Henschel 33D1 WWII German Army Truck.

Henschel 33 was in production lines since 1934 to 1942. The modification D1 had six cylinder petrol engine. All in all there were produced about 22000 Henschel 33.

The Henschel 33 was a “medium, all-terrain truck” that was developed in various versions for the German Reichswehr and used by them and later by the Wehrmacht. Many different troop units used the solid vehicle of the 3 t payload class in the Second World War until 1945.

n 1926 the Reichswehr began to consider the future equipment of the German army. General motorisation, which the armed forces of other nations had also been striving for since the end of the First World War, was considered an important aspect of possible future wars.

The Reichswehr formulated their exact requirements for such a vehicle and gave this description to the German commercial vehicle manufacturers. The specification called for a three-axle truck with twin rear wheels, 3000 kg payload, high ground clearance, powered rear axles and good towing capacity. From the description in the Reichswehr, the class was called “medium off-road trucks (o)”, with “o” standing for commercially available, i.e. an industrial design.

The first company to react was Henschel with the Type 33 in 1928, but Krupp also presented its Type L3 H63 shortly afterwards. Reading the signs of the times, Büssing-NAG presented its Type III GL 6 around 1932/33 and finally Mercedes-Benz its LG 3000 around 1935/36. All manufacturers received orders for this truck class.

Since the Krupp and Henschel models were available early and the next conflict was not yet expected, both vehicles underwent extensive testing. Interestingly, the Deutsche Reichsbahn was also included in the testing. Until 1934 only small series were manufactured and delivered, but large orders followed in 1934. Even if Henschel’s competitors also received a good volume of orders, the Henschel 33 became the most-manufactured model in this type class.

Read more: History of trucks with Jim Andrews ...