New to forum; questions on German trucks

Hi. I'm a new member and not sure if this is the right forum for this question, I appreciate your patience if it isn't.

I'm researching the massacre at the French town of Oradour sur Glane in June 1944, so that I can depict it in a scale diorama. I know that the detachment of the Waffen SS "Das Reich" division sent two halftracks and 6 "lorries" full of troops into town that day, according to reports from French civilian survivors.

I would like to ensure that I have the proper vehicles for this project, as historical accuracy is important. Does anyone know if a TO&E exists for this division in 1944? Barring that, can anyone confirm or deny whether a Sd.Kfz 251/1 Ausf.D is a viable variant of the halftrack to use? And what variant of truck is a likely candidate? (And please, I'd like something a little more concrete than, "whatever they could get their hands on")

Thanks very much; I'm looking forward to browsing these forums!

John A.

 

You know you might very well be stuck with "whatever they could get their hands on", unfortunately. I say this because they had no standard "truck/lorry" in their auto park. Here is a post I put up awhile back, and it lists (pretty much) all the different units the Germans had at their disposal.

Goto:

http://www.ww2f.com/sacred-cows-dead-horses/36709-truck-production-allies-axis.html

I also have a link (somewhere) which has photos of a great many of those trucks/lorries which they had for use. That link above was to show the great problem the lack of "standardization" created for the German Quartermasters and mechanics. I'll look for the other link of photos if you like.

 

Using the Sdkfz 251/1 would be good to use I believe. Trucks is a difficult one. Trick is to find out what it was assigned. I venture to say that you may find out what types of trucks it used but will not be able which ones were used to get them to Oradour. I am not having any luck finding an answer and this was the closest but no details. Normandy Order of Battle - June 1944. Looking at photos of Das Reich during the Normandy invasion, most of their trucks were of the Opel Blitz type.

Photos of Das Reich halftracks used in France: http://www.network54.com/Forum/4720...ey+Pocket+-+Pathe+film+to+keep+an+eye+out+for

 

Thanks, JW! I will be sure to post pictures of this as well as other dioramas here. Only don't hold your breath - they're YEARS away from completion lol

The first one I'll be finishing is an LCM(3) full of members of the 146th Engineering Combat Battalion landing on Omaha Beach, but that's not too close to done yet either. After that is the Oradour project, and after that will be some of the 4th ID vehicles linking up with stragglers of the 82nd inland of Utah.

Clint, your study of truck models is very impressive! A clear example of how NOT to set up a logistical system. How did you get so interested in that subject?

PzJgr, the order of battle page is just what I was looking for. The mistake I wanted to avoid was to use a (insert make here) and then have someone say, "that truck was only used in the eastern front before 1942" or whatever. Now: what did you mean when you said that the "trick is to find out what it was assigned"? I'm fairly sure I won't be able to figure out which specific vehicles - meaning vehicle ID numbers - but the more defendable the choice is based on research, the better. I do have a little bit more information about the unit that carried out the massacre, if that will help - but I may also need some additional hints about how to read the abbreviations on the order of battle page. Trying to spell "Sd.Kfz" I have to make 6 corrections every time because it's more or less meaningless alphabet soup to me lolol

I'm going to try to explore the other pages of that URL to see if I can find out how authoritative the information is, and maybe contact the people who put it up there.

Thanks very much, guys!

John A.

 

Looking at photos of Das Reich during their tenure during D-Day, I saw three types of trucks used. What I meant was it would be difficult which type of these trucks were actually used specifically on that day. You did point out you wanted accuracy. Just how accurate, I do not know But if you use one of those I would say your diorama would be accurate especially if you know which unit took part. Good luck

 

Here is that link to the photos of the trucks/lorries the different armies used in WW2, if you scroll down to the German section all of those highlighted in blue will have photos of that particular vehicle.

As you can see, it would not matter too much which model from which manufacturer you picked. They (with the exception of the Benz units) rarely had large enough hood markings to tell one from the other. There are both 2x4 and 4x4 units, some with and some without canvas hooped covers.

See:

Oldtimer gallery. Trucks. 1932-1945 (USSR makes till 1967).

BTW, I got interested in the different trucks of the period because I am an old farmer (lots of trucks), and an OTR (over-the-road) truck driver as well. Couple that with a life-long fascination with mechanical devices, and there ya go.