Not in its intended use ...
Among the meagre concessions made towards Germany as far as armoured vehicles were concerned by the Versailles Treaty was permission to operate 100 armoured cars specifically for police use. The result was the Daimler-designed, machine-gun armed Schupo Sonderwagen 21, an example of which is seen here. It is perhaps a sign of the times that the contract for construction was divided between 3 companies - Daimler, Erhardt and Mercedes Benz. Total production was about 90, confined to the 1920-'21 period. Erhardt followed the model supplied by Daimler closely, so that only minor differences appear between models produced by the various companies. This 'photo has a couple of points of interest. Notwithstanding the fact that it was produced in the early 1920s, this 'photo was clearly taken during the Third Reich period and, very probably, in the latter part of the war; note the policeman's uniform and the civilian clothing. This is significant because it had been thought that any of these vehicles surviving into the 1930s were converted into Gepanzerter Mannschaftransportwagen MTW Sd. Kfz 3, an unarmed armoured personnel carrier produced (again, in very small numbers) for the Reichswehr in the early 1930s. However, a small number clearly survived in their original form - if only because one of their number finally met its end in the grounds of the Reichstag in Berlin, April, 1945. The "21" in this 'photo is such a survivor - perhaps the very one found wrecked at the Reichstag. Best regards, JR.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://ww2incolor.com/gallery/german-forces/46876/not-in-its-intended-use-...
