Kettenkrad with PaK Winter
Kettenkrad 8
Kettenkrad 6
Kettenkrad with Sonderanhanger and Horch 901
102nd Infantry Division GI’s in captured Kettenrad Baesweiler 24 January 1945
Kettenkrad of Afrika Korps 1942
Kettenkrad with PaK 2
Kettenkrads Karelia
Italian soldiers ride SdKfz 2 to surrender to British in Egypt 1942
Kettenkrad 10
SdKfz 2 abandoned by Germans in North Africa
Captured Kettenkrad of DAK
Kettenkrad 7
Kettenkrad in use by U.S. Military Police in Cherbourg
Kettenkrad Italy 1943
Kettenkrad 11
Kettenkrad 3
Kettenkrad and Marder III
101st Airborne Troops Normandy with Kettenkrad 14 June 1944
Kettenkrad Eastern Front 5
Kettenkrad 9
Captured Kettenkrad of Luftwaffe unit
NSU Kettenkrad 4
NSU Kettenkrad WH-1030470
NSU Kettenkrad 2
NSU Kettenkrad on railroad flat car
NSU Kettenkrad 8
Kettenkrad January 1945
Kettenkrad of the 6th Panzer division 1942
NSU Kettenkrad of the Luftwaffe
NSU Kettenkrad HK101 SdKfz 2 FJ Fsch.Art.Rgt Fallschirmjager Division
NSU Kettenkrad HK101 SdKfz 2 FJ Fsch.Art.Rgt.1 Fallschirmjaeger Div
Kettenkrad SdKfz 2 NSU
NSU Kettenkrad
NSU Kettenkrad of Luftwaffe
NSU Kettenkrad of the Wehrmacht
NSU Kettenkrad of the Luftwaffe Kreta Greece
Kettenkrad sd kfz 2
Kettenkrad sdkfz 2 of the Luftwaffe
Kettenkrad with trailer
SdKfz 2 Kettenkrad with trailer
Kettenkrad with trailer Sd Anh 1
Kleines Kettenkraftrad HK 101 during trials
Kettenkrad with trailer Sd Anh 1 Russia
Kettenkrad from luftwaffe
Kettenkrad from luftwaffe photo
Kettenkrad towing flak 30
Kettenkrad fahrschule
Kettenkrad SdKfz 2 towing trailer winter
Kettenkrad towing PaK 35/36
Kettenkrad SdKfz 2 with trailer
Kettenkrad NSU
SdKfz 2 kettenkrad NSU
Kettenkrad Sd Kfz 2
kleines Kettenkraftrad Sd.Kfz. 2
Kettenkrad was originally designed as a civil machine but in 1939 NSU Werke AG project gained support of a German Army. That vehicle was planned to be used as a light artillery tractor and a transporter in hard all-terrain conditions. First representatives of that little tractor were launched to the service in 1940 (so called 0 series). The prototype was marked as Vs.Kfz.620. It was a small but technologically complex vehicle which could take three people including a driver who was sitting at the front. Relatively long tracks occupied all side of the vehicle. The engine was placed under and behind a driver. Two passengers sat at the back, backwards. Towed equipment was linked by a device at the back of the vehicle. Except light cannons a machine could also tow a specially designed small trailer for ammunition or fuel. Sometimes back seats were removed to make more space for load. When Kettenkrad was introduced to weaponry it was mainly to be used by airborne troops. Losses suffered during the invasion in Crete caused that German parachute units fought later as land divisions, that is why having a light artillery tractor was already not essential for them. In this connection Kettenkrad was used mostly as a transport vehicle on such areas where other machines moved with difficulty. However, that vehicle could drive in wilderness, including mud and sand but it took little load and the weight of a towed trailer was limited to 450 kg. Kettenkrad was also used by Luftwaffe to tow planes and protect the airfields. The vehicle was manufactured until the end of war and a number of manufactured Sdkfz 2 was 8411. The construction was so successful that production was renewed in 1947 and during warfare captured representative vehicles were commonly used by the Allais’ armies.
Bibliography:
- Das Kettenrad von NSU – H HK-101 Sd.Kfz.2 – Horst Hinrichsen, Waffen-Arsenal 148, odzun-Pallas-Verlag 1994
- The Kettenkrad Sd.Kfz.2 – Type HK-101 – Friedhelm Abel, Schiffer Military History Vol. 38
- Die Halbkettenfahrzeuge des Deutschen Heeres 1909 – 1945 – Walter J. Spielberger, Motorbuch Verlag 1993