The solid white Balkenkreuz introduced in July 1939 did not outlast its first campaign. Six days after the Polish campaign ended, the Army General Staff wrote to condemn it as a danger to the vehicles it was meant to identify. On 26 October 1939, H.M. Nr. 770 changed the system permanently, removing the front cross entirely and replacing the solid white mark with the outline form that would remain standard for years to come.
In July 1939 the Oberkommando des Heeres issued a classified order establishing the Balkenkreuz on all German armoured vehicles. Accompanying it was Annex 1: a set of individual placement sheets, one per vehicle type, giving the exact dimensions and position of the cross on every tank then in German service. This article opens that annex and works through what it specified, vehicle by vehicle.
At the end of Part IV the Foundation had the regulatory framework but not the specification. The dimensions and placement of the Balkenkreuz on our Sd.Kfz.223 were held in a classified execution order that the published Heeresmitteilungen referred to but never contained. Part V opens that document and works through what it tells us, from the cover sheet to the armoured car appendix that finally gives us what we need.
The Weald Foundation Spring Members Open Day takes place on Friday, 8 May 2026 – a dedicated half-day built around what our members have been asking for. Hear original research on Jagdpanther JP411 provenance and Sd.Kfz armoured car markings, tour the working workshops, and explore the full collection. Places are strictly limited and open to members only.
Every image of a German armoured vehicle from the Polish campaign onwards shows a white cross. But which cross, at what size, and where on the hull? For the Foundation’s Sd.Kfz.223 the answers had to be established from primary sources before the crosses could be painted. Part IV sets out the regulatory trail followed to get them.
In February 1945, the Heereswaffenamt set in motion a project to give the Jagdpanther an automatic loading system. Three primary documents record its brief life. Two photographs show the hardware existed. The war ended before anything more could happen.
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