Why did German manufacturers go tread crazy?

[Disco58]

There seems to be a preponderance of tracked vehicles in the inventory. Why? Tanks, tank destroyers and other vehicles of that size I can see, but what about the little stuff like the Kettenkraftrad. What warped mind would design what's almost a motorcycle and put tracks on it?! That baby had to be fun to steer I think! There's another one that looks about like a 1/3 scale Tiger, and only has a machine gun I think, or a 20mm at the most for armament. Some of these remind me of a platypus...just a twisted practical joke that couldn't be taken back.

[Mike Delano]

There seems to be a preponderance of tracked vehicles in the inventory. Why? Tanks, tank destroyers and other vehicles of that size I can see, but what about the little stuff like the Kettenkraftrad. What warped mind would design what's almost a motorcycle and put tracks on it?! That baby had to be fun to steer I think! There's another one that looks about like a 1/3 scale Tiger, and only has a machine gun I think, or a 20mm at the most for armament. Some of these remind me of a platypus...just a twisted practical joke that couldn't be taken back.

 

 

I think that being more of a small tractor, the 'why' would be that the kettenkrad was a very purpose driven vehicle - while you wouldn't have seen it used a a transport vehicle, it was more of a workhorse utility vehicle - as a tug for A/C, for example.

[ClareWentzel]

A friend of mine in Brazil, Paul Baumgartl of the Heliofly fame, once told me that he rode one most of the way across Russia, back from Stalingrad. When going cross country, extra traction is a plus.

[MBrzezicki]

Mud in Russia is the reason.

[tom]

The kettenlrad was designed to tow light artillay like the short barreled 7.5cm.

[pyrman]

It was designed for the Fallschirmjaeger as a gun tractor. It was also the only gun tractor small enough to be delivered by Ju-52 aircraft.

[DLMatthys]

German Engineering...

Yeah aint it cool!