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Development of a small armoured half-track vehicle goes back to a letter of the general staff of the army from 15th December 1936 where a small armoured ammunition carrier was demanded to support the new assault guns which were under development at that time. This demand led to the development of a small armoured half-track vehicle based on the unchanged chassis of the le. Zgkw. 1t (Sd. Kfz. 10). During trials, one realised quickly that the demanded specifications could only be reached with a vehicle with shortened running gear. For this reason, the Demag D 7 p based on the Demag D 7 was developed until 1939, which had a running gear missing one road wheel on each side. This chassis should be used for the demanded special vehicles for the assault gun units and also for an armoured personnel carrier for a half-group. The need for the development of a half-group vehicle (Sd. Kfz. 250) besides a full-group vehicle (Sd. Kfz. 251) was realised in 1939. As early as the first K.St.N. appeared in October 1939, the Sd. Kfz. 250 was included. Serial production started in March 1941 with the leichter gepanzerter Beobachtungskraftwagen (Sd. Kfz. 253) – a small armoured observation vehicle – of which 285 exemplars were made until June 1941. 413 exemplars of the leichter gepanzerter Munitionskraftwagen (Sd. Kfz. 252) – a small armoured ammunition carrier – were manufactured from April 1940 to September 1941. A pilot series of the leichter gepanzerter Mannschaftskraftwagen (Sd. Kfz. 250) – a small armoured personnel carrier - was manufactured in 1940, too. The open toped armoured superstructure of these vehicles was considerably changed compared to the Sd. Kfz. 252 and 253. However, serial production of the leichter gepanzerter Mannschaftskraftwagen (Sd. Kfz. 250) started first in June 1941. The designation leichter Schützenpanzerwagen (Sd. Kfz. 250) for the base vehicle was introduced by In 6 on 27th January 1944. At the beginning of serial production of the Sd. Kfz. 250, the company Böhler – which had also manufactured the main part of the armoured superstructures of the Sd. Kfz. 253 – was not able to produce the armoured superstructure Panzeraufbau Sd. Kfz. 250E which had been developed for serial production of the Sd. Kfz. 250. Therefore, Böhler received a contract for 400 armoured superstructures Panzeraufbau Sd. Kfz. 250/Z – which was very similar to the armoured superstructure of the Sd. Kfz. 253. In 1943, a widely simplified armoured superstructure was developed. Vehicles with this armoured superstructure were designated Sd. Kfz. 250 Ausf. B. Serial production of the Ausf. B started most probably in June 1943. The last examplers of the Ausf. A were delivered in January 1944. Serial production of the Sd. Kfz. 250 ended in March 1945 after 6,628 exemplars had been manufactured. There is no differentiation between the Ausf. A and the Ausf. B in the production statistics. Therefore the total amount of each version can only be estimated. Concluded from the production statistics of the armoured superstructures, 2,975 to 3,175 vehicles of the Ausf. B were made.
In total, 12 variants of the Sd. Kfz. 250 were developed respectively established. The first six variants were introduced with the A.H.M. 1940, Blatt 29 from 7th December 1940, No. 1230 (O.K.H. (Ch H Rüst u. BdE), 16.11.1940 - 2726/40 - Ag K(In 6 I (Ib)) - (Sd. Kfz. 250/1 to 250/6) – note that this date was before serial production had started. All 12 variants were listed in the D 672/7 from July 1942 whereby no purpose was assigned to the Sd. Kfz. 250/4, Sd. Kfz. 250/8 and Sd. Kfz. 250/9. The leichter Schützenpanzerwagen (2 cm) (Sd. Kfz. 250/9) was mentioned first in the D 672/9 from January 1943. In the secret D97/1+ from July 1943, the leichter Schützenpanzerwagn (7.5 cm) (Sd. Kfz. 250/8) was mentioned for the first time. The leichte Schützenpanzerwagen (Sd. Kfz. 250) became one of the most important fighting vehicles of the Kradschützen and the motorised reconnaissance units. Variants of the Sd. Kfz. 250 were also used by many other branches.
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