The Weald Foundation https://www.wealdfoundation.org Sat, 20 Jun 2026 23:23:25 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/app/uploads/2026/05/cropped-Weald-Icon-1-32x32.png The Weald Foundation https://www.wealdfoundation.org 32 32 WORKSHOP DISPATCH – 15–19 JUNE 2026 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/workshop/workshop-dispatch-15-19-june-2026/ Sat, 20 Jun 2026 23:23:22 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=30066 Final preparations for Tankfest 2026 are underway, with the Jagdpanther and Sturmgeschütz III moved into position in the Collection Hall. The Wheatcroft Collection Sd.Kfz.223 bearing issue has been resolved, work continues on the Australian LP1 MG Carrier fuel tanks, and the replacement fuel pump diaphragm has arrived for the Sd.Kfz.222. The team also helped move the Cranbrook memorial howitzer, a future restoration project on loan to the Foundation, and began filming the first in a new series of videos for the Foundation's YouTube channel.

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]]> StuG III Ausf.G: An Assault Gun That Hunted Tanks https://www.wealdfoundation.org/inside-track/stug-iii-ausf-g-assault-gun/ Sat, 20 Jun 2026 22:53:26 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=30058 The Weald Foundation's StuG III Ausf. G, known as the 'Black Sea StuG', was lost at sea in 1943 on its way to an artillery unit in the Crimea. By then the type carried a gun that made it one of the war's most effective tank-killers, yet it was still designated a Sturmgeschütz, an assault gun, rather than a Panzerjäger or Jagdpanzer. Drawing on a wartime naming memorandum, this article explains why the German army let the name stand apart from the weapon's true role.

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]]> WORKSHOP DISPATCH – 8–12 JUNE 2026 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/workshop/workshop-dispatch-8-12-june-2026/ Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:18:37 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=30043 Both armoured cars now have their Balkenkreuz painted, the TWC 223 took its first test drive, and progress continues on the Australian LP1 MG Carrier. Next week, the Jagdpanther and StuG III come out for cleaning ahead of Tankfest 2026.

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]]> Sd.Kfz.250/3 Ausf.B: New Evidence from the Archives https://www.wealdfoundation.org/inside-track/sdkfz-250-3-ausf-b-new-evidence-from-archives/ Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:18:33 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=30037 On 23 August 1944, twenty-five leichte Schützenpanzerwagen departed for 6. Panzer-Division. On 28 and 30 September, another thirty followed. These dispatches, documented in the records of the Generalinspekteur der Panzertruppen, are the equipment inputs to a Vollausstattung programme due to complete on 15 October 1944. Part 3 of the revisited provenance research on the Foundation's Sd.Kfz.250/3 Ausf.B brings the three documents together and shows where they leave the chassis-to-unit link.

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]]> WORKSHOP DISPATCH – 1–5 JUNE 2026 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/workshop/workshop-dispatch-1-5-june-2026/ Fri, 05 Jun 2026 11:32:58 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=30028 The Wheatcroft Collection Sd.Kfz.223 is now ready for its first test drive, with original Atemschlauch being restored for our Sd.Kfz.223. The team also collected Avgas ready for upcoming test runs of the StuG III and Jagdpanther. Tankfest 2026 is just three weeks away.

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]]> Leichter Schützenpanzerwagen Sd.Kfz.250/3 Ausf.B: Tracing the Vehicle Through 6. Panzer-Division https://www.wealdfoundation.org/inside-track/sd-kfz-250-3-ausf-b-tracing-the-vehicle-through-6-panzer-division/ Fri, 05 Jun 2026 10:53:40 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=30016 In Part 1 we read what the vehicle itself can tell us. Part 2 turns to the documentary record. Working through the Kriegsstärkenachweisungen that bracket where a Sd.Kfz.250/3 should sit within a Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung, the actual strength returns of Pz.A.A 6 showing four Sd.Kfz.250/3 on hand at the end of December 1944, and the path of 6. Panzer-Division from its summer 1944 refit through to Hungary and the eventual withdrawal to Austria in March 1945.

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]]> Leichter Schützenpanzerwagen Sd.Kfz.250/3 Ausf.B: The Survivor and Its Markings https://www.wealdfoundation.org/inside-track/sdkfz-250-3-ausf-b-survivor-and-markings/ Fri, 29 May 2026 15:36:05 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=30009 The Foundation's Sd.Kfz.250/3 Ausf.B is returning to the workshop programme, and with it the provenance research Mike began in April 2016. This first instalment in a renewed series revisits what the vehicle itself can be made to tell us. The condition of the hull when it came out of the ground in Hungary. The data plate read by Tom Jentz, with chassis 410071, body 3617, and the lsb assembler code. The shield of the 6. Panzer-Division on the rear access door, in its particular orientation. Part 1 of the renewed series.

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