The purpose of this article is to identify and explain some interior details of the mid-production Sd.Kfz 222 armored car. (For a definition of what "mid-production" means, see the appendix.) This effort arose out of a desire to build a model of this vehicle including an interior. This article won’t identify the purpose of every bracket in the vehicle, but is at least a start on some major ones. Further information and corrections will be gladly accepted by the author.

I assume that the reader has access to Nuts & Bolts #4 (NB4) on the  Sd.Kfz. 222 and 223 by Duske, Greenland, and Schulz. This work has exterior and interior photos of an Sd.Kfz 222 at the Kubinka armor museum in Russia. It should be noted that there is no guarantee that a detail identified in this vehicle will be found at the same location (or at all) in any other 222! I will specifically reference pictures from that book by page and photo position, with T being top of page, M being middle and B bottom. This and other references used are noted at the end of the article.

Photos have recently become available of the Sd.Kfz. 222  in the collection of Mr. Jacques Littlefield. This vehicle has been fully restored, and two interior photos are shown below (thanks to Mr. Bob Moore). Mr. Littlefield provided the following information on this vehicle and its restoration:

"I acquired the 222 from the Imperial Palace collection in Las Vegas. They had purchased it from a collector in England. It had allegedly been captured in Tunisia in 1943 and brought back to England at that time. We used photos from various books, photos and measurements from the 223 at the Patton Museum in Fort Knox, and manuals and photos provided by Uwe Feist, Peter Schmalbach, and Dr. Fleischer to reconstruct many for the interior and exterior details."

These pictures show areas not covered in NB4. It should be noted that this vehicle is a late production 222, but the photos above are still very helpful. I will refer to these pictures as L1 and L2.

Below are some further photos of the Littlefield vehicle's interior, taken by Mr. Chris Hughes, and used with his permission.

I. The Turret
1.  Radio Shelf (pages 14-B, 17-M)
 This feature is identified in NB4 as "believed to be for spare MG ammunition boxes" in NB4.
 Since the radio antenna is attached to the turret, it makes sense that the radio should  also be, to obviate the necessity for an antenna line with lots of slack to make up for turret rotation, or an intricate sliding RF antenna connection. The shelf in these photos is in an excellent location for the radio, being near the antenna junction box, and near the vehicle commander. This thought was strengthened when I found the photo below on Piet van Hees’ Sd.Kfz. 251 web site (ref.2):

2. Main Weapon Mount Attachment (pages 17-B, 20-B; L1)
I can not comment about the rear attachment point, but ref.9 (on a mid-production 222 captured in North Africa, and taken to Bovington) clearly shows the method by which the weapons mount was attached to the front point shown in 20-B. I have reproduced it below, due to the rarity of the reference. The purpose of the clip on the side of the arm is unclear - But it may hold a protective container for one of the optical sights. This practice is seen in other German armored vehicles.

3. Anti-grenade Screen Retainer (page 14-M, 18-M)
The curved object in the upper left corner of photo 18-M served to keep the turret screens from opening too far beyond vertical, or bouncing around while moving. A bracket on the screen rode over the pin on the left side of this retainer. This bracket is circled in the photo below:

II. The Hull
1. MG Ammunition Can Holders (pages 14-B, 15-B, 16-T; L1)
These brackets held rectangular metal ammunition boxes for the co-axial MG-34. One of these is shown on the left side of the picture below (photo courtesy of Andrew Leung, via Ron Volstad):

Relatedly, note the canvas bag shown below the MG mount in L1. This would be for the purpose of catching the spent MG casings and belt from the secondary armament.

2. Flare Gun Bracket (page 19-M; L1)
This upside-down-L shaped bracket is correctly dimensioned to hold the standard 2.7 cm flare gun holster. The holster’s D-rings would attach to the two hooks at the top, and it appears that there may have been a strap at the bottom to hold the barrel end of the holster. Below is a photo of the front and back of a standard flare gun holster. Note the D-rings above the belt loops.

Front          Back

Photo L1 shows exactly this set up.

3. Water bottle holders (pages 15-M, 16-B, 18-M )
These inverted-T shaped brackets, for holding the standard water bottle. One is present for each of the three crew members, near their normal location. The driver’s bottle bracket is combined with some other brackets to the right of his exit door, making it less obvious. The strap to the right of the driver’s bottle secures a squat black cylinder of unknown purpose. (Any guesses?)

4. Gas Mask Brackets (pages 15-M, 18-B)
Like the water bottle brackets, there should be one per crew member. Only two are visible in the NB4 photos - one over each hull door. Since there are areas that we cannot see of the vehicle, and parts of the Kubinka vehicle are missing, we can at best make educated guesses as to where it was.  In the Littlefield vehicle, a mask is seen attached to the left of the driver's exit door. Some wartime photos also show a mask carrier (presumably the driver's) attached to the horizontal bar on the driver’s door.

5. Breathing Tube Holder (page 19-M; L1)
This bracket held an extension for the gas mask,  called the "atemslauch" or breathing tube.  This tube was screwed between the gas mask and the filter, which was then carried at the waist. To quote ref.7:
 

"… the German gas mask was a one-piece affair with the filter canister screwed directly to the face-mask. This interfered with the operation of the optics; sights, view ports, etc. and generally got in the way.
 The breathing tube screwed into the face-mask, the other end screwing into the filter canister (an extension cord if you like) allowing the wearer to attach the filter canister around his waist in a more comfortable position. A strap was provided with it for this purpose and it was issued with the vehicle, not the crewman."

This allowed the crew a greater degree of freedom in completing their required tasks. These tubes and the attendant carrying straps were carried in metal tubes, which were stored in this bracket. (ref.8)

The bracket in the photo on page 19-M probably held the atemslauch for one of the turret crew members. One would therefore expect two further brackets for this purpose elsewhere. This may be the bracket attached to the left side of the driver’s exit door in the bottom photo on page 15. It appears to be the same length as the bracket in 19-M when compared to the MG ammo holders. L1 shows storage tubes on each exit door which appear to be for atemslauch.

6. Battery Holder (page 15-T)
A photo on page 38 on Ref. 3 shows the two Bosch 75 A/h 12V batteries carried to the right and forward of the driver in the Sd.Kfz. 223. One battery holder can be seen in photo 15-T, as  the rectangle on the floor to the right of the steering wheel base.  L2 shows only one battery in the Sd.Kfz. 222.  The place taken by the second battery holder in the 223 (above it and against the right hull side) is shown holding an extra ammunition box.

7. Tools (page 15-T, 18-M; L1, L2)
L1 and L2 show the placement of a number of the vehicle's pioneer tools. One is the axe in front of the right hull side door. The holders for this are also visible in the Kubinka vehicle. The wire cutters shown in L1 are mostly in an area not covered by the photos in NB4, but the square front holder for them can be seen in 18-M.

8. Bracket Below the Right Hull Viewport (page 15-T, 18-B; L2)
This bracket was long a mystery to me. Now we can see it's contents in L2. The left portion holds the interior fire extinguisher, (the photos in NB4 don't show the mount, which has apparently been lost, along with many other things). The post with an associated strap holds the hood to the Notek Lamp. The item to the right of the hood appears to be the body of the light.

III. What is...?

Many attachment points remain unidentified on this vehicle. Some examples are:
    Page 15-T: The bracket below and to the left of the steering wheel, which is similar to a small gas mask holder.
    Page 15-M: The bracket below the left driver's view port. The left end is a water bottle holder, but what was held in the ring
                        shaped part, or the right end?
    Page 17-B, 14-M: What was held in the two tool-type clasps at the rear of the turret?

Other Questions:
    How was power routed to the radio?

(If anyone has any ideas, feel free to contact me at bluskink@flash.net)

IV. Appendix  - Sd.Kfz. 222 Variants

Discussions of the Sd.Kfz. 222 often include references to "early", "mid", or "late" production versions. These terms are not well defined. The production history of the vehicle included seven production series (each with major or minor changes), and two recognized variants (Ausf. A and B). The officially recognized variants differ in engine size (3.5 liter vs. 3.8 liter engine), brakes (mechanical, followed by hydraulic), frontal armor thickness, and chassis type. Unluckily these are not changes which are discernible in photographs. A number of visible changes occurred from the beginning to the end of vehicle production:

1. The roof over the driver went from flat in early production versions to being raised later on.
2. The turn signals started out on the hull sides without any protection, later gained a t-shaped protective cage,
    and finally were moved to the front mudguards.
3. The driver’s visors initially had a flat cross section and were of the same size. They later changed to a more
    domed shape, with a large visor on the left, and a smaller one on the right.
4. The wire anti-grenade screen over the turret had both high and low variants.
5. The main weapon was either a KwK 30 or a KwK 38.
6. Later versions sported an armored cover for the radiator opening on the vehicle’s rear.
7. The early vehicles had triangular armored plates on the wheel hubs. These were later dispensed with.

For reference, the actual production statistics for the Sd.Kfz. 222 are (ref. 3):

V. References