Mercedes-Benz L 4500

The Mercedes-Benz L 4500 was a heavy-duty long-bonnet truck built by Daimler-Benz from 1939 to 1944 at the Gaggenau plant, and from 1944 to 1945 by Saurer. It was offered as the rear-wheel-drive L 4500 S and the all-wheel-drive L 4500 A, and the German Wehrmacht used it with armoured cabs as an anti-aircraft truck in the Second World War. From 1943 the cab was replaced by the simplified standardised Wehrmacht cab and the mudwings by simpler ones, because material was short, and the chassis also served for the Sonderkraftfahrzeug 4. It had a ladder frame, leaf-sprung beam axles, a five-speed gearbox and a six-cylinder OM 67/4 diesel engine, and the L4500 designation was used until 1954 for the later L 312.