German motorized snow vehicles?
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Valhalla
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German motorized snow vehicles?
Sven Hassel describes in his books "motorized snow vehicles or sleds", which his characters used in Russian front. Were there any or are there only existing in his books?
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Christian Ankerstjerne
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The Russians used motorized sleds, but I do not know of any German use of these. As for motorized vehicles, he might be thinking of Ostketten, which was add-on tracks for standard vehicles.
You must know, than Sven Hazzle did never fight in Tigers or Panthers, and was not even a part of the SS. He was a gunner on an anti-tank gun, as far as I can remember - and his books are either made up amost completely, or stolen from other authors.
Christian
You must know, than Sven Hazzle did never fight in Tigers or Panthers, and was not even a part of the SS. He was a gunner on an anti-tank gun, as far as I can remember - and his books are either made up amost completely, or stolen from other authors.
Christian
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sdkfz182
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Valhalla
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thanks Benno!
An excellent picture, thank you very much! I think I have read about these vehicles in some finnish war novel, but I'm not sure, which one.
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Robert Hurst
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German Motorised Snow Vehicles
Hi Valhalla
Just read you post on the above, and I thought you'd be interested in this.
Light Fighting Vehicles
Probably the most unusual fighting vehicles to be employed by the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War were the aerosans. These were light sled vehicles, propelled across snow by old aeroplane engines and propellers. The OSGA-6 and KM-5 aerosans were used during the war against Finland. They were of plywood construction and were used mainly to transport supplies when the snow was too deep for wheeled or tracked transport. Some of the OSGA-6 (also known later as the NKL-6) had small machine-gun ring mounts added to the roof and were used for raiding. Four or five men could be carried inside and four men could be towed on skis.
During the war, the improved NKL-16/41 and NKL-16/42 aerosans were produced at the Narkomles Factory in Moscow. They proved so useful in the winter of 1941-42 that responsibility for their design and production was transferred to the GABTU. Production was undertaken by the ZiS and GAZ automobile factories as well as by smaller firms such as the Bekietovskiy Wood Works in Stalingrad. In December 1941, GABTU commissioned the Narkomles Factory to design an armoured version of the NKL-16 which could be used in the winter for scouting and raiding in snow too deep to permit the use of tanks and armoured cars. The design team headed by M. Andreyev developed the NKL-26 armoured aerosan. Its armour was limited to 10 mm armour plate on the front, because the limited tractive force of the propeller would not permit greater weight. Aerosans, like tanks, were generally organised into battalions, the usual strength being 45 aerosans in three companies. The NKL-26 was usually deployed in company strength formations.
In 1942, the Narkoryechflota in Gorki develped an even smaller, unarmoured aerosan, the RF-8 (GAZ-98), powered by a GAZ-M1 lorry engine. It was completely open and armed with a DT machine-gun in a forward gun tub. Like the NKL-26, it was used for scouting and raiding but had no armour at all. The aerosans were especially prominent in northern areas, and areas featuring frozen lakes or rivers were favoured because aerosans had very limited ability to climb even shallow hills.
The captions for the two attached photos are as follows:
Top. The NKL-26 was a lightly armed aerosan used for winter raiding, ans was armed with a single 7.62 mm DT machine-gun in an open scarf-ring mounted on the roof.
Bottom. An NKL-16/41 aerosan in operation in 1942. Although this version of the aerosan was used mainly for transport, a machine-gun ring mount could be fitted to the roof for raiding and patrolling.
The text and two photos were taken from 'Soviet Tanks amd Combat Vehicles of World War Two', by Steven J Zaloga and James Grandsen.
Regards
Bob
Just read you post on the above, and I thought you'd be interested in this.
Light Fighting Vehicles
Probably the most unusual fighting vehicles to be employed by the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War were the aerosans. These were light sled vehicles, propelled across snow by old aeroplane engines and propellers. The OSGA-6 and KM-5 aerosans were used during the war against Finland. They were of plywood construction and were used mainly to transport supplies when the snow was too deep for wheeled or tracked transport. Some of the OSGA-6 (also known later as the NKL-6) had small machine-gun ring mounts added to the roof and were used for raiding. Four or five men could be carried inside and four men could be towed on skis.
During the war, the improved NKL-16/41 and NKL-16/42 aerosans were produced at the Narkomles Factory in Moscow. They proved so useful in the winter of 1941-42 that responsibility for their design and production was transferred to the GABTU. Production was undertaken by the ZiS and GAZ automobile factories as well as by smaller firms such as the Bekietovskiy Wood Works in Stalingrad. In December 1941, GABTU commissioned the Narkomles Factory to design an armoured version of the NKL-16 which could be used in the winter for scouting and raiding in snow too deep to permit the use of tanks and armoured cars. The design team headed by M. Andreyev developed the NKL-26 armoured aerosan. Its armour was limited to 10 mm armour plate on the front, because the limited tractive force of the propeller would not permit greater weight. Aerosans, like tanks, were generally organised into battalions, the usual strength being 45 aerosans in three companies. The NKL-26 was usually deployed in company strength formations.
In 1942, the Narkoryechflota in Gorki develped an even smaller, unarmoured aerosan, the RF-8 (GAZ-98), powered by a GAZ-M1 lorry engine. It was completely open and armed with a DT machine-gun in a forward gun tub. Like the NKL-26, it was used for scouting and raiding but had no armour at all. The aerosans were especially prominent in northern areas, and areas featuring frozen lakes or rivers were favoured because aerosans had very limited ability to climb even shallow hills.
The captions for the two attached photos are as follows:
Top. The NKL-26 was a lightly armed aerosan used for winter raiding, ans was armed with a single 7.62 mm DT machine-gun in an open scarf-ring mounted on the roof.
Bottom. An NKL-16/41 aerosan in operation in 1942. Although this version of the aerosan was used mainly for transport, a machine-gun ring mount could be fitted to the roof for raiding and patrolling.
The text and two photos were taken from 'Soviet Tanks amd Combat Vehicles of World War Two', by Steven J Zaloga and James Grandsen.
Regards
Bob
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Christian Ankerstjerne
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Mark V
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That Tatra snowslead really looks like genuine Tatra !! 
Nice curiosity, thanks.
pic from: http://213.84.134.46/ccpa/others.htm
Nice curiosity, thanks.
pic from: http://213.84.134.46/ccpa/others.htm