Sd Kfz 250/1 (late) (GE201) Leichte Schützenpanzerwagen, D7p. le SPW Neu, Gerät 89 The Sd Kfz 250 Leichte Schützenpanzerwagen resulted from requirements in the 1930s by the German Army for a half-track that could carry a Halbgruppe (a half-group of 4-5 men) on a motorized reconnaissance missions. The resulting vehicle was developed by Demag AG, based on a modified Demag D7 tractor chassis (Sd Kfz 10). This product is no longer currently available for sale...

Despite the vehicle development being complete by the late 1930s, production wasn’t started until June 1941. The required numbers of Sd Kfz 250 halftracks for the Panzerdivisions wasn’t as high as that of the Sd Kfz 251 (transporting the armoured Panzergrenadiers) but it was still produced in many of the same variants. In 1943 the design underwent a major review and modification. The main focus of the redesign was to cut the number of man-hours require to manufacture the armour plate.

The angles and shapes were simplified to use as few armoured plates as possible in place of the complex faceted shape of the earlier model, reducing nineteen main armour plates to nine. In addition permanent storage boxes were placed along outer side of the crew compartment. The new model was simply called "Neu" to differentiate it from the "Alte" (old) models. It entered production in October 1943.

Most of the Sd Kfz 250 vehicles were issued to the Aufklärungsschwadrons of Panzerdivisions, though many found rolls as command and observation vehicles when the specialist variants of these were not available.  In Flames Of War The Sd Kfz 250/1 was mainly used as the armoured transport vehicle of an Aufklärungsschwadron’s Aufklärungs Platoons (page 31, Festung Europa).

These are organised like an Armoured Panzergrenadier Platoon (page 27, Festung Europa), except they exchange the Sd Kfz 251/1 in each Panzergrenadier Squad with a pair of Sd Kfz 250/1 half-tracks. The HQ Section replaces the Sd Kfz 251/1 with an Sd Kfz 250/1 and it may also upgrade to an Sd Kfz 250/10 armed with a 3.7cm PaK36 gun.

The Sd Kfz 250 is also used to carry some of the weapons (such as HMGs) of the Aufklärungsschwadron’s Heavy Platoon. The pack contains parts for both the normal Sd Kfz 250/1 and the command Sd Kfz 250/10. Designed by Evan Allen Painted by Jeremy Painter and Dion Holswich