If you notice, German half-tracks were really more like 3/4 tracked, American half-tracks were actually half and didn't enjoy the same off road mobility. Frank is right, fully tracked makes more sense.

Half-tracks were used because the steering mechanisms to steer most fully-tracked vehicles of the time required specialized training to be able to utilize, so half-tracks were a way to combine the advantages of a tracked vehicle with the same steering mechanisms of conventional wheeled vehicles. Half-tracks did not utilize the drivetrain of a fully-tracked vehicle, but rather a conventional vehicle with tracks attached. Half-tracks are no longer utilized because where needed, fully-tracked vehicles are able to replace them. Also half-tracks were not very safe as troop transports as you could toss a grenade into them, hence why we have armored personnel carriers today, which are fully-tracked.

Back in the 30s and 40s, steering of all tracked vehicles was not perfect yet. They still had problems running in a straight line and the steering brake's design didn't allow the tiny direction corrections you do on a car steering wheel all the time. That means, the save road speed of all tracked vehicles was limited. For tanks, there was no other choice, they needed to be fully tracked. They had to trade some speed for being fully tracked. But for trucks, trading speed was not a good idea, they already were barely as fast as their users wanted. That's the technical environment that lead to the invention of the half-track. The front wheels allows precision steering like in a wheeled truck on a road, while the tracks provided excellent off-road capability. German half-tracks (except for the Maultier) technically were tracked vehicles with front wheels added. They had a steering brake just like a tank. If needed, they were able to drive without the frontwheels. The front wheels had no drive train and not even brakes, they were only for steering. American half-tracks (and the Maultier) were much simpler in design, cheaper, better for mass production and easier to repair. They were based on standard, wheeled truck technology, with the hind wheels simply replaced by tracks. There was no steering-brake and they weren't able to drive without the front wheels. manouverability in tight turns was not ideal, especially when they were back heavy. M2 and M3 half tracks were all wheel drive, including the front wheels, to compensate for the lower off road capability caused by their shorter rear tracks. The German Maultier was rear wheel drive ( only the tracks driven) and it had a very basic, manually, lever operated steering brake for an improved turn radius at slow speeds. Today, half tracks don't have an advantage over fully tracked vehicles anymore because modern steering brakes are much improved and allow for higher road speeds than in the past. The only exception would be, if an existing wheeled truck production line had to be converted to produce something with improved off-road capability as an instant, stop-gap solution. It probably would make some sense for Ukraine today, but I'm not sure of Ukraine continues to produce trucks anyway. It would probably make more sense to concentrate the limited capacities to items that can't be imported as easily as trucks and APCs.

@@Itsjustme-Justme Thank you for your response. Although I've learned some of what you mentioned since I posted my original comment, you do a good job of summarizing all of the factors that explain why they existed then, but don't now.

18 metric tons empty

TUBRUQ TUBRUQ,MIT ERWIN!

já bych to viděl spíš na motor t148

MrPepa82 motor T148 za války neexistoval... to musí být 111ctka

no ona je otázka jetli to není replika

MrPepa82 to si myslím, že asi ne...

u nás je jednodužší i levnější postavit kvalitní repliku než hledat a rekonstruovat originál ostatně nebyl by to první stroj navíc drtivá většina těchto tahačů byla vyráběna z benzínovými motory nejčastěji maybach