On August 5th, 1940, an order was given to design an eight-wheeled armored car similar in design to the Sd. Kfz. 231. Unlike the previous design, where the armored body was bolted to the chassis, the Sd. Kfz. 234 armored hull was to serve as the chassis, thereby strengthening the overall integrity of the vehicle. Furthermore, the armored car was to have heavier armor and a 12-cylinder air-cooled diesel engine that would enable it to operate in the hot climate of North Africa as well as the cold steppes of western Russia. Two trial versions were built and an initial order was made for 500 vehicles, which was later increased to 1,500. The initial requirement was for a vehicle equipped with the 5cm KwK 39/1 gun (Sd. Kfz. 234/2). In January 1944, the order was cut to limit the Puma production to 100 vehicles so that two new variants could be created, one mounting a 2cm KwK gun and the other a more powerful 7.5cm KwK gun.

The 234/3 variant featured one 7.5cm K51 L/24 gun in an open-topped superstructure replacing the turret. 88 were built between June and December 1944.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a German Sd. Kfz. 234/3 8-wheeled armored car that was attached to Infantry Division Ulrich von Hutten during April 1945. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Length: 3-1/4-inches
Width: 1-1/4-inches

Release Date: June 2014

Historical Account: "Name Change" - The 56.Infanterie Division division was formed in 1939 in Dresden, in the second wave of mobilization (it was nicknamed Gekreuzte Sabel, 'crossed sabres', after the divisional symbol). After taking part in the Invasion of France in 1940, it spent the remainder of its existence on the Eastern Front, mostly with Army Group Centre. One of its early commanders was Paul von Hase, later executed for his role in the Widerstand, the German resistance movement.

Following heavy losses in 1943, the division was dissolved and its staff (along with remnants of Infantry Regiments 171 and 234) was incorporated into Korps-Abteilung D together with elements of the similarly depleted 262.Infanterie Division. This was itself largely destroyed to the west of Vitebsk when Third Panzer Army failed to hold the salient around the city during the Soviet offensive of June 1944, Operation Bagration.

Korps-Abteilung D was reformed, once more as the 56.Infanterie Division, in East Prussia late in 1944. The Soviet East Prussian Offensive in January 1945 pushed Third Panzer Army west towards Konigsberg, and the division was finally encircled and destroyed in the Heiligenbeil pocket, only around 250 men managing to break out westwards to Pomerania (the divisional staff, along with that of 18th Panzergrenadier Division, reformed as the staff of the Ulrich von Hutten Division, which participated in the Battle of Halbe).