Sd . Kfz . 8 The " Sonderkraftfahrzeug " 8 ( " special motorized vehicle 8 " ) was a German half - track that saw widespread use in World War II . Its main roles were as a prime mover for heavy towed guns such as the 21 cm Mörser 18 , the 15 cm Kanone 18 and the 10 . 5 cm FlaK 38 . Approximately 4 , 000 were produced between 1938 and 1945 . It was used in every campaign fought by the Germans in World War II , notably the Invasion of Poland , the Battle of France , the Balkans Campaign , the Eastern Front , the North African Campaign , the Battle of Normandy and the Italian Campaign . Description . The " Sd . Kfz . 8 " had a ladder frame chassis . Power was provided by a Maybach 12 - cylinder , water - cooled , 8 . 52 litre ( 520 cu in ) " HL 85 TUKRM " gasoline engine of . It had a semi - automatic ZF transmission with four forward and one reverse gears . The driver selected the desired gear and initiated the shift by depressing the clutch . It had two fuel tanks , one of and the other of capacity . Both tracks and wheels were used for steering . The steering system was set up so that shallow turns used only the wheels , but brakes would be applied to the tracks the farther the steering wheel was turned . The drive sprocket had rollers rather than the more common teeth . The rear suspension consisted of six double roadwheels , overlapping and interleaved in the usual " Schachtellaufwerk " system used for German half - track vehicles , mounted on swing arms sprung by torsion bars . An idler wheel , mounted at the rear of the vehicle , was used to control track tension . The front wheels had leaf springs and shock absorbers . The upper body had a crew compartment with three bench seats , one for the driver and his assistant , and two others for the crew . The rear cargo area contained storage compartments , one on each side and two in the rear . The windshield could fold forward and was also removable . A convertible canvas top was mounted above the rear storage compartments . It fastened to the windshield when erected . The " Sd . Kfz . 8 " was initially designed to have a towing capacity of , but the wartime " DB 10 " could tow . Design and development . Preliminary design of all the German half - tracks of the early part of the war was done by Dipl . Ing . Ernst Kniepkamp of the " Military Automotive Department " ( " Wa Prüf 6 " ) before the Nazis took power in 1933 . His designs were then turned over to commercial firms for development and testing . Daimler - Benz had been working on its own half - track design during 1931 — 32 , the " ZD . 5 " . It weighed , used a twelve - cylinder , Maybach " DSO 8 " gasoline engine and its upper body had three bench seats behind the driver . Its suspension was based on the World War I - era " Marienwagen II " and bore absolutely no relation to the interleaved roadwheels and torsion bars used by the various models of the " Sd . Kfz . 8 " . Daimler - Benz combined the best of both designs in the " DB s7 " prototype which appeared in 1934 . It used the same engine as the " ZD . 5 " , but otherwise bore little resemblance to the older model other than an upper body that had two bench seats for the crew behind the driver ' s seat . This upper body remained the same over the life of the " Sd . Kfz . 8 " . It weighed and could pull loads of . An improved version was introduced in 1936 as the " DB s8 " . The heavier ( ) " DB 9 " model appeared in 1938 . It used the Maybach " HL 85 TUKRM " engine , could carry a payload and could tow a load . Daimler - Benz tried unsuccessfully to use their diesel " OM 48 / 1 " engine , but it was repeatedly rejected by the " Army Weapons Office " . The " DB 10 " was a refined version of the " DB 9 " and was introduced in October 1939 and was produced for the duration of the war . Variants . Ten " 8 . 8 cm Flak 18 " anti - aircraft guns were mounted on pedestals on " DB s8 " and " DB 9 " chassis in 1939 as the " 8 . 8 cm Flak 18 ( Sfl . ) auf Zugkraftwagen 12t ( Sd . Kfz . 8 ) " for anti - tank duties . A gun shield was provided for the 88 , but the gun crew had no other protection . The driver ' s cab was replaced by a lower , armored cupola and the engine compartment was lightly ( ) armored . The vehicle weighed , was long , tall and wide . The gun could fire directly ahead without any problem , but traverse was limited to 151° to each side by the gun shield . Elevation was between - 3° and + 15° . All ten were assigned to the first company of the anti - tank battalion " Panzerjäger - Abteilung 8 " which participated in the Invasion of Poland in 1939 , the Battle of France in 1940 and Operation Barbarossa in 1941 . The company was redesignated as " Panzerjäger - Kompanie " ( " Anti - Tank Company " ) 601 in January 1942 and then as the third company of Anti - Tank Battalion 559 the following April . It reported that the last three vehicles had been lost by March 1943 . Production and use . Daimler - Benz and Krupp were the main builders of the " Sd . Kfz . 8 " during the war , but Krauss - Maffei produced 315 in 1940 — 41 and Škoda joined in the last years of the war . 1615 were on hand on 20 December 1942 . 507 were built in 1943 and 602 in 1944 . Approximately 4000 were built in total . The " Sd . Kfz . 8 " was used by Czechoslovakia after the war , but it is not known if production continued at Škoda or when they were finally discarded . Unlike most of the other German half - tracks , the " Sd . Kfz . 8 " was almost always used as a tractor for heavy artillery pieces and was not modified for other roles .