Sd.Kfz.221 (s.Pz.B.41)

Sd.Kfz.221 (s.Pz.B.41)

15cm sIG 33 B Sfl

Panzerjäger I

Sd.Kfz.221 (s.Pz.B.41)

15cm sIG 33 B Sfl

Panzerjäger I

Germany

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.0	1.0	1.0

Class:

Light tank

Research:2 000

Purchase:2 100

Show in game

Description

The le.Pz.Sp.Wg. (s.Pz.B.41) Sd.Kfz.221 is a rank I German light tank with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.79 "Project X".

The le.Pz.Sp.Wg. (s.Pz.B.41) Sd.Kfz.221 is a unique vehicle in its own right. This vehicle is a lightly armoured, highly mobile car, with a 20 mm squeeze bore cannon. What that means is that a 28 mm wide shell is inserted into a 28 mm wide breech, and subsequently fired down a barrel that narrows down to 20 mm at the end. This gives you a projectile that was 28 mm, now squeezed down to 20 mm. In effect, this gives you a heavier, longer 20 mm shell. This allows old and outdated anti-tank weapon calibres to be re-designed and revitalized so that they could be effective again.

General info

Survivability and armour

The Sd.Kfz.221 has very weak armour. It gets penetrated on every side, so you should think of it as if you have no armour at all.

The problem of the Sd.Kfz. 221 isn't really the armour. It's that the gunner is exposed. A single coaxial bullet can knock him out and due to the vehicle only having two crew members, will either take out the vehicle entirely from the game in RB/SB, or leave it a sitting duck in AB due to Crew Replenishment.

Mobility

The mobility, on the other hand, is great for a wheeled vehicle. The double steering axles allow it to make tight turns even though it is a wheeled vehicle. There is, however, one main flaw with the double steering axles design, it is difficult to drive straight forward after making the slightest turn. The vehicle has a tendency to oversteer by itself and requires adjustments to keep it driving straight. This is extremely problematic if driving at full speed. To counter this problem, it is best to simply slow down before making turns. An alternative is to enable "Driver Assist" in the controls, so slight adjustments of the mouse steer it properly instead.

Armaments

Main armament

The 28/20mm s.Pz.B.41 squeeze bore cannon fires only one ammo type, the 2.8/2cm PzGr.41. The round has an extremely high muzzle velocity of 1400 m/s and penetrates 95 mm at 10 m distance against flat armour. Against 30-degree armour, it penetrates an acceptable 73 mm, but at steep angles, it penetrates just 22mm. Rate of fire is excellent like most low-rank guns, but currently, like all APCR, the post-penetration damage is poor.

28/20 mm S.Pz.B.41
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
60			-10°/+20°	±20°	Vertical
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	33.32	46.12	56.0	61.92	65.88
Realistic	20.83	24.5	29.75	32.9	35
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
3.90	3.45	3.18	3.00

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
2.8/2cm Pzgr.41	APCR	95	94	66	38	15	8

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
2.8/2cm Pzgr.41	APCR	1,400	0.14	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	66°	70°	72°

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	7th rack empty	8th rack empty	9th rack empty	10th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
60	55 (5+)	49 (11+)	43 (17+)	37 (23+)	31 (29+)	25 (35+)	19 (41+)	13 (47+)	7 (53+)	1 (59+)	No

Ammo racks of the Sd.Kfz.221 (s.Pz.B.41), located behind the driver and at the feet of the commander/gunner.

Notes:

• Recommended ammo load is 37 to remove rear ammo racks.

Usage in battles

The Le.Pz.Sp.Wg. (s.Pz.B.41) Sd.Kfz.221 can be played as a sniper, at medium to far ranges. Do not get in to close combat, as your gun only traverses to a very limited degree, and your minimal armour barely stops even rifle-calibre machine guns. Artillery and aircraft are dangerous to you, as you only have two crew members, and one is almost entirely exposed.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Very fast in a straight line (80 kph)
• Excellent Power/Weight Ratio (35.75 hp/ton AB, 18.75 hp/ton RB/SB) makes its top speed practically achievable
• Good rate of fire from the main gun (3.9s stock, 3.0s aced)
• Good penetration from the 28/20 mm ammunition of 95mm at point-blank
• Small profile
• Low shell drop due to 1,400 m/s muzzle velocity

Cons:

• Limited gun arc
• Thin armour, easily penetrable by most all vehicles and aircraft
• Wheeled vehicle, cannot neutral steer like tanks and must be moving forward/backwards to steer
• Wheeled vehicle, not much traction (and therefore speed or acceleration) on snow or sand unless you stick to roads
• Can easily tip over in a sharp turn
• Only two crew members; one crew member lost = instant loss (especially if you don't have Crew Replenishment researched)
• APCR is the only ammo choice, post-pen damage is almost completely inadequate for all but the smallest enemy tanks.

History

The Sd.Kfz. 221, also known as the PSW 221, along with its sister Sd.Kfz. 222 was the standard German light armoured car in 1939. A total of 339 Sd.Kfz. 221s and 989 Sd.Kfz. 222's were built. The Sd.Kfz. 221 carried a machine gun in an open-top turret, while the Sd.Kfz. 222 carried a 20 mm cannon. The 221 was taken out of service by the end of 1942.

The 2.8 cm sPzB 41 taper-bore heavy anti-tank rifle had a 28mm breech calibre, but due to malleable skirts around the projectile, the projectile emerged from the barrel with a 20 mm calibre. This greatly increased the possible muzzle velocity (4,600 ft/sec at the muzzle) but required rounds with tungsten carbide cores to prevent shattering on impact, and rapidly wore out the gun bore. In 1942 the other requirements for and scarcity of tungsten forced its discontinuation in anti-tank round production, and the weapons that could only use tungsten ammunition were no longer usable after existing ammo supplies ran out.

Media

War Thunder - Update 1.79 - Sd.Kfz.221 (s.Pz.B.41)
-by TheEuropeanCanadian

See also

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• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

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