FAHRZEUGRARITÄTEN – ‘Hedi’ and other Rare and Unusual Vehicles
----Coming in September 2026----
Foreword by the Author: This book is a special project dear to my heart. The main weapon systems of the Imperial German Army in World War One have been covered in past volumes in this series, including panzers, tanks, armoured cars, trucks, motorcycles, ambulances and specialised vehicles. In some of these books I wanted to add chapters that expanded the topic discussed, or to cover the story of certain vehicles that extended beyond the end of the war. However, I could not do so if I were to keep the publications within their necessary economic frame. With the book you hold in your hands now, dear reader, I was finally able to fill these gaps! Yet it took quite a serious amount of research time and admittedly backbreaking financial investment to achieve this goal:
The chapters on Straßenlokomotiven and Straßendampfwagen alone required over half the entire research time for this project, simply because there is less than rudimentary knowledge about the German side of steam traction engines that has survived to this day, and basically no general expert in the field is amongst us any longer. As a result, this chapter is the first-ever extensive documentation on this topic! The chapter on the Schupo-Sonderwagen and Gepanzerter Kraftwagen is a different case, as it expands the limited story of German World War One armoured cars into the much more exciting post-war, anti-riot police and Reichswehr usage of this vehicle family. I am also particularly proud that, after thirty years of collecting, the story of Überlandwagen fully tracked lorries can now be told, including all the manufacturers. The highlight of this book is the story of the famous ‘Hedi’ Freikorps anti-riot tank that can now be covered in a comprehensive way with high-resolution photos and ultimately a scale drawing.
All these chapters compare to hitherto extremely limited coverage in other publications. This is a historically important book, with almost all of its material never published before. Enjoy!
CONTENTS
01. Fully Tracked Transport Vehicles
01.1 Überlandwagen Fully Tracked Lorry
01.2 Dür-Wagen Fully Tracked Lorry
01.3 Orion-Wagen Fully Tracked Lorry
01.4 Lanz Fully Tracked Lorry/Tractor
01.5 Captured Renault FP Fully Tracked Lorry
01.6Fully Tracked and Half-Tracked Trucks
02.‘Hedi’ and the Freikorps Anti-Riot Tanks
03.Steam-Powered Road Locomotives
03.1Fowler-Magdeburg Road Locomotives
03.2Kemna Road Locomotives
03.3Heucke Road Locomotives
03.4Lanz Road Locomotives
03.5Road Locomotives from Other Manufacturers
03.6Mobile Firing Range Target Systems
04.Steam-Powered Cargo Trucks
05.Gun Transport Trucks and Self-Propelled Guns
06. Schupo-SW and Gp.Kw. - Successors to World War One Armoured Cars
06.1Stop-Gap Solutions Ehrhardt/19 and Daimler/19
06.2Schupo-Sonderwagen Ehrhardt/21
06.3Schupo-Sonderwagen Benz/21
06.4Schupo-Sonderwagen Daimler/21
06.5Gp.Kw. / Sd.Kfz. 3 Armoured Personnel Carrier
In 96 pages this publication is lavishly illustrated with 205 black-and-white photographs and nine graphics, the vast majority of which have never been published before, plus a five-perspective scale drawing of the Freikorps ‘Hedi’ anti-riot tank. Limited edition: 999 copies
-- Edited by Oberfeld on Wednesday 1st of July 2026 01:17:03 PM
-- Edited by Oberfeld on Wednesday 1st of July 2026 01:32:08 PM
-- Edited by Oberfeld on Wednesday 1st of July 2026 01:36:29 PM
-- Edited by Oberfeld on Wednesday 1st of July 2026 01:37:48 PM
German SPGs? (section 5) - definitely will be a starter, if only for that section. I've always thought it odd that the British, French and Americans devoted considerable resources to the design and construction of SPGs but, seemingly, the Germans did not. It would seem that the silence about German SPGs was, in fact, a lack of research - now mitigated.
What can I say except Wow! The Orion Wagen and the Heucke Road Locomotive are very high up my list of vehicles to build! I would buy the book anyway to keep the series complete, but this is a very valuable addition to this series! Keep up the good work!
@Charlie: The Germans had several lorries on which artillery pieces were placed. It could also be the interbellum experiments of adding guns to Hanomag tractors. I am very curious what this will entail.
I'm aware of the truck mounted 75mm Belgian field guns (which were Krupp export guns). I was thinking more about vehicles like the British Gun Carrier, the French Saint-Chamond tractor/gun vehicle or the US Marks I to III motor gun carriages.
