This may sound a stupid question but I can't find an answer to it anywhere on the web. I've got a couple of the DML Sdkfz251 Wurfrahmen 40's that I bought cheap off ebay a couple of years ago, the 3 in 1 kits. One of them has no rockets so I've bought a couple of the Tamiya rack launchers cheap and their Stuka Das Fuss 251 as well for the rockets and crates to use on the DML one (I'm going to use the Tamiya half track as a straightforward 251). What I want to know is were the crates reused or is that how they arrived to the artillery units? Did the rockets arrive "loose" so to speak and then loaded into the crates or were they already in the crates?. I know that wood and metal ones were used but wasn't sure if they were recycled. I'm going to have a few spare rockets once I've loaded both 251's up so thought about sticking them in the back of a lorry as replen. Any info would be gratefully received so I can work out what I'm going to do.

Looks like the rockets were already in the crates :

http://ww2-germanarmy.conceptbb.com/t176-bundesarchiv-schwerer-wurfrahmen-an-schutzenpanzer



I'm not sure they were recycled, but they rapidly became cumbersome





H.P.

If one considers where ( geographically) these rockets were used, next to the moment in the war, since the beginning of 1941, it is less likely that, for German standards, cheap material as wood was going to be re-used, thus requiring considerable space in the logistic system.

Brilliant. Thanks for the photos and the info guys. That's exactly what I needed to know.

Frenchy, you read my mind. Those photos on the link show what I'm planning on doing with them! Much obliged for the link.

Here are a couple of well known images from google.



The first shows a discarded pile of launch grates and the second shows a load of rockets inside the 251.

From them I took that the rockets were issued to the units in crates and then the crates were discarded after use. That does not mean that another unit did not follow along and pick up the enpty crates, but I have seen a couple of other pics with large piles of empty crates, one in Berlin. But I did not come across it in my quick search.


hope this helps,
Mike