Leichte Schuetzenpanzerwagen Sd.Kfz.250/3 Ausf. B- Researching The Provenance Part One

This project had the promise of being very exciting once we discovered the unit symbol on the rear panel of the armoured superstructure – the Aufbau. This set off a path of exploration to uncover where the survivor had been buried for all the years since WW2, were there any other markings on the body which could narrow down where the vehicle had last served within the unit (tactical markings) and last of all who had last served in the Sd.Kfz 250/3 B at the end of the vehicle’s operational life?. The symbol found was unmistakeably that of the 6th Panzer Division. The armoured halftrack had been found in Hungary, somewhere outside of Budapest and had been found by an individual working for a utility company in the course of their operations. 6th Panzer Division, Hungary and a Sd.Kfz 250/3 B was the order of the day. Our research into relevant KStN documentation outlining theoretical equipping of Panzer divisions for 10th SS Panzer Division ‘Frundsberg’ provided us with a head start on the search for the background of this 6th Panzer Division Sd.Kfz.250/3 Ausf.B. We would have to go back to 1943 and move forward to encompass all possibilities and then through a process of elimination arrive at the most likely conclusion of where this vehicle had been deployed within the structure of 6th Panzer Division. These KStN outlines provide various possibilities for a Pz Div. Aufklaerung Abteilung (reconnaissance unit). KStN 1109 (gp) dated 1 Nov 43, shows 1 x 250/3 in the Grp Fuehrer area and another 1 x 250/3 in the N. Zug. Later KStN also point to 2 X 250s in the PzA.A command group firstly in 11.4.44, using 1162c, which allow 26 le.SPW (Sd.Kfz.250s) and KStN 1113 of the same date, proscribes 30 le SPW. . Our work on the KStNs that apply to this unit suggest that the le. SPW. 250s were largely replaced with m. SPW Sd.Kfz 251 in late 1944 / early 1945. What we now required were details outlining the make up of the 6th Panzer Division in Hungary in January 1945. From our early research into 6th Panzer Division in Hungary we understand. Moving from theoretical to actual strength of the 6 Pz.A.A we have a gliederung from the unit dated 1/5/44 in which the AA stab appears to have 7 m.SPW, 8 l.SPW and a number of armoured cars referred to as 3 Rad Sp W and 2 Rad Sp.W. A later gliederung dated 17/1/45 from the unit while in Hungary showing annotations of losses / changes shows 3 le.Pz.Sp.Wg in the stab. Both of these documents appear in the unit history of 6th Panzer Division ‘Brennpunkt’ Wolfgang Paul Biblio Verlag 1984.

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Beginning to to look into the origin of the Sd.Kfz.250/3

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Corporate Membership available on application.

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