German four barrel AAMG?

[dlazov]

Found this on the 251/21

They were single operated, from inside the hull, protected by a partial turret (open to the rear). They were chiefly employed by the 45th Panzerdivision reconnaissance units (3 per Panzergrenadier battalion) on the Western front, and in practice dealt very often against soft skin ground targets on the spot, thanks to their excellent accuracy.

Source:
https://www.google.com/amp/www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/nazi_germany/SdKfz-251_Hanomag.php/amp/

However this source list totals. I’ll have to look up my Tanklette issues later:

http://www.pietvanhees.nl/251/04-251-aa-strenght.htm

And:

http://www.pietvanhees.nl/251/04-251-21.htm

 

[Tesgora]

I’m reading book passage for a potential Finnish - German scenario in October 1944.

The Finnish description refers to an “four barrel anti aircraft machine gun”. The closest I can think of is a Flakviering, of course this is a 20mm cannon and would be quite powerful... is there anything else Germans used that would fit to this description?

I think you are correct in your deduction. There is already an official ASL scenario by Lars Thuring (Taking Some Flak, J192) set on 28 October 1944 that features a German SdKfz 7/1 (ASL vehicle note 90) in the hands of the German Nord Division during its fighting withdrawal against the Finns toward Norway. This is a Flakviering mounted on an unarmored halftrack. I also remember reading an account of the Nord Division in Finland that mentioned that seemed to be a SdKfz 7/1 in use against Soviet infantry. How this German mountain infantry division got hold of such a vehicle that is usually reserved for armored divisions is still a mystery to me.

 

[Eagle4ty]

I think you are correct in your deduction. There is already an official ASL scenario by Lars Thuring (Taking Some Flak, J192) set on 28 October 1944 that features a German SdKfz 7/1 (ASL vehicle note 90) in the hands of the German Nord Division during its fighting withdrawal against the Finns toward Norway. This is a Flakviering mounted on an unarmored halftrack. I also remember reading an account of the Nord Division in Finland that mentioned that seemed to be a SdKfz 7/1 in use against Soviet infantry. How this German mountain infantry division got hold of such a vehicle that is usually reserved for armored divisions is still a mystery to me.

The SdKfz 7 series ht was a pretty ubiquitous vehicle, a prime mover, HQ vehicle, etc., to find one in any theater with a field modification certainly wouldn't be out of a reasonable possibility. Perhaps the designation of SdKfz 7/1 was used in your example because it most closely resembled that vehicle or perhaps someone in the maintenance/logistical chain was able to procure/modify an existing SdKfz 7 to that specification.

 

[Tesgora]

The SdKfz 7 series ht was a pretty ubiquitous vehicle, a prime mover, HQ vehicle, etc., to find one in any theater with a field modification certainly wouldn't be out of a reasonable possibility. Perhaps the designation of SdKfz 7/1 was used in your example because it most closely resembled that vehicle or perhaps someone in the maintenance/logistical chain was able to procure/modify an existing SdKfz 7 to that specification.

You are correct it could be a field modification made locally instead of being issued centrally. I used the term 'SdKfz 7/1' because this is what is featured in Taking Some Flak (J192) and this is what I understood it to be when I read a similar account. I have never seen a picture of the vehicle in the hands of the Nord Division so I can only rely on written sources that did not use the official nomenclature.

 

[Paul M. Weir]

Though the various unarmoured AA h/t were preferentially given to Panzer, Panzer Grenadier and Motorised divisions, they were not exclusive to same. Early in the war the SdKfz 6/2 and almost identical SdKfz 7/2 (both with the 3.7cm FlaK) were more likely seen in Luftwaffe FlaK Abteilung (battalions) that were parcelled out to the Heer divisions and Corps. This was a result of the feudal infighting for status amongst the Nazi hierarchy. By late '41 onwards they were more often issued directly to Heer and SS own FlaK units.

So I would not be totally surprised to see some unarmoured h/t FlaK in partly or non motorised units, including Nord. Armoured h/t would be a different matter.