Volkswagen (Porsche) Type 166 Schwimmwagen

Schwimmwagen was developed starting from Wolkswagen "Ladybird" drawn in 1938 by Ferdinand Porsche. This famous small car always had and lays out a great robustness. Moreover at the time it was very cheap. The German army thus decided to develop a military vehicle on the basis of compact and robust chassis of the "Ladybird". Several models were developed of which an amphibious vehicle, standard Schwimmwagen 128.

VW Type 166 Schwimmwagen
src: Tamiya	src: Italeri

The mass production began at the beginning of 1942, after some improvements which gave rise to Schwimmwagen Type 166. For an amphibious use, the exhaust was assembled very high to the back of the vehicle. The engine was one 4 cylinders of 1130 cc developing 25 hp which made it possible on road to reach the 80 km/h and in water the 10 km/h. To be driven in water, Schwimmwagen was equipped with a propeller assembled to the back. On ground, the propeller was raised on the cap of the engine.

Schwimmwagen was propelled in water by a propeller	Joachim Peiper in Schwimmwagen close to Malmedy and St Vith (Belgium) during the battle of the Ardennes
src: La seconde guerre mondiale, Editions C. Colomb

The changes of direction on water were carried out by means of the nose gear wheels as on the ground, they have to some extent the function of rudder. Schwimmwagen was manufactured with 14276 specimens until the end of 1944. This small amphibious vehicle was intensively used for the reconnaissance, the liaison and various other tasks.

Schwimmwagen of Bastogne Historical Center (Belgique)

src: Vincent Bourguignon

Landwasserschlepper (LWS)

The development of Landwasserschlepper (Amtrac) began in 1936, but only 7 vehicles were supplemented in July 1940. In March 1941, 14 were still produced. It was conceived by Rheinmetall-Borsig as amphibious vehicle for Pioneers but it lacked space of loading and trap doors of access/unloading. Amphibian trailers of 10 and 20 tons were designed to solve this problem. It could transport 3 to 5 men of crew and 20 passengers. Its absence of shielding limited its use in the zones of combat. The LWS was used in Russia and North Africa.

Landwasserschlepper (LWS)
src: site Arsenal of Dictatorship	src: site Achtung Panzer