Nevertheless, in Dec 44, Hitler gave this version top priority. However, the chassis was never designed to cope with the extra weight nor the blast shock and recoil, which triggered many mechanical breakdowns and excessive structural fatigue. The range of the gun allowed the vehicle to be relatively safe from well camouflaged and pre-arranged positions. These were heavily used as the operations turned into defensive actions, from Italy to Normandy and the Eastern front. The SdKfz 251/22 (based on the SdKfz 251/1), simply known as the “Pakwagen” was one of the best AT support vehicles, fitted with a high velocity PaK 40 L/46 or L/48.
