Prezados,
Chegou a hora de definir que veículo será reproduzido e optei por um SdKfz 251/21 da 12ª Divisão Blindada da SS, tomando como base um fragmento da história dessa unidade, que chamou a minha atenção anos atrás. O mesmo foi retirado do livro “The 12th SS – The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division” (editado por J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, 1994 e Stackpole Books, 2005), obra monumental em dois volumes de Hubert Meyer, chefe de estado-maior dessa divisão entre 1943 e o final da guerra.
O episódio em questão ocorreu na madrugada de 21 para 22 de fevereiro de 1945, na Hungria, e tomo a liberdade de reproduzir algumas partes a seguir, usando o texto original em inglês.
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Chapter 9.4
The Division in the Offensive against the Soviet Bridgehead at Gran from 17 to 24 February 1945. ………
The reconnaissance of the various positions resulted in the following picture. The village of Bart was heavily fortified. To the north of the town was a deeply staggered system of positions, ahead of it a mine field. Large numbers of light and heavy machine guns, mortars and anti-tank guns were in position. The terrain for attack undulated lightly, crossed by individual creeks which flow into the Gran, and completely without cover, except for shocks of corn. Hence, only a night attack had any prospect of success.
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At approximately 04.45 hours, the II Panzerabteilung started its attack on Bart after having assembled in a valley north of the town. German artillery, rocket launchers and mortars concentrated heavy fire on the identified enemy positions. Just before the Panzers reached the first positions, they drove into a Soviet mine field. Several Panzers, among them also that of Hauptsturmführer Siegel, were stopped with damage to the tracks. The damage was repaired under enemy fire. The Panzers rolled back to the rear slope. A number of Soviet anti-tank guns were fired at from those positions and destroyed. The grenadiers, in particular those of Regiment 25, suffered considerable losses from the fire of enemy artillery, Stalinorgeln, and mortars.
The 9.Kompanie of Schützenpanzerbattalion III./26, in action farthest to the left (east), was able to roll forward outside of the Soviet mine field. It came under heavy anti-tank fire from the left flank.
It pinned the enemy down with its 2cm triple and single barrel guns and overran the anti-tank gun positions. The other armored personnel carriers continued to advance on Bart, led by Obersturmführer Dieter Schmidt. A number of the vehicles got stuck in a creek bed. Three armored personnel carriers with the Unterscharführers Hans-Günther Drost, E.Franke, O. Schnittke and Günther Burdack broke into the village from the north. They were effectively supported by fire from German Panzers. The armored personnel carriers pushed past the church and on to the southern edge of the village. The report of Günther Burdack stated:
"……The village was shocked with enemy vehicles. The tracer shells from the 2cm guns had a devastating effect.
The loaders and radio operators could not insert the belts into the belt boxes of the triple barrel guns quickly enough. Several T-34s and T-43s, still inside the town, forced the armored personnel carriers into cover. Günther Drost tried, driving backwards, to push down the door of a barn in order to get out of firing range of a T-34. He was surprised to find that another T-34 was sitting inside. The driver had been wounded in the leg; the rest of the crew had disappeared. The Russian tanks, without securing infantry fire, left the town in the direction of Beny…….”
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The battle for the Gran bridgehead was evaluated in the war diary of Heeresgruppe Süd as follows:
…. After eight days of fighting, with high losses to both sides, operation “Südwind” resulted in the total elimination of the enemy Gran bridgehead.
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Sendo assim, vou tentar reproduzir um SdKfz 251/21 da referida 9ª Companhia. Como não encontrei referências sobre os veículos dessa unidade, tomei como base as características de alguns similares nessa época: números e cruzes em três posições (laterais e porta traseira), emblema da divisão em duas posições (frente à esquerda e traseira à direita) e licença também em duas posições (painel frontal e pára-lama traseiro esquerdo).
Nas fotos a seguir temos a aplicação das marcações, a primeira fase do desgaste, a montagem das rodas e lagartas, a montagem das demais peças e o veículo pronto, faltando apenas uma sessão de desgaste e a última série de fotos.
Até breve.
Abraços,
Paulo Roberto
