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Less known is the use of omnibuses by the Wehrmacht. Nevertheless, omnibuses were used for many tasks. For example they were used for the transportation of soldiers, as ambulance, as control and command centres and as army postal service vehicles. Some omnibuses were specially manufactured for the Wehrmacht. These were adapted to the military usage and were widely simplified. However, a large number of buses were formerly civilian vehicles. The identification of formerly civilian buses is not easy. Some of the larger companies made own buses, but most of them were manufactured by smaller car body manufacturers. At that time, it was quite usual that the large companies only supplied the chassis and smaller car body manufacturers produced the superstructures for the buses according to the desires of the customers.
Buses of foreign companies were used by the Wehrmacht, too. Due to the integration of Austria and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia into the German Reich, buses of these countries got into the stocks of the Wehrmacht. Above all, Austrian manufacturers were quickly integrated into the German armaments programme. During the later campaigns, an unknown quantity of buses from all over the world was captured. Some of the manufacturers in the occupied territories made buses for the Wehrmacht. Most notably French manufacturers are to call. American omnibuses were mainly captured during the Norway and West campaigns. Commonly, these vehicles were used by units stationed there. A few of them could be used by frontline troops, too.
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