Need help Identifying WWII German Trailer...Please!

[Bill_Wolf]

I have been given the opportunity to buy this trailer and need help identifying it.

The seller states that it is WWII and was brought back to the US by a Army Officer who was in the post war occupation force. He packed all his personal belongings into the back and shipped his stuff home that way.

The trailer is "Allegedly" a Mercedes (or Damlier)Benz trailer. Looks like 1/2 ton. It rides on a torsion bar. Has 40's era Mercedes wheels with hub caps. The trailers base coat is a dark blue green with hints of desert tan or camo light green under the red paint. It has openning front and rear doors and one side of the roof panel opens for access from above. It is sheet metal stretched inside a 3/4 inch angle iron super structure. There is no frame like on a WWII Ben hur. The towing bar runs from the the front hitch to the rear pintel.

The floor is 3/4' Oak slats It has no brakes. Where the sheet metal sides meet the bottom frame is rusted through all the way around and the sides will need replacing.









Any body know what this is? Especially our European friends. What is it worth?

Bill

[Bruce]

I am not any help as far as identifying the trailer, but it sure looks cool. Just for clarification, what kind of hitch does it have at the front?

[Bill_Wolf]

This is a neat trailer. It is somewhat over designed for what it is but having worked for a German Company that is nothing I have not seen before.

I took lots of pictures here are some more.



Check out the seriousness of the handles and latches, also the reflector is mounted on a hinge so it will move out of the way if struck. Note the rear hitch as the front has to be the same to fit into this.



This is a picture of the front hitch arm. A ball type hitch has been installed to facilitate towing by a modern vehicle. I believe under the hitch coupler is a verticle arm which has a hole drilled in it to accept a pin.. Not the ratcheted positioning for level transport..



This is the underneath of the trailer...Torsion bar and moderate frame. Oak planks are the bottom of the trailer....they look original and are 95% intact.

I doubt many of these made it to the USA. Any of our CCKW friends from Europe have any info?

Bill

Neat little trailer....I wonder what it was used for.

[Bill_Wolf]

Success!

First I would like to Thank all those who contacted me on and off list about this trailer. Seems it is extremely rare.

I took a chance and bought a book off of ebay titled German Military Trailers and Towed Equipment 1935-1945 authored by Horst Beiersdorf.

It arrived today and inside I found the following picture



(Please excuse the poor scan as the book picture is a scan of the Technical manual and I reduced the size considerably to reduce bandwidth)

As it states it is a SD.AH.25/2 signal corps trailer.

Guess it is extremely rare here in the States so I will buy it.

Anyone know where I can get a Wehrmacht Service Manual "D" which apparently covers this trailer?

Anyone have the authors email address?

Thanks to all again and if you find anymore information please forward it on.

Bill

[Barry Churcher]

Bill, here are a couple of photos of a water pump trailer I am trying to buy in Holland. I saw it there in the spring and took these photos and have been interested in it since. It has similaritys to the one you bought. This one is German but I strongly suspect it is post war. I hope these photos work, but if not I will send them to you and maybe you will post them here.
Cheers,
Barry

[Bill_Wolf]

Barry,

Thanks for the pictures.

Nice trailer....Miilitary Fire Brigade?

Bill

[Ledog]

Barry, do you have closeups of the dataplates?

[Barry Churcher]

No, I am sorry I don't have good photos of the plates. The ground was really soft and mushy and being on holidays I only had one pair of shoes.
I could get at the back to look in but I wimped out at the front.
Cheers,
Barry