Danzig .-Early years:...

 of Elbing

Elblag

Elbląg is a city in northern Poland with 127,892 inhabitants . It is the capital of Elbląg County and has been assigned to the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999. Before then it was the capital of Elbląg Voivodeship and a county seat in Gdańsk Voivodeship...

, with engines from Ringhoffer-Tatra-Werke AG of Nesseldorf

Koprivnice

Kopřivnice is a town in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has cca 23,500 inhabitants.- History :In 1850, both of the former villages, Drnholec nad Lubinou and Větřkovice, became a part of the political district of Nový Jičín within the judicial district Příbor...

.

Service history

Protracted engine development meant the desert campaign was over before the 234 arrived, but it nevertheless proved useful on the Eastern and Western Fronts. It was quite formidable, but not many were built before it was replaced by the simpler 234/1, with a 20mm gun, in 1944.

Variants

There were four main variants.

• 234/1 - 1 x 2 cm KwK 30 L/55
  2 cm KwK 30
  The 2 cm KwK 30 L/55 was a German 2 cm cannon used primarily as the chief weapon of the German SdKfz.121 Panzerkampfwagen II light tank...
  
   autocannon
  Autocannon
  An autocannon or automatic cannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannons are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a...
  
  , 1 x MG34 Machinegun. This design featured an open-topped turret. Around 200 were produced.
• 234/2 "Puma" - 1 x 5 cm KwK 39 L/60
  5 cm KwK 39
  The 5 cm KwK 39 L/60 was a German 50 mm caliber gun used during Second World War, primarily as the main armament of later variants of the German Panzerkampfwagen III tank between 1941-1942. It was developed as a variant of the towed gun 5 cm PaK 38...
  
  , 1 x MG34. Employed a fully enclosed turret originally designed for the VK1602 Leopard light tank. The turret front was protected by 30 mm armor set at an angle of 20° from the vertical. The sides and rear had 10 mm armor set at 25°, and the top plate was 10 mm armor. The gun mantlet was rounded and was 40 to 100 mm thick. 101 were produced between September 1943 and September 1944.
• 234/3 - 1 x 7.5 cm K51 L/24
  7.5 cm KwK 37
  The 7.5 cm KwK 37 L/24 was a German 75 mm tank gun used during World War II, primarily as the chief weapon of the Panzer IV tank....
  
   in open-topped superstructure replacing the turret. 88 built between June and December, 1944.
• 234/4 "Pakwagen" - 1 x 7.5 cm PaK 40 L/48 in open-topped superstructure replacing the turret. 89 built between December 1944 and March 1945.

Sources

• Hogg, Ian V. Greenhill Armoured Fighting Vehicles Data Book, p.221, "Sd Kfz 234/1", "Sd Kfz 234/2", "Sd Kfz 234/3", & "Sd Kfz 234/4". London: Greenhill Books, 2000. ISBN 1-85367-391-9.
• ____, and Weeks, John. Illustrated Encyclopedia of Military Vehicles , p.185, "SdKfz 232, 233, and 234 (8 rad) Armoured Cars". London: Hamlyn, 1980. ISBN 0-600-33195-4.
• "s. Pz. Sp. Wg. (5 cm) Sd. Kfz. 234/2: German 8-Wheeled Armored Car", Catalog of Enemy Ordnance, U.S. Office of Chief of Ordnance, 1945.