From the Archive - Sd.Kfz. 222 A 4 Serie – Ammunition Bins for the 20mm KwK 38 - Inside Track | Renault TSF Tank Kent

A very topical look at an old piece on these rare ammunition boxes. We now have 3 examples of the box. . Over the many years gathering armoured car parts there were a number, which proved extremely difficult to find and others, which have yet to be found. These parts are critical in the project to complete an authentic 4 Serie Sd.Kfz. 222. What parts cannot be found will have to be recorded and copied if an original exists. The list of outstanding items is shrinking but the main concern for us at present is the layout of the interior. There are two nearly complete survivors of these iconic armoured cars. These examples are in the Collings Foundation collection and Kubinka respectively. These two survivors are unfortunately 5 Serie Ausf B examples based on the later 3-piece aufbau armoured body and built on the later Typ 801V fahrgestell chassis. This is a problem as our Sd.Kfz. 222 is a 4 Serie Ausf A based on the earlier Typ 801 chassis. The armoured superstructure is a 2 piece not 3 piece as in the 5 Series Sd.Kfz.222 Ausf.B in Kubinka and the Collings Foundation collection. There are no other 4 Serie Ausf A examples for us to record. We have a large number of body panels which have already provided us with an insight as to how these amoured cars were equipped internally but do not provide us with a good and full internal picture. Until we uncover further panels or original detail we will continue our quest to locate the internal components. The slow gathering of the parts required for our Sd.Kfz.222 was guided by very detailed original manual D 686 Leichter Panzerspaehwagen (2cm) (Sd Kfz 222) Ersatzteiliste zum Aufbau. A major breakthrough recently was the discovery of this very rare ammunition stowage box for the 20mm KwK.38 magazines. This box is very different to the box for the magazines for the Flak 38. The Flak 38 magazines are considerably longer as they are designed to take 20 rounds against the 10 for the KwK.38 magazine of the armoured cars. This box is described as Kasten fuer 5 Magazine 2cm. Three of these items are required for the interior and stowed in dedicated frames. There is an additional box but this is Kasten fuer 2 Magazine 2cm – a case to stow 2 magazines and only one of these. We have had one of these 2 magazine cases for some time but the 5 magazine case was an amazing find. The 5 magazine case is displayed in the photographs provided and is also shown with the KwK38 10 cartridge magazine installed. The 10 cartridge magazine is displayed in a separate photograph.

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