Pz.Sfl. II
Encyclopedia
The Panzer-Selbstfahrlafette II — 7.5 cm Kanone L/41 auf Zugkraftwagen 5t (HKP 902), to use its full name, was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 tank destroyer used during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Only two prototypes were built and sent to North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

 for troop trials. Neither survived the experience.

Design

Development began in 1936 when Büssing-NAG was given a contract to develop an advanced half-track
Half-track
A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels on the front for steering, and caterpillar tracks on the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cross-country capabilities of a tank and the handling...

 chassis with a rear-mounted engine specifically designed for use as a tank destroyer
Tank destroyer
A tank destroyer is a type of armored fighting vehicle armed with a gun or missile launcher, and is designed specifically to engage enemy armored vehicles...

. Four prototypes of the HKP 902 chassis, No. 9009-2012, were built, two of which had Rheinmetall-Borsig's 7.5 centimetres (3 in) L/40.8 gun mounted in an open-topped, low-profile turret.

The gun could depress 8° and elevate 20°. It fired a 6.8 kilograms (15 lb) K.Gr. rot Pz. (APCBC
APCBC
The armour-piercing capped ballistic cap is a type of armor-piercing shell introduced in the 1930s.-Development:The APCBC munition type was an evolutionary development of the early war armour-piercing capped shell, itself an evolution of the more basic AP and APHE shell types...

) shell with a muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...

 of 685 metres per second (2,247.4 ft/s) and a 5.85 kilograms (12.9 lb) Sprenggranate (HE
He
He is a third-person, singular personal pronoun in Modern English, as well as being a personal pronoun in Middle English.-Animals:...

) shell at 485 metres per second (1,591.2 ft/s). It carried 35 rounds on board. The armor protection, designed to be proof against armor-piercing 7.92 millimetre (0.311811023622047 in) bullets, was 20 millimetre (0.78740157480315 in) thick on the vehicle front, 14.5 millimetre (0.570866141732284 in) and 10 millimetre (0.393700787401575 in) on the sides, 10 millimetre (0.393700787401575 in) on the rear, 10.5 millimetre (0.413385826771654 in) on the superstructure roof and 5.5 millimetre (0.216535433070866 in) on the belly.

Combat History

The two prototypes were completed in 1941 and they were organized into a platoon for troop trials with Panzerjäger-Abteilung (Anti-Tank Battalion) 605 of the Afrika Korps
Afrika Korps
The German Africa Corps , or the Afrika Korps as it was popularly called, was the German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II...

. The first vehicle was reported received on 17 January 1942 by Panzerjäger-Abteilung 605, but the second wasn't reported as arrived in Tripoli until 23 February 1942. The platoon was transferred to the Kampfstaffel des Oberbefehlshaber Panzerarmee Afrika (Rommel's personal battle group) on 8 March 1942. Only one vehicle was reported operational on 25 May at the start of Operation Venezia
Operation Venezia
Operation Venezia was a Second World War operation in which Erwin Rommel moved a large portion of his forces around Bir Hakeim, the southern most part of the British Gazala Line, soon after the start of the Battle of Gazala....

; the other had been captured by the British, as documented by undated photographs. Shortly afterwards, on 5 June, the Kampfstaffel reported that the other vehicle had been lost after knocking out three tanks. No further references were made to the Pz.Sfl. II.
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