Hi folks, I'm reading the biography of Kurt 'Panzer' Meyer - 'Grenadiers'. Interesting read. As always I'm looking for references to the vehicles and weapons. I'm trying to figure out what vehicle he rode around in during the Russian campaign when he ran the Recon Battalion for LSSAH. He repeatedly refers to an 'armored car', and mentions 'hiding behind a turret', so I thought Sdkfz 223, but a page later he describes it as being 'unarmed'. Any guesses?
Also, is there an 'order of battle' around for this unit? His Battalion seemed to have mostly motorcycles, and 'armored cars' but he also had 37mm AT, 50mm AT,88s and Stugs. Did they also have 250s and 251s? I understand 'attachments', the Germans did it often, but this broad collection of weaponry seems to be the norm for his Battalion. Confusing...

Thanks

Thanks

Turret but no gun ?
I don't know of any but the radio cars , like the 261 , maybe a 223 without the MG mount . be rare .

The Sd.Kfz. 260 and 261 were both un-armed, their purpose was to provide long range radio communications for armoured car units (reconnaissance). The difference between them was the longer range radio with frame antenna in the 261.
If he was a battalion commander it would make sense that he often rode in one of the radio vehicles.

The 223 is also an option depending on what the author calls "armed vehicle", is the Mg 34 sufficient armament or is it small arms (above or below 20 mm sort of).


261 with lowered frame antenna


261 with raised antenna




260, without antenna




223 in need of some repairs .....

/ Robin

Keith, that’s what confused me...
Robin, you probably have the answer. I’ve never seen a kit of those vehicles.
Thanks

Ralph,

The simple answer here is that Mayer,like a lot of German commanders,led from the front. To accomplish this he used whatever was available and so while he may have had an assigned vehicle,he wasn't always using it. Hence him describing different types. Armored,un armored,turretless,etc etc.
German officers also commandeered weapons for expedient use,dictated by the situation,as in Karkov,when Meyer took over command of a 105mm field piece to clear a road,along with some crew members of it.
The recon Bn he was in charge of was a self contained combined arms unit and it had support weapons assigned to it. This concept ,along with the Division escort company,was unique to the German Army. We didn't have units like that.
Long winded. Hope I didn't bore.
J

Given that 250s and 251s were used as transport workhorses in pretty much every German mechanised unit I assume Meyer had some too but didn't mention them in the book. He had vehicles with 20mm guns too because he talks about familiarity with them during a plane trip. Bear in mind there are questions about the accuracy of some of his stories - he may have embellished his history with actions carried out by others. And like all the German autobiographies from both world wars that I have read he can't understand why the people in occupied countries were so unhappy with German rule.

It could also be an Sdkfz 263 eight wheeler. This had a large fixed turret, in fact it was an extension of the hull. It would certainly be big enough to hide behind. As for it being unarmed, it had only a machine gun in the front of the "turret" as opposed to a 2cm or similar, this may be what he means by "unarmed" as all radio vehicles were armed with at least a machine gun.
The establishment of the reconnaisance unit of LAH was pretty ad-hoc, as the division had grown from a regiment to a brigade and then a division over the course of the war. The heavy company would probably have had the Sdkfz 251 at the time, LAH also had some field conversions of 5cm guns on the 1 ton half track but I'm not sure if they had these in the recce unit. The Sdkfz 251/9 was a short 7.5cm gun taken from early Pz IVs on an armoured halftrack. It was a standard type known colloquially as a "Stummel" but it had the same function as a Stug, providing close support.