Sd.Kfz.251/9

This page is about the German tank destroyer Sd.Kfz.251/9. For other versions, see Sd.Kfz.251 (Family).

Sd.Kfz.251/9

Sd.Kfz.251/9

Description

The m.Schütz.Pz.Wg. (Sd.Kfz.251/9) is a rank German tank destroyer with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It was introduced in Update "Fire and Ice".

General info

Survivability and armour

The armour protection of the vehicle is thin and ineffective against any tank cannon and even heavy machine guns.

Armour type:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear
Hull	14.5 mm (20°) Engine compartment 14.5 mm (30°) Driver Cabin 8 mm (41°) Lower glacis	8 mm (41°) Top - Engine 8 mm (35°) Top - Crew compartment 8 mm (19°) Bottom - Engine 8 mm (34°) Bottom - Crew compartment 8 mm + 8 mm (34°) Storage bins 8 mm Bottom - Undercarriage	8 mm (31°) 5.5 mm (42°) Lower glacis
Gun shield	14.5 mm (40°) + 14.5 mm (15°) Gun shield - centre 14.5 mm (34°) Gun shield - sides 14.5 mm (16°) + 14.5 mm (15°) Gun mantlet	10 mm

Notes:

Mobility

The vehicle's mobility will take you wherever you need to go. Use it to be able to quickly reach and prepare a sniper/ambush position. Be careful when making sharp turns at maximum speed as the vehicle has a chance of tipping over.

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade				_,___		__.__	__.__
Realistic				_,___		__.__	__.__

Armaments

Main armament

The main gun of the Sd.Kfz.251/9 is the same howitzer that you will find on all Pz.IVs found before the F2 model. It gets access to the more capable Hl.Gr 38C round, which is very potent at its low BR, and comes in handy against heavily-armoured vehicles (e.g. B1 bis, 2C bis, etc.). The stock APCBC round has a potent explosive filler and a decent penetration for its BR, but do try to have a handful of HEAT rounds ready in case they are needed. One upside of the (relatively) large calibre of this BR is that you have access to a capable HE round, which will overpressurize lightly-armoured and open-topped vehicles, a useful thing in case SPAAGs shows up.

75 mm K51 L/24					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	38	-10°/+16°	±14°	N/A	__._	__._	__._	__._	__._	_.__	_.__	_.__	_.__
Realistic					__._	__._	__._	__._	__._

Ammunition

The available ammunition offers a wide range of shells to engage all types of targets:

• K.Gr.rot Pz.: APCBC; a slow shell with explosive filler mass that will knock out any tank with a single shot but has an average penetration power.
• Hl.Gr 38B: HEAT; a shaped charge with good penetration and without penetration loss over distance. Only penetrates flat vertical surfaces but the post-penetration damage is very effective on open and lightly armoured vehicles.
• Hl.Gr 38C: HEAT; a shaped charge with increased penetration over the previous shell. Very useful against heavily armoured targets.
• Sprgr. 34: HE; useful for destroying open and lightly armoured vehicles.
• K.Gr.Rot Nb.: Smoke; useful to blind enemy vehicles that are too remote for you to disable so that you can progress towards objectives.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
K.Gr.rot Pz.	APCBC	52	51	45	39	34	30
Hl.Gr 38B	HEAT	80	80	80	80	80	80
Hl.Gr 38C	HEAT	115	115	115	115	115	115
Sprgr. 34	HE	10	10	10	10	10	10

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
K.Gr.rot Pz.	APCBC	385	6.8	1.2	14	102.4	48°	63°	71°
Hl.Gr 38B	HEAT	450	4.57	0.05	0.1	872.1	62°	69°	73°
Hl.Gr 38C	HEAT	450	4.8	0.05	0.1	875.5	62°	69°	73°
Sprgr. 34	HE	420	5.74	0.2	0.1	686	79°	80°	81°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
K.Gr.Rot Nb.	423	6.2	9	5	20	50

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Sd.Kfz.251/9

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
38	33 (+5)	1 (+37)	No

Note:

• Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.

Usage in battles

The Sd.Kfz.251/9 is a lightly-armoured vehicle that can be penetrated by nearly anything, including heavy machine guns, and destroyed by overpressure. This means you want to avoid rushing points and areas of high traffic, and instead flank the enemy team with your decent mobility. The 75 mm gun on the 251/9 is excellent at its BR, coming with an APCBC shell with moderate penetration and an excellent HEAT shell with good explosive filler and 100 mm of penetration at all angles. However, sniping with this tank is not recommended, as its gun and shells have low muzzle velocity and high drop, making it difficult to hit your targets at range. A better way to use this tank is in an ambush role. If you can find a good spot that protects your sides and flanks from enemy tanks, you can surprise and quickly destroy almost enemy tank that come your way with your excellent reload speed and HEAT shells. It also has excellent depression, allowing you to engage enemy targets over ridges and give you more combat flexibility.

The biggest threats to this tank are aircraft and flankers. It is an open-topped vehicle, leaving it vulnerable to strafing and bombing from enemy aircraft. Because it lacks a turret, the 251/9 also struggles against flanking manoeuvres and is doomed if an enemy tanker flanks and gets a good firing profile on the side of your tank. To counteract this, stick with teammates and/or relocate after a few shots, to prevent players whose tanks you destroyed from coming back and revenge-bombing you. It may also be beneficial to pair with a friendly SPAA, as they can help provide some measure of defence against CAS.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Highly mobile for the BR, will get to one's destination quickly.
• Potent gun with a fast reload that allows for versatile engagement of enemies
• Gun depression makes hull-down positions possible

Cons:

• Open-topped, vulnerable to HE rounds, artillery strikes and strafing aircraft
• A single shot can knock out the driver, gunner and loader at once, leaving you vulnerable

History

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Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Sd.Kfz.251/9 from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.