Inside Track – The Weald Foundation https://www.wealdfoundation.org Fri, 22 May 2026 13:39:45 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/app/uploads/2026/05/cropped-Weald-Icon-1-32x32.png Inside Track – The Weald Foundation https://www.wealdfoundation.org 32 32 Militracks 2026: The Sd.Kfz.223 returns to Overloon https://www.wealdfoundation.org/inside-track/militracks-2026-the-sd-kfz-223-returns-to-overloon/ Fri, 22 May 2026 13:39:13 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=29956 Our first return to Militracks since 2019 saw the newly camouflaged Sd.Kfz.223 run daily on the one mile track at the Oorlogsmuseum Overloon. We drew strong interest from visitors, trialled loaned radio equipment in the field, and met some wonderful enthusiasts along the way.

The post Militracks 2026: The Sd.Kfz.223 returns to Overloon appeared first on The Weald Foundation.

]]> The Balkenkreuz on the Sd.Kfz.222: Orders and Practice https://www.wealdfoundation.org/inside-track/balkenkreuz-sdkfz222-orders-and-practice/ Fri, 15 May 2026 11:00:00 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=29929 H.M. 1939 Nr. 770 was clear: white bars only, outline cross, no black. A review of period photographs of German armoured cars tells a more varied story -- two different interpretations of bar spacing, rear crosses smaller than ordered, and by around 1942, a black centre cross that no order ever specified. This article applies the regulatory chain to the Foundation's Sd.Kfz.222 and looks at what crews actually painted.

The post The Balkenkreuz on the Sd.Kfz.222: Orders and Practice appeared first on The Weald Foundation.

]]> Balkenkreuz: The October 1939 Amendment https://www.wealdfoundation.org/inside-track/balkenkreuz-the-october-1939-amendment/ Fri, 08 May 2026 19:54:21 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=29864 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.

The post Balkenkreuz: The October 1939 Amendment appeared first on The Weald Foundation.

]]> Balkenkreuz: The July 1939 Tank Specification https://www.wealdfoundation.org/inside-track/balkenkreuz-the-july-1939-tank-specification/ Fri, 01 May 2026 08:53:59 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=29802 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.

The post Balkenkreuz: The July 1939 Tank Specification appeared first on The Weald Foundation.

]]> Sd.Kfz.223: 1939 External Paint Treatment – Part V https://www.wealdfoundation.org/inside-track/sd-kfz-223-1939-external-paint-treatment-part-v/ Fri, 24 Apr 2026 10:26:35 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=29709 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 post Sd.Kfz.223: 1939 External Paint Treatment – Part V appeared first on The Weald Foundation.

]]> Spring Members Open Day – Friday, 8 May 2026 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/inside-track/spring-members-open-day-friday-8-may-2026/ Thu, 23 Apr 2026 19:42:33 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=29737 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.

The post Spring Members Open Day – Friday, 8 May 2026 appeared first on The Weald Foundation.

]]> Sd.Kfz.223 (Ausf.A) 3.Serie: 1939 External Paint Treatment – Part IV https://www.wealdfoundation.org/inside-track/sd-kfz-223-1939-external-paint-treatment-part-iv/ Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:34:31 +0000 https://www.wealdfoundation.org/?p=29645 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.

The post Sd.Kfz.223 (Ausf.A) 3.Serie: 1939 External Paint Treatment – Part IV appeared first on The Weald Foundation.

]]>