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Showing posts with the label Opel Maultier

Panzerwerfer: German Half-track Rocket Launcher

15 cm Panzerwerfer 42 (SdKfz 4/1) Opel "Maultier."   The German Panzerwerfer is one of two different types of half-tracked multiple rocket launchers employed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. The two self-propelled artillery vehicles are the 15 cm Panzerwerfer 42 auf Selbstfahrlafette Sd.Kfz.4/1 (based on the Opel Maultier, or "mule," half-track) and 15 cm Panzerwerfer 42 auf Schwerer Wehrmachtsschlepper (or Panzerwerfer auf SWS). The Panzerwerfer 42 auf Maultier, Sd.Kfz. 4/1, first went into production in April 1943, and was produced until March 1945. Hitler called for production of the vehicle in January 1942, and the vehicle saw its first tests on the Eastern Front in fall of 1943. Opel was the main manufacturer, producing most of the components, including the 3.6 liter, 6 cylinder Adam Opel engine, which had 68 horsepower and an 80-liter fuel capacity. Throughout the three years it was produced, 300 Panzerwerfers and 289 of its variant, the Muniti...