Military Vehicles

The origin of the  SDKFZ 135/1 actually lay with a French Military Vehicle, the Tracteur Blinde 37L (Lorraine).

This served as a French armoured personnel carrier and artillery tractor, and a total of 315 were captured by the Germans when French was occupied in 1940.

Initially the vehicles were converted into self-propelled anti-tank guns – the original crew compartment was removed and replace by a gun shield and a PaK 40/1 L-46 75mm (2.95in) cannon.

This vehicles was the SdKfz 135.  the 135/1 variant was of similar construction but mounted a 150mm (5.9in) howitzer.

All such converted vehicles suffered from thin upper armour, and the crew were especially vulnerable to altillery or air attack.

Country of Origin    :Germany
Crew                       :5
Weight                    :8100kg (17,900lb)
Dimension              :Length: 5.31m(17.42ft); width: 1.88m(6.17ft); height 2.08m(6.82ft)
Range                     :135km (85miles)
Armour                   :Not available
Armament              :1 x 150mm(5.9in) howitzer
Powerplant             :1 x Delahaye 103 TT diesel, developing 75hp (59kW)
Performance           :Maximum road speed: 34km/h (21mph)