SdKfz 3 Armoured Car

[David]

In the Versailles peace agreement, that ended World War One, the seven Divisions of the (much reduced) German Army was henceforth expressly forbidden to have tanks or even Armoured Fighting Vehicles. There was, thogh, a loophole of sorts. Each of the Divisions were allowed to have armoured wheeled vehicles for the purpose of transporting personell - the name for these was Mannschafttransportwagen, MTW. They were not to be used as Fighting vehicles (they were not to have any armament). A vehicle intended for this purpose was designed 1919 by the firm of DMG. They were then built by Daimler. Many of its part were identical to those used in the Armoured Car built for the police forces, the so called Schupo-Sonderwagen/21. This explains many similarities between the two vehicles. It was given the formal name Sonderkraftfahrzeug 3 (Special Motor Vehicle number 3). It was not a very successful vehicle. It weighed 10.6 tons, had a crew of nine, a range of some 350km, a maximum armour of 12mm and a maximum speed of 45 km/h. It had four-wheel drive, but because of its weight and comparatively weak motor (only a 4 cylinder watercooled Daimler M1574) the SdKfz 3 had very poor off-road capability. In fact, it was pretty much bound to the roads. This, and its lack of armament, meant that the usage for the vehicle wasn't that big. A few were converted to Radio vehicles, and also, during maneuvers, in spite of regulations, they were sometimes equipped with a single MG 08. I have found know information on how long these vehicles were in service, but we know that the very similiar Daimler/21 Schupo-Sonderwagen was used at least up until 1936, at that at least one was destroyed during the fighting in Berlin 1945!