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

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RANK 4 FRANCE
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Sd.Kfz.221 (s.Pz.B.41)
germ_sdkfz_221_s_pz_b_41.png
Sd.Kfz.221 (s.Pz.B.41)
AB RB SB
1.0 1.0 1.0
Class:
Research:2 000 Specs-Card-Exp.png
Purchase:2 100 Specs-Card-Lion.png
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Description

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


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 This allows old and outdated anti-tank weapon calibres to be re-designed and revitalized so that they could be effective again.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

Game Mode Max Speed (km/h) Weight (tons) Engine power (horsepower) Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Forward Reverse Stock Upgraded Stock Upgraded
Arcade 89 17 4 116 143 29 35.75
Realistic 80 16 66 75 16.5 18.75

The mobility 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

Main article: S.Pz.B.41 (28/20 mm)

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.

Modules

Tier Mobility Protection Firepower
I Tires Parts Horizontal Drive
II Suspension Brake System FPE Adjustment of Fire
III Filters Crew Replenishment Elevation Mechanism
IV Transmission Engine Artillery Support

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, sometimes with or without a shield. 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. During its short service life, it was sometimes mounted on light armoured cars like the 221 and armoured half-tracks in place of their usual machine gun.

Media

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

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

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

  • topic on the official game forum;
  • encyclopedia page on the tank;
  • other literature.


Germany light tanks
Pz.II  Pz.II C · Pz.II C (DAK) · Pz.II C TD · Pz.II F · Pz.Sfl.Ic
Sd.Kfz.234  Sd.Kfz.234/1 · Sd.Kfz.234/2 · Sd.Kfz.234/2 TD
Marder  Marder A1- · Marder 1A3 · Begleitpanzer 57 · DF105
  PUMA
Wheeled  Sd.Kfz.221 (s.Pz.B.41) · Class 3 (P) · Radkampfwagen 90
Other  Ru 251 · SPz 12-3 LGS
Argentina  TAM · TAM 2C · TAM 2IP · JaPz.K A2
Czechoslovakia  Pz.35(t) · Pz.38(t) A · Pz.38(t) F · Pz.38(t) n.A. · Sd.Kfz. 140/1
France  Pz.Sp.Wg.P204(f) KwK
Lithuania  Vilkas
USA  leKPz M41
USSR  SPz BMP-1