Numerical Confusion

Ever since I first started thinking about starting a Schwere Panzer Company from Hammer & Sickle, one thing has bothered me: the Schwere Panzer Armoured Scout Platoon. In the book each team in the platoon is assigned a Sd Kfz 251/1C half-track to ride in. The first thing that bothered me about this is that the 1C variant is the earlier variant that was replaced in the late war and has not appeared in any other late war list that I'm aware of. Certainly there were still plenty of 1C half-tracks being used, but they haven't appeared in the FoW lists until now. The second thing that bothered me was that the 251/1 and 1C are squad carriers. They carry complete squads and a single team would have a lot of extra room in one. The third thing that bothered me was that there was no specific entry in the German Arsenal section for the 251/1C, but that wasn't conclusive because the 251 and the 251/C have the same stats.

So, I figured that maybe BF had come across some TO&E information that indicated the 505 Schwere Panzer had been equiped with the 251/1C during Bagration, and that's why they were listed with it. The thing is, I have many of the same sources that BF has access to and after going through what I had there was nothing indicating that this was the case. Finally, I got a copy of Sledgehammers by Christopher W. Wilbeck, and there on page 144 was a picture of a Sd Kfz 250 with the caption indicating that each Heavy Tank Batallion had 7 of them for carrying the armored reconnaissance platoon, with each having five troopers and a non-com assigned to them.

Going back to the German Arsenal section I see that there is indeed an entry for the Sd Kfz 250, and I can't find any other units in Hammer & Sickle that use it.

Sd Kfz 250/1 alte

This seems to confirm my suspicion that BF made an error in the listings, probably simply due to cutting and pasting the wrong item. However, there is one more possibility. In trying to find out which version of the Sd Kfz 250 (there are two possibilities, which I'll get into later) was more likely fielded in June/July 1944 I stumbled across a photo that confuses matters. There's a picture in Tigers In Combat I that shows a Sd Kfz 251/1C next to a Tiger I and describes it as belonging to the reconnaissance platoon. The picture is undated, but both vehicles are in winter colors and the Tiger lacks zimmerit coating which places the picture in the winter of '43. In the same book there's an entry for 4 April 1944 that 7 SPWs were received to form the reconnaissance platoon, so even if it was equipped with 251/1Cs in the winter of '43, they were apparently replaced with the 250s in April '44.

Sd Kfz 251/1C

Fortunately, in game terms there's no difference between a 251/1 a 251/1C or a 250, so a written errata seems unnecessary, although it would still be welcome. Unfortunately, it means that none of my existing half-track models would be appropriate for the force, increasing the cost of building the force by $44 retail. More if I decide to get new infantry as well, rather than using my mid-war Panzergrenadiers, since I won't be using their half-tracks as originally planned.

I also have to decide whether or not to use the old (alte) or new (neu) chassis for the 250/1. A design change was made in late 1943 similar to the change made in the 251 half-track that simplified many elements to make it easier to manufacture. The picture in Sledgehammer is an alte model, but does not say when it was taken, nor what unit it belonged to. In fact, the markings indicate that it's part of an armored car unit rather than a reconnaissance unit, so it's probably just a stock photo rather than a vehicle that belonged to a heavy tank batallion.

Going back to the date in Tigers In Combat I when the 505 received 7 SPWs, 4 April 1944, indicates that it's most likely that the unit had neu model 250s. According to Military Vehicles in Detail: SdKfz 250/1 to 250/12, the neu model went into production in October 1943, although some variants were still being produced with the old chassis until July 1944. It's unclear, but I have to assume that the base model, the 250/1, was the first converted to the new chassis. If that's the case, then the 505 probably received the neu model 250/1 in April '44.

Sd Kfz 250/1 neu

An interesting side note to all this is that in the 1 June 1944 entry, the 505 is listed as having two Panzer IIIs operational. This is interesting because the Panzer IIIs were droped from the TO&E of the 505 almost a year earlier in July 1943! There's no further mention of the 505 having Panzer IIIs after that entry, but assuming the entry is accurate, it's certainly not unthinkable that the 505 might still have had one or two available to them during Bagration. There's no way to officially take them in the list, but adding a couple using the point values from Fortress Europe might be interesting in a friendly game.

One other unrelated bit of information that I've been trying to track down for the 505 is the yellow band around the barrel that BF shows on the tanks in Hammer & Sickle. The sources I have don't confirm the existence of that band. There are photos that show a lack of camo in that area of the barrel, but the only color plate I've located shows it as being the base dunkelgelb color, with merely the absence of camo. It's unclear whether BF has another source that indicates the color was a brighter yellow, or if they simply took artisitic license.