Krupp Protze

The Krupp Protze, officially the L 2 H 43 and later L 2 H 143, was a six-wheeled 6x4 German truck and artillery tractor built by Krupp between 1934 and 1941. It was powered by a four-cylinder Krupp petrol engine of 55 and later 60 horsepower and was designed mainly to tow light guns, above all the 3.7 cm Pak 36 anti-tank gun in its Kfz 69 form, and to carry infantry in the Kfz 70 troop-carrier form. The name Protze means limber. Around 7,000 were built and they served on the Eastern Front, in North Africa, in France and in Sicily. Variants included telephone and radio trucks, a staff car, an ammunition carrier for 2 cm Flak guns and a searchlight generator carrier. Its fuel consumption, about 24 litres per 100 km on roads, was high compared with the Opel Blitz.