OT-810: the Czechoslovak half-track with a Tatra diesel

The OT-810 was a Czechoslovak armoured personnel carrier based on the chassis of the German Sd.Kfz. 251 of the Wehrmacht. The abbreviation OT stands for Obrněný transportér, armoured personnel carrier; the vehicle entered service with the Czechoslovak People’s Army in 1958 and was replaced by the OT-62 and OT-64.

Tatra OT-810 at a glance

There is no English Wikipedia article on the OT-810; the page is based on the German and Czech articles.

History of the Tatra OT-810

From Skoda to a Czechoslovak half-track

During the Second World War the Sd.Kfz. 251 was built under German management at the Škoda works in Plzeň, and after the war captured vehicles were repaired and modernised there. The new Czechoslovak army recognised that armoured personnel carriers were an important part of modern warfare and used wartime stocks of the Sd.Kfz. 251 as the HKL-6 from the late 1940s. Production of the OT-810 as an improved version began in 1958 and ended in 1962; in that short time about 1,500 vehicles were built, and countless HKL-6s were converted to the OT-810 standard. The type was used as a squad vehicle in Czechoslovakia until 1966 and, after the OT-62 and OT-64 arrived, as a tractor for the 82 mm light gun. It was finally retired from military service in the 1980s, and the last stocks of the Czech Army were disposed of in 1995. The OT-810 also gave the Czech armaments industry a new start after the war.

Technology

The OT-810 was based on the Ausführung D of the German vehicle. It kept the same running gear with interleaved road wheels and a tyred front axle to help steering, and drive went only to the tracks. The main change was the introduction of an air-cooled eight-cylinder Tatra diesel, an adapted engine from the Tatra 138, in place of the German Maybach petrol unit, which raised the range from 320 km to 600 km. Because the engine was larger, the bonnet was longer. The hull was fully enclosed for the first time, giving protection against chemical weapons, radioactive fall-out, hand grenades, Molotov cocktails and artillery fragments; the armour box was 8–12 mm thick and angled for better protection. The commander had a roof hatch with a rotating ring for a machine gun, and firing ports allowed the crew to shoot from inside.

Versions and later life

Apart from the basic armoured personnel carrier for 10 men, there were command and staff versions (OT-810/R2 and R3), a driver-training vehicle, a technical assistance vehicle, a medical version and the OT-810DPP mobile artillery observation post. The OT-810D was a light tank destroyer with an 82 mm recoilless gun and a crew of four, 280 of them converted from the basic version in 1967–1969. Many OT-810s ended up with collectors, who often convert them to resemble wartime Sd.Kfz. 251s, and the type frequently stands in for that vehicle in war films such as Stalingrad, Downfall and Stůj, nebo se netrefím!, as well as in battle re-enactments.

Design and features

• Tatra diesel: an air-cooled V8 from the Tatra 138, doubling the range.
• Closed hull: protection against gas, fall-out and hand-thrown weapons.
• Same running gear: interleaved road wheels and a steering front axle.
• Many versions: command, medical, training and tank-destroyer variants.

Tatra OT-810 versions

• OT-810: basic armoured personnel carrier for 10 men.
• OT-810/R2 and R3: command and staff vehicles.
• OT-810 DPP: mobile artillery observation post.
• OT-810D: light tank destroyer with an 82 mm recoilless gun, 280 converted.
• Training and technical assistance versions: driver school and recovery vehicles.

The OT-810’s diesel came from the Tatra 138, and its half-track ancestry links it to the wartime vehicles of the Tatra collection. The later armoured vehicles were the OT-62 and OT-64.

Video: Halbkettenfahrzeug OT-810

Video by 132lok on YouTube.

Sources

• OT-810, German Wikipedia: history, technology
• OT-810, Czech Wikipedia: production, versions, service