Лёгкие броневики вермахта

The Germans understood that further expansion of Lebensraum would not be so easy, but the tank situation remained challenging. Therefore, they initially attempted to compensate for the shortage of tanks and their shortcomings with cheaper and more reliable armored cars. One such armored car was the Sd.Kfz.222. The light reconnaissance armored car, later designated Sd.Kfz.222, was developed by Horch in 1938. These armored cars were initially intended for Kuomintang China, whose 200 divisions were fighting an unequal and unsuccessful battle against twelve Japanese divisions. However, only a dozen vehicles were delivered to the Chinese, and that same year, the Leichte Panzerspaehrwagen began to enter service with the Heer—the ground forces of the Wehrmacht. The price of a single Sd.Kfz.222 armored car without armament was 19,600 Reichsmarks—roughly the price of nine passenger cars. For example, an Opel Kadett cost 2,100 Reichsmarks at the time, and an Adler Triumph Junior 2,950 Reichsmarks. However, considering that the Pz.I cost approximately 49,228 Reichsmarks, and the Pz.II 52,640 Reichsmarks, the advantage of using an armored car is quite obvious. All four wheels of this two-axle vehicle were driven and steered, and the tires were bulletproof, as they were not inflated with air, but filled with rubber. The multifaceted hull was formed by rolled armor plates arranged in straight and reverse inclinations. The armor thickness was 8 mm. Later in the war, its thickness in the frontal area was increased to 30 mm. The armored car's length, with a 2,800-millimeter wheelbase, was 4,800 millimeters. Its width was 195 centimeters, and its height, with a ground clearance of 260 millimeters, was 1,987 millimeters. Initially, the vehicle was equipped with a 75-horsepower, 3.52-liter engine from a Horch passenger car, but this was soon replaced with a 3.82-liter V8 engine from the same company, producing 90 horsepower, allowing the 4.8-ton armored car to reach a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour on good roads. The armored car was equipped with a 20-millimeter KwK 30 automatic cannon chambered for the 20×138 mm cartridge from the Solothurn anti-tank rifle, and a coaxial MG-34 rifle-caliber machine gun. The cannon's rate of fire was 280 rounds per minute. It could fire both bursts and single shots.