DESCRIPTION

G917T Truppenluftschutzwagen

A large portion of the Wehrmacht’s truck fleet during World War II consisted of 3-ton cargo vehicles. One such model was the G917T, which had been produced at the Ford plants in Cologne, Germany, since 1939. These trucks were widely used across many units of the German army and on various fronts until the end of the war. Between 1939 and 1941, approximately 25,000 G917T trucks were produced.

Some of these vehicles were converted into improvised self-propelled anti-aircraft platforms (similar conversions were also made with other Wehrmacht vehicles, such as the Opel Blitz or the half-track V3000S/SSM). Anti-aircraft guns were mounted in the cargo beds of these trucks, sometimes placed on special platforms or directly on the truck bed. For firing, the side panels of the truck were either folded down or completely removed.

Such conversions often used the 2 cm Flak 38 anti-aircraft gun, which entered service with Wehrmacht AA units in the second half of 1940. With a reliable design and a high rate of fire (up to 480 rounds per minute), the 2 cm Flak 38 proved to be an effective weapon for close-range air defense. In addition to engaging aircraft, it was also capable of targeting lightly armored ground threats.