Number three:
Schwere Panzerspähwagen 7,5cm PAK 8-Rad SdKfz 234/4The SdKfz 234/4 was the last official variant of the SdKfz 234 series. Towards the end of the war the Germans battled against an ever increasing amount of allied, especially Soviet, tanks. The classic towed anti-tank guns were often overrun as they could not be hooked to their tractors in time and were lost in considerable numbers. As a result the German army decided to equip as many more or less suitable vehicles with heavy anti-tank guns as possible, to create a more mobile anti-tank force. Among others 7,5cm PAK 40 anti-tank guns were placed on the SdKfz 251, the Raupenschlepper Ost and the sdKfz 234. From December 1944 on SdKfz 234 production was fully changed to the SdKfz 234/4 model.

SdKfz 251/22 with 7,5cm PAK 40

Raupenschlepper Ost with 7,5cm PAK 40

SdKfz 234/4 with 7,5cm PAK 40
The powerful 7,5cm PAK 40 anti-tankgun was in fact too heavy for the SdKfz 234. Especially when firing the suspension was overburdened. To prevent overturning of the vehicle traverse was limited to 20 degrees to both sides. Although heavily armed the SdKfz was lightly armoured and not a suitable combat vehicle. In fact the SdKfz 234/4 was one of many desperate emergency solutions at the end of the war. From December 1944 towards March 1945 only 89 of these vehicles wre built, making it a rather rare vehicle. Only a handful of photographs are known. But at least two vehicles survived the war and are now in museum collections.

SdKfz 234/4 wreck in the immediate post-war Soviet occupation zone in Berlin.