Sd.Kfz. 8

The Sonderkraftfahrzeug 8, usually written Sd.Kfz. 8, was a heavy German half-track designed by Daimler-Benz and used throughout the Second World War, mainly as a prime mover for heavy towed guns such as the 21 cm Mörser 18, the 17 cm Kanone 18 and the 10.5 cm FlaK 38, and also as an infantry transport and recovery vehicle. Development ran from the DB s7 prototype of 1934 through the DB s8, the heavier DB 9 of 1938 and the final DB 10 of October 1939, which used a Maybach HL85 twelve cylinder petrol engine of 185 PS and could tow 14 tonnes. Its steering combined the front wheels with braking of the tracks, and its rear suspension used interleaved roadwheels on torsion bars. About 4,070 were built from 1934 to 1944 by Daimler-Benz, Krupp, Krauss-Maffei and later Skoda, and ten were converted into 8.8 cm Flak 18 gun carriers in 1939.