- Yes
- No
- Tech-tree vehicle
- Premium
- Event
- No
- Foldered with the 1.5 cm variant
- After the 1.5 cm variant
- Other (specify in comments)
- No
Images
History
The Sd.Kfz. 251/21 “Drilling” was a late-war anti-aircraft and ground-support conversion of the widely produced Sd.Kfz. 251 half-track. Development of the triple mount began in mid-1944 when the Luftwaffe and Heer needed a cheap, mobile AA platform that could keep up with Panzergrenadier units. The pedestal mount (Flak-Sockellafette 151) was derived from naval/aircraft installations and bolted into the cargo bed of the Ausf. D chassis.
Series production began in August 1944. Early production vehicles (the first approximately 50) used surplus 15 mm MG 151/15 guns because of available ammunition stocks. From late 1944 the remaining production switched to the more effective 20 mm MG 151/20 (the same cannon used in many German aircraft). A contemporary note dated 12 December 1944 records that 50 vehicles had been completed with the 15 mm guns and that the rest of production used the 20 mm version. The triple mount carried roughly 2 000–3 000 rounds total (typically 400 for the centre gun and 250 each for the outer guns). Combined cyclic rate was approximately 2 100 rounds per minute. Around 387 vehicles were completed by early 1945 (some sources give slightly lower or higher figures depending on whether field conversions are counted). They saw service on both the Western and Eastern fronts in 1944–45, primarily with reconnaissance and Panzergrenadier units, and were used against both aircraft and soft ground targets.
A number of these vehicles were captured by Soviet forces. One such late-production example with the 20 mm guns forms the basis of the existing USSR premium “Hanomag (’45)”.
Why it should be in the German tree
Germany already has the early 15 mm Sd.Kfz. 251/21 in the regular tech tree. The 20 mm late variant is historically the more common later production version and is already fully modelled in the game (the Soviet premium is essentially a re-skinned and re-crewed version of the same vehicle). Adding the German 2 cm Drilling requires only new German skins, German crew models, and the appropriate German ammunition belts.
It would sit naturally as a side-grade to the wirbelwind, with higher mobility, cannon guidance speed, higher and longer volume of fire, but with less armor, a more exposed fighting compartment and a lower vertical guidance.
Specifications (based on the in-game 20 mm version and historical data)
- Chassis: Sd.Kfz. 251 Ausf. D
- Weight: ≈ 8 t
- Engine: Maybach HL 42, 100 hp (stock) / higher with modifications
- Max speed: ≈ 52–57 km/h forward
- Armour: 14 mm front, 8 mm sides/rear (open-top fighting compartment)
- Crew: 4
- Main armament: 3 × 20 mm MG 151/20
- Belt capacity: 250 / 500 rounds (outer / centre)
- Total ammunition: ≈ 2 000–3 000 rounds
- Rate of fire: 700 rpm per gun
- Elevation: –5° / +49°
- Traverse: 360°
- Belts:
Panzer Tracts No. 15-3 (Thomas L. Jentz & Hilary L. Doyle, 2006)
on 28 September 1944, In 6 (Inspectorate 6) published an order in the Heeres-Technisches Verordnungsblatt (H.T.V.Bl.) specifying the ammunition mix for the 251/21.
For both the 15 mm and 20 mm versions:
325 armour-piercing rounds + 2 675 high-explosive/incendiary rounds ≈ 1 AP : 8 HE
(total 3 000 rounds).
It isn’t specified whether it the HE is HEI or HEFI-T
But the belt would look something like this:
HEI / HEI / HEI / HEI / HEI / HEI / HEI / HEI / API-T
OR
HEFI-T / HEFI-T / HEFI-T / HEFI-T / HEFI-T / HEFI-T / HEFI-T / HEFI-T / API-T
I’m not sure about the other belts, they can either be a copy of the Hanomag '45 or from the aircraft MG 151/20 belts
(Exact in-game performance values can be taken directly from the existing “Hanomag (’45)”.)
Sources
- Panzer Tracts No. 15-3 – Mittlerer Schützenpanzerwagen (Sd.Kfz. 251) Ausf. C & D (Thomas L. Jentz & Hilary Louis Doyle, 2006) – detailed production figures, the switch from 15 mm to 20 mm after the first ~50 vehicles, technical drawings of the Drilling mount, belt composition and primary-source documentation.
Overview / bibliographic page: Mittlerer Schuetzenpanzerwagen (Sd. KFZ. 251) Ausf. C & D: History of ... - Thomas L. Jentz, Hilary Louis Doyle - Google Boeken - Tank Encyclopedia – Sd.Kfz. 251/21 entry (production numbers, armament change from 15 mm to 20 mm, operational use):
Sd.Kfz.251 - Tank Encyclopedia - Valka.cz / Armed Conflicts database entry for Sd.Kfz. 251/21 (monthly production figures starting August 1944, explicit note that the first 50 used 15 mm guns and the remainder used 20 mm):
Sd.Kfz. 251/21 : Německo (DEU)
(English mirror): mitlere Schützenpanzerwagen (1,5 cm bzw. 2 cm Drilling) (251/21) : Germany (DEU) - In-game data for the existing USSR “Hanomag (’45)” (Update 2.47) confirming the 20 mm triple mount is already fully implemented:
Hanomag ('45) | War Thunder Wiki
